A curiosity throughout Europe, proportionate to the ignorance of the Interior of Africa, exacts the publication of the proceedings and researches of every Exploratory Mission, from its Conductor, as a duty to the Public: “mandat fieri sibi talia.”

The Public, in acknowledgment of the performance of the duty, reflecting that it constrains literary efforts which the Author otherwise might never have presumed to expose, should sympathise in his diffidence and anxiety, and receive and review them as a task imposed, and not as a spontaneous essay.

If this indulgence is due even to gentlemen who have had the most enviable opportunities of qualifying themselves at the expense of a liberal Government, it is surely secure to one who never enjoyed those advantages; but, being suddenly called to the immediate conduct of a Mission, originated by a public Board of very contracted means, when estranged from all facilities, had no resource to aid his realization of the scientific desiderata, beyond the acquirements common to most private gentlemen.

The vessel in which I am making my passage to England having been chartered to trade in the River Gaboon, which is immediately on the Line, I diverted a tedious delay of seven weeks in so unhealthy a situation, by visiting Naängo, a town about fifty miles from the mouth of the River, where I collected Geographical Accounts of the Interior, from several intelligent traders, and numerous slaves from different countries. I have added this compilation, (as it may borrow some interest from the adjacency of the Congo,) with a few notices of the customs and productions of this ruder part of Africa.

• Croom. A town or village.
• Caboceer. A chief or magistrate.
• Pynin. An elder or counsellor.
• Palaver. A dispute, debate, argument, or suit.
• Book or Note. A certificate of a monthly pension of the African Committee, paid in trade to the Fantee Kings and Chiefs in the neighbourhood of the British settlements, in consideration of their attachment, influence, and services; which Books or Notes were claimed by the King of Ashantee, as his by right of conquest.
• Stool. Throne, seat in council, inheritance.
• Custom. A festival, carnival, public ceremony, funeral rite.
• Panyar. To seize or kidnap.
• A Benda. Two ounces four ackies, or £9. currency.
• A Periguin. Two ounces eight ackies, or £10. currency.
• An Ackie. Five shillings currency.
• A Tokoo. Ten pence.
• A Dash. A present.
• Fetish. A charm, amulet, deity. Any supernatural power or influence. Any thing sacred.

MISSION TO ASHANTEE.

The Objects, and Departure of the Mission.

Bosman and Barbot mention the Ashantees as first heard of by Europeans about the year 1700; the latter calls it Assiantee or Inta, and writes, that it is west of Mandingo, and joins Akim on the east; he asserts its pre-eminence in wealth and power. Issert, a physician in the Danish service, who meditated a visit to Ashantee, writes, “this mighty king has a piece of gold, as a charm, more than four men can carry; and innumerable slaves are constantly at work for him in the mountains, each of whom must collect or produce two ounces of gold per diem. The Akims formerly dug much gold, but they are now forbidden by the King of Ashantee, to whom they are tributary, as well as the Aquamboos, previously a very formidable nation.” Mr. Dalzel heard of the Ashantees at Dahomey, as very powerful, but imagined them, the Intas, and the Tapahs, to be one and the same nation. Mr. Lucas, when in Mesurata, was informed that Assentai was the capital of the powerful kingdom of Tonouwah. In Mr. Murray’s enlarged edition of Dr. Leyden’s discoveries in Africa, we find, “the northern border of Akim extends to Tonouwah, denominated also Inta, Assientè, or Assentai, from its capital city of that name, which stands about eighteen days journey from the Gold Coast.”

In 1807 an Ashantee army reached the Coast for the first time. I would refer the reader to the extract in the Appendix, from Mr. Meredith’s account of the Gold Coast, as the particulars are introductory as well as interesting; and also serve to correct the misstatement in the work last quoted, that in 1808 the King of Ashantee destroyed the English fort of Annamaboe; originating, probably, from the storm of the Dutch fort at Cormantine, at that time.

