wherein we
were confined, while the air was rent by the wild yells of the excited
populace. For nearly an hour this continued, and we thus remained in
terrible suspense until at last the gate opened, and with the grass ropes
still around our neck we were marched out of the palace under an escort
of the king's slaves.

Turning to the left along the broad avenue we saw upon a long pole a
human head grinning at us, two vultures perched upon it eagerly stripping
it. It was, Omar told me, the head of a thief. The street was crowded
with people, who shouted to their gods as we passed in procession, and
presently we came to a great fetish-gallows, from the cross beams of
which hung the decomposing body of a ram. Some of the men forming our
escort were a strangely-dressed set, their uniform consisting of striped
tunics reaching to the knee, confined round the waist by belts profusely
decorated with strips of leopard skin and tiny brass bells which tinkled
musically as they moved. In their belts they carried several knives,
while the musket and the little round cap of pangolin skin completed
their equipment.

At last we reached the grove at Bantama on the out-skirts of the town,
one of the three execution places. Several thousand people had assembled
around a great tree where a number of gorgeous umbrellas of every hue and
material had been erected. Many were ornamented with curious devices, and
the tops of some bore little images of men and animals in gold and
silver. Under the centre umbrella, upon a brass-nailed chair close to the
tree, sat King Prempeh in regal splendour, surrounded by a crowd of
chiefs, whose golden accoutrements glittered in the sun. Three
scarlet-clad dwarfs were dancing before him amid the dense crowd of
sword-bearers, fly-whiskers, court criers and minor officials. As he sat
there, his thin flabby yellow face glistening with oil, he looked a truly
regal figure, wearing upon his head a high black and gold crown, and on
his neck and arms great golden beads and nuggets. His habit was to suck a
large nut that looked like a big cigar, and as he sat there with it in
his mouth it gave his face a strangely idiotic expression.

The whole Ashanti court had assembled at the theatre of human sacrifice.

As we approached the drumming grew louder, the roar of voices filled the
air, and the great coloured umbrellas were seen whirling and bobbing
above the heads of the surging crowd of natives. The great barrel-like