HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ASHANTEE.

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 71, 15 December 1875, Page 3

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ASHANTEE.

Writing apropas of the efforts of the . authorities of Lagos to put and end to human sacrifices at Port Novo, a correspondent of a The Times” gives a description of the human sacrifices as practised at Coomassie and other places in West Africa. He says ; “ As every one docs not know what is exactly implied in Western Africa by the rerdnonn words ‘ human sacrifices,’ TwlUg.v ■; • ;r • ’ + V benefi-

cent acts which attend the death ol a Cahoceer. in Ashanteo. Let me explain. Til; word ‘ cab »c ;er ’ lias been borrowed an I corrupted by the Faulees from “ caboy.-eros,’ a synonym of rank in i’ortngah itftm‘dialely alter demise tlie body of a Caboceeris washed, anointed with sweet oils and grease, and sprinkled- with gold dust. The oils and grease cause the. gold dust to slick to the corpse, which, being black, throws oil* the bright colour of Lh - gold to p*r-’ feeliom Tlie heard is trimm.-d into knois, an I upon ea -h knot are tied small beads of glass and lliln particles of gold. Tims gaily bedizened and per fumed and cleansed, the body is placed upon a chair in a sitting’ altitude, or is shown recumbent upon a bed trimmed with gaudy drapery. When tins combined rite of purilication and garniture has been completed, tin* relation* and friends assemble and begin to dance and sing. While the relations and friends are making merry, a fetishman, or priest, is led slowly into the midst of the festive throng, and the female slaves O the Cahoceer aie brought before him. Alter the utterance of various incantations, he pretends that the fetish ha* denoted, hy means of his mediation, a certain slave for election to follow her master to the next world; hut T need not he ut much trouble to snggi st to von that the members of the family always decide beforehand among themselves which unfortunate wretch shall accompany the deceased chief. Being chosen, and by the choice condemned to die, the slave is stripped take I. Around her neck a wisp of hay is wound, and her arms are rudely pinioned with a rope of straw. She is now roughly dragged a second time to the presence of the fetishman, who recommends her, in a speech full of blasphemous rhodomoutailes ami rhetorical parade, to serve her master dutifully through the mazes of the unknown sphere to which ho has been summoned on a journey. During the delivery of the portentous exhortation, he is busily employed in daubing a white-coloured earth over the bice of the weeping slave ; ami when tlie admonitory harangue has been exhausted, he strikes her severely with his opened palm upon either cheek. In benighted zeal the company snatch up thi! sacerdotal cue. They strive to rival one another in repeating the assault with tlie harshest violence, and in dealing the keenest pain on her mule and trembling person.

“The executioners,moreover,are blessed and the congregated hands of Caboeeers manifest their profound respect hy raising tho foot of'eaeli executioner with both bands, and by rubbing the sole upon the crown of their heads. The natives of the Gold Coast have a loose conception of a state of purgatory or probation, and entertain tlie idea that the soul of the dead wanders unrestingly for many years about the world, and requires a servant for the performance of menial duties in its long and ceaseless wanderings. lienee comes the custom of killing a slave at the death of a Cahoceer, for a Cahoceer may not draw’ Witter, how wood, nor cook food. “ Having been removed hy dint of cuffs nr manual force from the sight of tho fetishman, tlie slave is hurried to a wooden' box, into which the carcase of the Cahoceer, will eventually be squeezed. Along the lid of the box the slave is stretched upon her stomach, and her feet and head arc grasped by two executioners, so that her struggles may be subject to control. A friend of the dead Cahoceer approaches the prostrate creature and slashes her with a sword just below the right shoulder-blade. Catching the blood which flows from tho wound, he smears the box. "When a sufficiency of blood has been drawn, for this purpose, she is lifted from the lid, and is reviled, struck, and covered with spittle hy the bystanders. All tlie while she utters the loudest and most grievous lamentations ;/and tho louder and more grievous thyy are, the more acceptable do the torturers deem the sacrificial gratuity to be to the dead Cahoceer. She is thou driven to tho spot where she is to be slain. When the head has been, cut off, thi heart is plucked out through an opening in tlie back. An executioner receives the head with yells and frantic signs of joy, and runs with it through the town. Savagely and furiously he tosses it to the ground and kicks it like a ball before him, snatches it up in his flight, spits upon it, flings it into the air, catches it in its descent, or, permitting it to drop heavily, kicks it again and again. The body is never buried, but is spurned aside to be eaten by wild beasts or vultures.”