The Ashantees invaded Fantee again in 1811, and the third time in 1816. These invasions inflicted the greatest miseries on the Fantees. Few were slain in battle, for they rarely dared to encounter the invaders; but the butcheries in cold blood were incredible, and thousands were dragged into the interior to be sacrificed to the superstitions of the conquerors. Famines, unmitigated by labour, succeeded the wide waste of the Fantee territory, the wretched remnant of the population abandoning itself to despair; and the prolonged blockade of Cape Coast Castle in the last invasion, engendered so much distress and hazard, that the Government having averted imminent danger by advancing a large sum of gold on account of the Fantees, earnestly desired the Committee to authorise and enable them to venture an Embassy, to deprecate these repeated calamities, to conciliate so powerful a monarch, and to propitiate an extension of commerce. By the store ship which arrived in 1817, the African Committee forwarded liberal and suitable presents, and associated scientific with the political objects of the Mission, in their instructions, which I submit in explanation.

The Route, and Reception of the Mission.

The Mission left Cape Coast Castle on the morning of the 22d of April, with the intention of quitting the water side at Moree, three miles and a half to the eastward; but on reaching it, we were told that the path thence to Payntree’s croom, always bad, was then impassable from the rains; and that we must proceed to Annamaboe before we struck into the bush for the Interior.

The reluctance of the carriers, who had been pressed into the service by the authorities of the town, became thus early almost insuperable; the consideration of pay and subsistence, and the reflection, that the dearth inflicted by the invasions the Mission was to deprecate, allowed them but a bare existence at home, were entirely lost in their aversion to the undertaking, which was equally influenced by jealousy and indolence: eleven deserted the first day; and the slender authority of the King and caboceers of Annamaboe, delayed the procuring of others to replace them until the next evening. One party was then started, attended by a soldier and a messenger, as they persisted in laying down their loads, even in the town; and many of the Annamaboes who had been procured, after lifting their packages, which were of moderate weight, walked off again, with the most insolent indifference. The devices by which these people displayed their ill will were peculiarly their own, and none could be more ingeniously tormenting. At four o’clock on Thursday morning we started the remainder of the packages, and followed them at half past six. Proceeding about two miles in a N.N.W. direction, we descended a steep hill, a quarter of a mile in length, and entered a beautiful valley, profusely covered with pines, aloes, and lilies; and richly varied with palm, banana, plantain, and guava trees: the view was refreshed by gentle risings crowned with cotton trees of a stupendous size. I never saw soil so rich, or vegetation so luxuriant.

The first croom we reached was Quama’s, about three miles and a half from Annamaboe; it presented but a few hovels; and we passed through three others, Simquoi, Taphoo, and Nasmam, just as wretched and insignificant, before we reached Booka, romantically situated amidst the luxuriant foliage of a high hill, terminating the valley. Abra is about three miles eastward of this croom: it has been entirely deserted since the last invasion, the Ashantee army under Appia Nanu having made it their head quarters. It formerly exceeded Annamaboe, but the little that now remains is in ruin, the inhabitants having retired to the small crooms of their caboceer, or Captain Quaggheree.

Passing through Tachradi, which scarcely existed but in name, we ascended a gentle rising, with a small croom, called Acroofroom, on the left hand. The astonishment of its miserable inhabitants engaging our attention, the extensive area of the summit burst upon us with the more effect. It was environed by small groves; and clumps of cotton trees rose so happily in frequent spots, as to afford all the scenery of a romantic little park; the broken rays of the sun stealing through the small trees in the distance, to make the deep shade of the foreground more imposing. The path then became more hilly, and the landscape fuller of wood: our descents and risings frequently through long vistas, so richly gilded with the sun on the summits, that, impressed with the description of Issert, we naturally yielded to the expectation, in ascending each eminence, that it would afford us the delightful prospect of an open country; but we were disappointed, and passing through Dunnasee and Assoquah, both small crooms, the latter situated on a long level, about three miles and a half from Acroofroom, we shortly after arrived at Payntree’s.

On the higher hills the soil was generally gravel, with large stones; on the lesser, white flint and whinstone abounded: the levels presented few stones, and the earth was black, strong, and rich, producing grass from four to ten feet high. The country was very thinly inhabited, and more sparingly cultivated, the cassada frequent, but producing little from the want of cultivation.

I made Payntree’s croom barely fifteen miles from Annamaboe; judging from time, it was guessed to be eighteen or twenty; but the impediments which the path almost incessantly presented to a hammock, the inequalities of the ground, and many delays which insensibly consumed the time, conspired to make such a calculation of distance very fallacious. The plan I adopted throughout, though laborious, entitled me to more confidence; and the observations confirmed the pretension. Mr. Tedlie, who was always just ahead of myself, took the angles of the path by his compass, which I pencilled as he uttered them, with their several lengths, allowing four yards and a half for every six paces. It is allowed too by the natives to be an easy four hours walk. Several hours elapsed before all the carriers came up; most of those who had been started by us the preceding day, slept in the bush, and one more had deserted.

