orkmanship. He also begged them to send down to the coast by the
first opportunity the cases of specimens which had been collected since
the departure of the Fans.

A violent attack of fever, brought on by their exertions in the sun,
prostrated both the white travelers a few days after the termination of
the siege, and it was some weeks before they were able to renew their
journey. Their intention was to ascend the river for some distance,
to move westward into upper Ashanti, and then to make their way to
Coomassie, whence they would journey down to Cape Coast and there take
ship for England. As soon as they were able to travel they took leave
of their friends at Abeokuta, who furnished them with carriers for their
cases and hammock bearers for their journey as far as the Volta. This
lasted for a fortnight through an open and fertile country. Then
they crossed the river and entered Ashanti, the great rival empire of
Dahomey. As Ashanti was at peace with England they had now no fear of
molestation on their journey.

Ashanti consisted of five or six kingdoms, all of which had been
conquered, and were tributary to it. The empire of Ashanti was separated
by the river Prah from the country of the Fantis, who lived under
British protection. The people drew their supplies from various points
on the coast, principally, however, through Elmina, a Dutch settlement,
five miles to the west of Cape Coast. The Ashantis could not be called
peaceable neighbors. They, like the Dahomans, delighted in human
sacrifices upon a grand scale, and to carry these out captives must be
taken. Consequently every four or five years, on some pretext or other,
they cross the Prah, destroyed the villages, dragged away the people to
slavery or death, and carried fire and sword up to the very walls of the
English fort at Cape Coast. Sometimes the English confined themselves
to remonstrance, sometimes fought, not always successfully, as upon one
occasion Sir Charles Macarthy, the governor, with a West Indian regiment
was utterly defeated, the governor himself and all his white officers,
except three, being killed.

In 1828 we aided the Fantis to defeat the Ashantis in a decisive battle,
the consequence of which was the signature of a treaty, by which the
King of Ashanti recognized the independence of all the Fanti tribes. In
1844, and again in 1852, a regular protectorate was arranged between
the British and the Fantis, the former undertaking to protect