Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/296

 242 WEST AFEICA. differs, except in pronunciation, from the Fanti, and before Britisli intervention these two peoples were at coDstant warfare, although conscious of a common origin. According to the legend two brothers, after long enduring the pangs of hunger, found each an edible plant, one the fail the other the s/mit, whence their national names Fanti and Aahanti. Before their power was broken by the English, the Ashantis had established an absolute government based on an organised system of terror. The despotism of the king over his subjects, of the nobles over their retainers, of the military chiefs over the soldiers, of master over slave, knew absolutely no limits. But its sanguinary code and atrocious customs at last rendered this system intolerable. Revolts and foreign wars, demoralisation within and the outward influence of more humane usages, brought about the dissolution of the Ashanti empire, the ruin of its institutions, and a gradual modification of the corresponding social order. The descriptions current in books of travel refer to a society which has ceased to be, but which has left behind it many traces of its former existence. The Ashanti king ruled over a nation of gro veilings, who crouched like whipped hounds at his feet, awed or terror-stricken at his every word or gesture. Although enjoying a traditional right of veto in questions of war and imposts, his ministers had long been content to play the part of fawning courtiers and approvers. One of the chief functionaries of the royal household was the head executioner, who wore as an emblem of his office a gold axe in a loop of his dress. The pages were armed with fetish weapons, enabling them to plunder indiscrimi- nately and with impunitj^ The sovereign was moreover the legal heir of all the gold, gems, and precious objects belonging to his subjects, and on grand occasions he decreed a general confiscation of property on behalf of the treasury. All male adults formed his army, and on the declaration of war every man seizing his gun, his bag of victuals, his amulets, hastened to join the ranks ; while the women, daubed with white clay, went in procession through the streets, searching the houses for laggards or deserters. The throne is inherited not in the male line but by the eldest son of the king's sister, or by some other nephew on the female side. According to Bowdich, the official numbsr of wives was 3,333, of whom five or six only occupied the private harem; but all were jealously guarded by eunuchs, and allowed to go abroad only at night. The king's sisters might marry the man of their choice, but this was a dangerous favour, as in case of her death or that of her son, the husband was expected, like a faithful slave, to follow them beyond the grave. Persons of royal birth were also frequently condemned to die, but without effusion of blood, by drowning in the river. The military chiefs also, in case of defeat, committed suicide in presence of their troops, in accordance with the Ashanti proverb, " Death is better than disgrace." Although, like the king, these " cabaceres " had many wives, most of the people were satisfied with one ; but all were extremely jealous, while the greatest cruelties were sanctioned for trivial offences. Women suspected of sorcery were put to the torture, gossips condemned to lose the upper lip, and eavesdroppers deprived of one ear.