The prevailing courses and their proportions were N.¼; N.bW.⅛; N.N.W.⅛; N.N.E.⅛; the rest of the distance being made up of small lengths, in every point of the compass, from S.W. to S.E.; the variation 17¾° W. The latitude of Payntree, by two altitudes of the sun, was 5° 20′ 30″ N.; the longitude, by the course and distance, as afterwards corrected, 1° 47′ W.

We received the compliments of Payntree and several caboceers, under a large tree, and were then conducted to a neat and comfortable dwelling, which had been prepared for us: a small square area afforded a shed for cooking in on one side, and a sleeping room in each of the others, open in front, but well thatched, and very clean: from this we passed to our sitting room, the floor of which was elevated about two feet from the ground.

The croom was prettily situated on a level, encircled by very fine trees, and consisted of a very broad and well cleaned street of small huts, framed of bamboo, and neatly thatched. Just beyond the north end of the croom, there was a stream running to the N.N.E and more than a mile of marshy ground was distinguished by the deeper shade and luxuriance of the foliage. We observed a great number of small birds, which were even more beautiful from their delicate symmetry, than their brilliant plumage; they were generally green, with black wings, and their nests hanging from the trees.

The Ashantee captain, who expected to continue there some months, on the king’s business, sent us a sheep, pleading the scarcity, and his being a stranger, as apologies for so small a present. Old Payntree was attentive and obliging; he dashed us some fowls, yams, and palm wine. We remained there the next day, to allow our people to procure four days subsistence, as they would not be able to meet with provision on the path during that period.

I walked with Mr. Tedlie along a very neat path well fenced, and divided by stiles, to a corn plantation of at least twenty acres, and well cultivated. Payntree’s farm house was situated here, and afforded superior conveniences; a fowl house, a pigeon house, and a large granary raised on a strong stage. As we returned we paid him a visit, and were refreshed with some excellent palm wine: his dwelling was a square of four apartments, which were entered from an outer one, where a number of drums were kept; the angles were occupied by the slaves, and his own room, which had a small inner chamber, was decked with muskets, blunderbusses, cartouch belts fantastically ornamented, and various insignia. The order, cleanliness, and comfort, surprised us; the sun had just set, and a cheerful fire on a clean hearth supported the evening meal. The old man was seated in his state chair, diverting himself with his children and younger wives, the elder one was looking on from the opposite apartment with happy indifference; it was the first scene of domestic comfort I had witnessed among the natives. There was a small plantation or garden neatly fenced in, near the house, for the supply of the family.

On Saturday the 26th we left Payntree’s croom, and proceeded through two romantic little valleys, with a few huts in each: the variety of trees increased with the number, and ornamented the hills with almost every tint and character of foliage: the path was frequently covered with water. Just before we reached Cottacoomacasa, a most beautiful landscape opened, the fore-ground darkly shaded with large cotton trees, and the distance composed of several picturesque little hills; their fanciful outlines, and the beautiful variety of fresh and sombre tint of the small groves which encircled them, forcibly reminded me of the celebrated ride by Grongar hill, from Carmarthen to Llandilo.

Cottacoomacasa is about six miles and a quarter from Payntree’s croom, and consisted but of a few miserable huts and sheds, which scarcely afforded shelter, and were close and filthy. I took the angles of a cotton tree near us, and the height proved to be 139 feet; generally speaking, those we had passed were, to appearance, much higher. The bearers had all settled themselves here, and not contented with a long rest, refused for some time to proceed until the next day; several were intoxicated with the rum from some ankers they had designedly broken. We started again however about half past three, and almost immediately entered a large forest impervious to the sun; the risings were frequent but gentle; the path, crooked and overgrown, presented such constant obstacles to a hammock, that Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, were glad to dismount, and found it was much more comfortable as well as more expeditious to walk; the only inconvenience was the troops of large black ants, which were too thick to be avoided, and stung us sadly. We passed two little streams running E.N.E. About six miles from Cottacoomacasa we found all the baggage, the people making their fires, and settling themselves for the night; it was almost dark; Quamina, our Ashantee guide, had gone on without us, and Mr. James we knew must be far behind; we therefore determined to halt for the night, and our hammocks were slung to the trees. The distance marched this day was twelve miles. The longitude of Cottacoomacasa was one mile E. of that of Payntree by account, that of our resting place 1° 46′ 30″ W. and the lat. 5° 28′ N.

