A Day on the Gold Coast.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 394, 17 August 1889, Page 3

A Day on the Gold Coast.

Dirt, and the stenches by which dirt is ac- • conipanied, abound in the Gold Coast ! ' towns. The scavengers have plenty to do b every i; morning, and we are fortunate to . have scavengers. In some towns the only scavengers' are, the prisoners, and, when the prison is empty, the Commissioner waits with shut eyes and pinched nostrils, longing for the sight of a culprit. But we are a lai'go town — an Assize town — and there are over ten thousand of us, exclusive of pigs. As this is the first day of Assize, let us pay a visit to' the Court. We, find ,the Judge in a wig and scarlet gown, looking as if he would like to take , them off* for the weather is hot. He is a slightly-coloured man, and "at the 'Bar we see unmistakable black under, .the whi^e "horse-hair of the* forensic wig. To the right of the Judgp is a piebald -jury,, and opposite him is a. black, prisoner, clad jm a piece of cotton, .pritit^ hanging from his waist. This garment is usually, ( worn over the loft shoulder ; but in Court the shoulder is bared, in accordance- with iFahtee '-eti-' quette, as .a mark of reject, and bheprisoner now stands naked 'tfb "ttie waist/ "and is continually hitching up his absurd > garment, which" is always- threatening to slip down. On. his left wrist" is a great ring ,made of silver found ..far .bac.k in the interior. The charge is read. over to him, andvthe interpreter is expected to, put into Fantee a Je'gal rigmarole ending .up with ' the p?ace of our Soye.reign^ Lady, the; Queen.' The accused is an Ashantee who has come to live with, us and to work "as a goldtaker. A goldtak' er is aman whowaits in a shop to test and weigh all gold-duat ' tendered in payment for goods. He places the gold dusb in a little scoop, and, by a quick, jerking motion) ' partially separates the refuse, which he then blows away. He also makes use of a magnet to remove the iron filings which the vendor is wont freely to mingle with his gold dust. Looking round, we see some of t the prisoner's Ashantee friends squatting >on the floor, and we notice round their wrists curious collections ot things strung together. Looking closely, we see that some of these things are human incisors ; these were, drawn from heads which had "been cut off, because their owners told lies in the King's Palace. But the Ashantees are quite aware that no such punishment awaits those who tell lies in" the Courts of Queen Victoria, andj when they go into the witness-box presently, .they will take the fetish oath' of tasting pepper, salt, and water, and then lie with complete unconcern. We have not yet quite done with the Ashantee bracelets. This dirty disc of metal is gold. Its blackness is 'due to the fact that ib has been soaked in 'human blood. And this piece of hide- hanging from the bracelet is lion -skin, arid a very' powerful fetish. Doubtless, much rum has been expended on medicine-men to ensure' an acquittal, and in the end the prisoner is found ' Not guilty,' and goes away feeling more than ever cenvinced of the efficacy of fetish in getting" a man out of a scrape. , The next* prisoner is a Kroo boy, "called King George. Nobody can interpret his language, so he is addressed in the jargon in which white, men usually talk to Kroo boys, as thus :: — c They say you ' go • break into store— Mr Jones's store — twelve o-'clock, night time, about two months past. , You "break in for steal. When , you get in. you steal three piece cloth. That be true, f ' i)at be tru essays ' King.George,'«and he is ■led dway to prison, 'noMinally for' five'years, biit .actually 'for 4 about two "months, by which time he will be tired of prisbnj .and will go away. There is nothing to pue.vent, him; he will be taken into the streets,, to work on the roads, and when he finds this tedious, he will smash his fetbers with a stone and bolt, and his name will go to swell the list of escaped prisoners posted outside the police-stations. ' f ' King George,' it should be explained, is a temporary name, by whioh the Kroo boy .goes while Working in this country, his own name being .unchangeable. The English masters pfide themselves • on, inventing "absurd 1 natnes r and one may .frequently hear t 'l > 6a ( ,Spu r p ', called ( irpon to say what has become of ' Best Man ' and ' Two Pound Ten.' , . < :;•• , ;'' •: A Kroo^boy dan ahvays'be known afc eight by a blue • tafctoo-nia'lHc 'tt'owivnis torehdad; and by his dress, "consisting of a vest- and! a, piece of clotli ctrawn between his ..thighs. On Sunday/, however, he, blossoms^ut, in 'a, complete s^rit of.'jclothes, a shirt with plenty of cuffs and colfaiya<,tall hat, and. boots. In fact, he is much better .dressed .than his master ever troubles^ to_be in this couh'try. , Npw there 1 is 'a' bit of a scrjnjmage in Court;. a black barrister' characterises a witness as a ras"cal, and the witness' says, • Who are yoiv to.call .me a rascal:? Is am better than you ; your father was a slave.' This retort has. the sting of truth in it, for the advocate's father was a slave in th&days before sla\ery was", abolished, but a rich uncle took an interest in the slave's son, sent him to England, and made him what we now' see him. Such "a mingling of various social ranks in one family is common here. < As we leave the Court we look down from, the verandah >, upon the prison-yard, where we see black prisoners in white piison dress breaking stones, while some refractory men , are undergoing shot-drill. .The low white building beyond, the yard is the Lower or Commissioner's Court, where that function-, ary hears police and small-debt cases. The Commissioner 'is also .custodian of tho districb, chief constable, and governor of the gaol, and fills up his time with an1 swering'.the telearrams which are constantly ' raining in upon him. , . Now we walk under white . umbrellas 'through the, hot streets, and «note, tHe, houses built of mud, which gets softened, by rainy weather, and sometimes pollapsejs. suddenly,,' killing inmates and passers. Vby." Into the cool shade of the house, and' nciw to our eleven o'clock^ hot breakfast, 'beginning with fish, and passing through' meat* and vegetables to fruit. It is not Coast fashion to take tea or' coffee at breakfast,-; we drink claret or lager beer. After , breakfast we look out of the window at the girls dressed in silk,,,' and adorned with all the gold they can borrow," who walk through the" town to notify x>o the world that they are arrived at a marriageable age. Then we see tire progress' of a King borne in a basket on men's heads, shadowed by umbrellas with long "poles, preceded by drummers, and followed by ,his sword-bearers. We turn out to call ]upon our white friends in the. . cool of th,e day, return to dinner, and, closp our day, on the Gold Coast by goipg , to bed atj nine. — E.s,, in the .Graphic , t .

. City Man,: "Is this- locality healthy ?*' Countryman,: " Healthy ? > I should say, we are healthy. We've got to be. There, isn't a doctor within twenty miles." Parson : "Did you ever experience a re-, vival- of religion, sir ?" Travelling Man : ' "Xes, once, on board ship, in a storm. If looked as if we might go to the bottom any minute. Even the cook prayed/ , In Great Britain there- are many more widowis than widowers — the latter numbering 589,644,' the former - 1,415 684,- or : a majority of 821,040. .Moreover, of these a very large proportion are* ydmig -widows* •England and Walos having 52,019 widowsundor the age of 25.