Arriving at the Court of Kumasi
"On the moming of the 22nd Dec we were all up betimes, and for once the sound of the morning bugle was almost welcome; for on this day we expected…
Location: Kumasi, Ghana
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman by Richard Austin Freeman, 1898.
Kumasi
On the morning of the 22nd Dec we were all up betimes, and for once the sound of the morning bugle was almost welcome; for on this day we expected to enter Kumasi, and were not a little excited at the prospect of enjoying a privilege so seldom accorded to Europeans.
During the greater part of the forenoon we sauntered about the village discussing our chances of resting that night in the capital, and all agog to get on the road. About ten o'clock we commenced making preparations for the triumphal entry into the city; and by Odonkor's advice we put on our best clothes, adding such little ornamental touches as were possible, and caused the Hausas to don their Zouave jackets (they only wore their shirts and trousers on the march) and give their accoutrements a final polish.
About eleven o'clock the various preparations were completed, and having formed up the expedition, we took to our hammocks; for it would have been unspeakably shocking to the Royal personages of Kumasi to see the emissaries of the Great White Queen enter their city on foot, like common baggage carriers.
When we had advanced a short distance from Kasi we found that a road about 10 ft. wide had been cleared for us; that is to say, the herbage had been cut down so that we could advance without using our cutlasses. It had evidently been cleared that day expressly for us, and we travelled along it by the King's desire. But Futa assured me that it was not the regular road to the city, and was much more circuitous. He was further of opinion that the King's object in preparing this particular road was not, as we had imagined, to pay us a compliment and welcome us to his capital, but to prevent us from seeing a certain pit that (as Futa declared) lay close by the regular road; the pit in question being used as a general receptacle for the bodies of the victims of the sacrificial "customs" that have gained for Kumasi so evil a reputation.
"Street in Kumassi," 1890s. Image by the National Archives UK | OGL 1.0
After proceeding along this road, without incident, for about an hour, we reached a large clearing in the forest, and here we encountered a messenger from the King, who informed us that we were required to wait at this spot until His Majesty should signify his readiness to receive us. We at once despatched messengers to announce our arrival; then fixed up our chairs and waited impatiently for a reply. I have seldom found myself in less comfortable circumstances than I did while waiting for the King's permission to advance.
The large space being entirely cleared of trees and destitute of shade, we were exposed to the unmitigated rays of the noonday sun, which scorched us as though concentrated by an immense burning-glass; and to add to our discomfort the place swarmed with large black ants which crawled over us by thousands. They had evidently been disturbed in the clearing of the space, for many of them carried the larvae of the rising generation of the community.
At the end of twenty-five minutes our messengers returned, saying that the King was "cleaning himself" and would send a messenger when he was ready. Thereupon we directed them to return to the King and point out to him that our men had neither food nor water, and that we had no shelter from the sun, and, moreover, were being slowly consumed by ants. This elicited a reply to the effect that the King would shortly be ready; and after the interchange of a few more messages of a similar kind His Majesty was at length pleased to intimate that he was actually prepared to receive us in his capital.
The expedition then fell in and advanced, the order of the procession being as follows:
The advance guard. The Band (five fifes and two side drums). Our three hammocks. The escort, with fixed bayonets. The carriers (two hundred in number) and the non-commissioned officers' wives. The rear guard.
As we proceeded, the band executed various inspiriting airs, such as "Belle Mahone" and ''Bonnie Dundee", and as we entered. the precincts of the city, the rather ominous melody "Just before the Battle, Mother!" was performed, possibly from an idea on the part of the band-master that a skirmish was not the most remote of possibilities. And indeed appearances would have rendered such a supposition by no means unreasonable, for the King's troops and other Ashantis poured out of the city in multitudes to greet us, all armed with long Dane guns which they discharged in all directions, with the utmost impartiality, causing an uproar that was perfectly deafening.
Now, when an African indulges in a feu-de-joie it is by no means the harmless affair that blank- firing is at home. In the first place, he generally rams three times the proper charge of powder into his crazy barrel, and then fills it up with stones, slugs, pieces of iron, or anything else of a suitable size that comes handy.
Consequently, to the shouts and yells of the multitude and the unceasing din of exploding firearms was added the whistling of slugs above our heads, and as these irregularly-shaped missiles are extremely erratic in their flight, we most devoutly wished the hospitable Ashantis had adopted some other mode of testifying their joy at our arrival. As our procession approached the environs of Kumasi it was taken in tow by certain officials who were facetiously described to us as "guides," by whom it was led by the most circuitous route round the outskirts of the city, somewhat after the fashion of a travelling circus.
.As soon as we were fairly in the city we began to pass numbers of chiefs who had taken up their positions at the side of the road. Each chief was seated on a stool and surrounded by his retainers, who mostly squatted on the ground, while an attendant stood behind him and held an umbrella over him. It was obvious that the umbrella was the distinguishing mark of the native aristocrat, and by its size and character an approximate estimate of the social position of the owner could be formed.
The umbrellas, as we met with them, were in a crescendo series. The chiefs first encountered were shaded only by the small cotton umbrellas of gaudy colours that were imported from Europe, varied with ladies' fringed sunshades; but as we proceeded, more important-looking structures appeared, until, when we reached the stations of the chiefs of higher rank, we found them sitting under the shade of the large and gorgeous state umbrellas that are made in the country.
These latter are of really excellent workmanship and of imposing dimensions. They commonly have a diameter of from six to eight feet, and are built on a stick from eight to ten feet high. The "works? are similar to those of an ordinary European umbrella, only that they are constructed entirely of wood, even to the ring that slides up and down the stick. The wire spring-catch that in British-made umbrellas keeps the ribs extended, is replaced by a wooden peg that is driven through a hole in the stick.
The covering is generally of velvet of various bright colours, and is made in gores of contrasting hues, the seams being covered by gold braid; the dome, which is much deeper than in the European article, is surrounded by a "fly" or curtain about a foot deep, which in some of the most gorgeous examples is replaced by gold fringe. The cover is in many cases decorated with half-moons, stars, or figures of animals, cut out in gold cloth and stitched to the velvet; and the stick terminates in a gold ornament generally representing some animal, possibly the totem of its owner.
These minor chiefs we saluted from our hammocks in the native fashion by extending the hand towards them; but we were presently drawn up in front of a very portentous umbrella which, we were informed, belonged to the chief executioner. Feeling that so important a functionary was entitled to more than a mere wave of the hand, we descended from our hammocks and proceeded to shake hands with him. This aristocratic ''Jack Ketch" was a genial and even a jocular-looking ruffian, and gave us a most cordial reception; and when I gave his hand a cordial grip he chuckled aloud and returned it with such interest that I wished I had not been so "demmed familiar." I noticed that in shaking hands the Ashantis do not grasp the hand firmly as we do, but take it quite gingerly, and when, from the force of habit, I exerted more pressure than they were accustomed to, they drew back somewhat and seemed a little doubtful of my intentions.
After passing the ''Lord High Executioner" we walked along an apparently interminable line of chiefs, each seated in state under his particular umbrella and surrounded by his crowd of dependents. Our linguist, Odonkor, preceded us and indicated the chiefs whose importance entitled them to shake hands with us; most of them received us with agreeable smiles and seemed pleased to receive us, but a few regarded us with grim solemnity and evidently looked upon us as intruders.
Bibliography
Richard Austin Freeman, Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman (New York, NY: Fredrick A. Stokes, 1898), 89-97.
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