The next morning we continued our march through the same dark solitude, and passing three small streams running E. we reached Mansue soon after ten o’clock. We had scarcely seated ourselves under a tattered shed, which could not defend us from the burning sun, when we were encircled by the cooking fires of the party, and nothing but violence could remove them to a proper distance.

Mansue had been the great Fantee market for slaves from the Interior, and its former consequence was evident from the extent of its site, over which a few sheds only were now scattered.

We proceeded again at one o’clock, and passing through a small river, Assooneara, running eastward, we came to a second, called Okee, running in the same direction to the Amissa, which falls into the sea between Annamaboe and Tantum. We passed five or six swamps, one nearly half a mile long; in these the soil was a dark clay, but otherwise gravelly. We halted in the woods at a spot where our guide Quamina was busied in cutting down the underwood to accommodate himself and his women; the bearers, resolute in their perverseness, had gone on with our provisions and clothes. The ground of our resting place was very damp, and swarmed with reptiles and insects; we had great difficulty in keeping up our fires, which we were the more anxious to do after a visit from a panther: an animal which, the natives say, resembles a small pig, and inhabits the trees, continued a shrill screeching through the night; and occasionally a wild hog bounced by, snorting through the forest, as if closely pursued. This day’s distance was eight miles, and the course N.¼N. b. E.⅙. Lat. and long. by account 5° 34′ N. and 1° 48′ W. Thermometer in shade 6 A.M. 74.

We started the next morning at seven o’clock, and after three miles and a half crossed a small river called Gaia, and sometimes Aniabirrim, from a croom of that name being formerly in its neighbourhood; it was ten yards wide and two feet deep, and ran to the E. just across the path, but afterwards N.N.E. to the Amissa. Here Mr. Hutchison waited for Mr. James to come up, whilst Mr. Tedlie and myself walked on to overtake the people. The doom and iron-wood trees were frequent; the path was a labyrinth of the most capricious windings, the roots of the cotton trees obstructing it continually, and our progress was generally by stepping and jumping up and down, rather than walking; the stems or caudices of these trees projected from the trunks like flying buttresses, their height frequently 20 feet. Immense trunks of fallen trees presented constant barriers to our progress, and increased our fatigues from the labour of scaling them: we were also frequently obliged to wait the cutting away of the underwood before we could proceed, even on foot. The large trees were covered with parasites and convolvuli, and the climbing plants, like small cables, ascending the trunks to some height, abruptly shot downwards, crossed to the opposite trees, and threaded each other in such a perplexity of twists and turnings, that it soon became impossible to trace them in the general entanglement. We passed through two small streams running S. and several swamps, richly covered with palm trees. Parrots and crown birds were numerous. At the end of ten miles we came to a small river called Quatoa, four yards wide, also running eastward to the Amissa; and immediately after to a few sheds bearing the same name, where we found the last party of the bearers all lying down, and a soldier ineffectually endeavouring to rouse them: we started them with difficulty. A mile and a half thence we met with the Okee again, running over its rocky bed in a transparent stream, which reflected the richest foliage; its course S.W.½W., the breadth nine yards, and we stepped across it from rock to rock. We soon afterwards walked through the Antoonso, a smaller river running W.S.W., which probably crossed the path to the eastward in one of the small streams near Cottacoomacasa, as every report confirmed its also running to the Amissa; it was very near Fousou, where we had scarcely arrived, before the Fantees, such was their perverseness, insisted upon going on, the Cape Coast messengers either had no influence or would not exert it; we soon stopped them with the assistance of Quamina, our Ashantee guide, Mr. James not coming up until late in the evening. Fousou was formerly a large town, but had been destroyed by the Ashantee invasion of 1807; it presented but a few sheds, in one of which we observed the Ashantee traders to deposit yams and plantains to subsist them on their return; so severe was the scarcity in the Fantee country: we could purchase nothing, and were admitted to the best hovel with reluctance. This day’s distance was 14 miles. The courses N.½, N.N.W.¼, N.bW.⅛. The latitude of Fousou by observation, was 5° 43′ 20″ N. and the longitude by account 1° 52′ W.

