THE ASHANTEE AT HOME.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1720, 7 February 1874, Page 4

THE ASHANTEE AT HOME.

Mr Winwood Reade, in liis : s.ecpnd letter to the Pall Matt Gazette, has/the following: — , The King is allowed to have 3333 wives, but not to exceed that number. Some of these ladies are merely slaveSj 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 simrise to sunset, leading him about the town and performing fantasias upon his body with knives before the houses of all noted chief tians or stranger , of distinction. Finally they lead the offender to the presence of the king, and literally cut him to pieces before the throne. This horrible method of execution is only employed for the above-men-tioned offetice, and for the crime of murdur. It is a curious nustom in Ashantee that if the condemned man cries out : a certain word or phrase he cannot be killed, it gives him the right of sanctuary ; the executioners, therefore, steal upon their victim from 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. These persqns 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 yoxing men of the royal house run about the town shooting whom they please — even the highest personages of the land. Thus the death of the King is a national misfortune, and that, pjer-i haps, gives the only clue to the origin, of these extraordinary customs. j r The Ashantees believe in life' after death, as we believe in the lands beycjnd the sea. Their Hades or SSheol is situated undergound ; there this life is continued, and becomes eternal. The King resumes his Royalty, and the slave remains! as slaves. Death, therefore, for them is only a migration, and they depart from life lyith equanimity. A woman slave, who was one of those condemned to die, was stripped according to custom, and knocked! on the head. Being only stunned by jthe blow, she recovered her senses, and caw herself surrounded by dead bodies. She ran into town, found the nobles sitting in Council, told them she had been tojthe land of the dead, and that she had lieen sent back because she had no. clotjies. They must dress her finely and killiher over again, which accordingly was done. This happened in a small kingdow adjoining Ashantee, the laws arid customs tof which are the same. One noble who had committed some crime offered a large ransom for his life, and finally his weight in gold. Bu the King cut off his head, and' also took possession of his goldj which just amounted in weight to that of the corpse. I lave myself seen a coast j^ative of no grea . im-' portance with a thousand pounds v orth of gold upon him ; and'mbst'of that gold came from the mines of Ashantee. Finally, as to war.. The Ashantee i rmy is the nation. When the order f Ol the march is given all the ablft-bodied men' join their respective companies and leave the town, carrying a kind of rae£,l aa food. The women then parade the streets, ■ and if they detect a man skulking be lind, beat him unmercifully. In the batt] c the generals occupy the rear, and cut iown: all those who retreat. If the battle i s lost they kill themselves. One suicide of this kind I witnessed on the Volta. A battle took place between our allies aridjsome allies of the Ashantees. The latter' were defeated, and the. Ashantee chief, j who was present, threw the, insignia of his rank into the river, and then sitting on; a powder barrel, blew himself into the ' air. ■■■ - ■ '■■,;.■■-■■■•' ■ ■