Ashanti Textiles and Dyes, 1819
The Ashantee loom is precisely on the same principle as the English; it is worked by strings held between the toes; the web is never more than four inches broad.…
Location: Ghana
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Textiles and Dyes
From Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee by Thomas Edward Bowdich, 1819.
The Ashantee loom is precisely on the same principle as the English; it is worked by strings held between the toes; the web is never more than four inches broad. A weaver is represented in the drawing, No. 3, and a small loom complete is amongst the articles for the British Museum. They use a spindle, and not a distaff, for spinning, holding it in one hand, and twisting the thread, (which has a weight at the end,) with the finger and thumb of the other.
The fineness, variety, brilliance, and size of their cloths would astonish, could a more costly one be exhibited; in the absence of which, that for the Museum will doubtless be admired for the two first qualities, and for having precisely the same appearance on both sides. I shall notice in the Chapter on Trade, that the richest silks are unravelled to weave into them. The white cloths, which are principally manufactured in Inta and Dagwumba, they paint for mourning with a mixture of blood and a red dye wood.
The patterns are various, and not inelegant, and painted with so much regularity, with a fowl's feather, that they have all the appearance of a coarse print at a distance. I have seen a man paint as fast as I could write. There will be a very fair specimen in the British Museum, the price of painting which was one ackie.
They have two dye woods, a red and a yellow, specimens of which I brought down; they make a green by mixing the latter with their blue dye, in which they excel; it is made from a plant called acassie, certainly not the indigo, which grows plentifully on the Coast.
The acassie rises to the height of about two feet, and according to the natives, bears a red flower, but the leaf is not small, fleshy, or soft, nor is it pale or silvery coloured underneath; it is a thin acuminate leaf about five inches long, and three broad, of a dark green. I regret to add, our best specimens of this plant perished in the disasters of our march, and no drawing was made of it, as it bore no flower in that season; it grows abundantly in the woods, and produces a fast and beautiful colour without requiring a mordant.
They gather a quantity of the leaves, bruise them in a wooden mortar, and spread them out on a mat to dry, this mass is kept for use, a proportion of it is put into a pot of water and remains six days previous to immersing the thread, which is left in six days, drying it once every day in the sun, it is then a deep lasting blue colour. When a light blue is wished for, the thread is only allowed to remain in the dye pot three days.
Bowdich, Thomas Edward. Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee. J. Murray, 1819.
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