The next morning, the 29th of April, we marched seven miles to Ancomassa, a name given to half a dozen sheds; the path was still of the same rugged nature, and the gloom unvaried. A strong fragrance was emitted from the decaying plants and trees of the mimosa kind, whilst others in the same incipient state of putrefaction were very offensive. We passed through two small rivers, Bettensin and Soubin, six yards wide, and shallow; they both ran eastward to the Owa, of which I could not learn more than that it emptied itself into the Boosempra.

We proceeded at four o’clock, and had not gone two miles on our gloomy route before it became dark. The path was level, but very swampy, and generally covered with water. The fire-flies spangled the herbage in every direction, and from the strength of their light, alternately excited the apprehension of wild beasts, and the hope that we approached the resting place our guide, whom we never saw after starting, had told us of in the morning. The greatest fear of the people was of the spirits of the woods, (whom Mr. Park’s interpreter, Johnson, propitiated by a sacrifice between Jing and Gangaddi) and the discordant yells in which they rivalled each other to keep up their courage, mingled with the howls and screeches from the forest, imposed a degree of horror on this dismal scene, which associated it with the imaginations of Dante. Three or four times we suddenly emerged from the most awful gloom into extensive areas, on which the stars shed a brilliancy of light gradually softened into the deep shade which encompassed them; they were the sites of large and populous crooms destroyed in the Ashantee invasions. About nine o’clock we discovered a few miserable sheds, which the noise of the bearers, who had long arrived, convinced us to be Accomfodey. We had passed two small rivers, the Aprinisee and Annuia, both running to the Boosempra. This day’s distance was 11 miles, and the courses N.⅓, N.bW.⅕. The lat. and long. by account 5° 49′ N. and 1° 55′ W. Thermometer 11 a.m. 80.

We marched early the next morning. The scenery of the forest, excepting on the banks of the small rivers, was very naked of foliage, and only presented a harsh and ragged confusion of stems and branches intricately blended. We passed a small river soon after leaving Accomfodey, bearing the same name and running eastward; and shortly after another, six yards wide and two feet deep (the Berrakoo), running N.E. to the Boosempra. The path was sometimes trackless, and appeared to have been little used since the invasion of 1807; several human skulls were scattered through this dark solitude, the relics of the butchery. We halted about two o’clock by Mr. James’s direction, and passed the night in the forest. This day’s distance was eight miles, the prevailing courses N.¼, N.bW.⅛, N.N.W.⅛, N.bE.⅛. The latitude and longitude by account 5° 53′ N. 1° 55′ W. Thermometer 2 p.m. 88½, 7 p.m. 82½.

The next morning we passed some sheds, on the sites of the crooms Dansamsou and Meakirring. At the end of five miles and a quarter, the herbage to the right disclosed the cheerful reflections of the sun from the water; and we descended through a small vista of the forest, to the banks of the Boosempra or Chamah river. Nothing could be more beautiful than its scenery: the bank on the south side was steep, and admitted but a narrow path; that on the north sloping; on which a small Fetish house, under the shade of a cachou tree, fixed the eye; whence it wandered over a rich variety of tint and foliage, in which light and shade were most happily blended: the small rocks stole through the herbage of the banks, and now and then ruffled the water: the doom trees towering in the shrubbery, waved to the most gentle air a rich foliage of dark green, mocking the finest touch of the pencil; the tamarind and smaller mimosas heightening its effect by their livelier tint, and the more piquant delicacy of their leaf: the cotton trees overtopped the whole, enwreathed in convolvuli, and several elegant little trees, unknown to me, rose in the background, intermixed with palms, and made the coup d’oeil enchanting. The bright rays of the sun were sobered by the rich reflections of the water; and there was a mild beauty in the landscape, uncongenial to barbarism, which imposed the expectation of elegance and refinement. I attempted a sketch, but it was far beyond my rude pencil; the expression of the scene could only have been traced in the profile of every tree; and it seemed to defy any touches, but those of a Claude or a Wilson, to depict the life of its beauty. I took two angles from a base on the south side, which gave the width of the river, forty three yards; the depth was 7 feet, and the course N.W.½W. with a very strong current. A small river called Nimeä, ran into it, close to our right as we landed: we crossed in the hollow trunk of a tree, thirty feet long, the ends plastered up with sticks and swish.