Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/297

 Till lately, funerals were the most dreaded events in Ashanti society. On the approaching death of a chief the slaves were watched or even chained to prevent them from escaping the terrible ceremony, and immediately after his last gasp two were sacrificed to accompany him beyond the grave. Then at the solemn burial, the whole gang of appointed victims, numerous in proportion to the rank or wealth of the deceased, walked in the funeral procession amid a throng of women howling and dancing, their bodies painted a blood-red colour. A certain magic word might save the wretches doomed to die; but the shouts of the rabble and the roll of drums always prevented the saving word from being heard. The executioners, known by their black attire, were deaf to all appeal, and to stop the cry for mercy closed the mouth of the slave either by gagging or by thrusting a dagger through bath cheeks; then they severed his right hand and pawed off his head. But slaves did not suffice, and the great captain also needed the society of a free man in his future home. Hence one of the assistants, suddenly and at haphazard seized from behind, was immolated with the rest, and his still palpitating body thrown into the pit, which was immediately filled up. When the king himself died, hundreds perished in this way, all who had served as spies, or were known as kra or "souls," of the sovereign, being immolated to continue their watch over him in the other life. With him were also buried vast treasures, which his successor could touch only in case of extreme peril to the State.

The criminal code was no less sanguinary. To break an egg or spill any palm-oil in the streets of Cumassi, were capital offences. The arms of murderers were struck off before being killed, and the bleeding wretches had then to perform a funeral dance in the king's presence, lighted torches being applied to their wounds to stimulate them in the execution of the prescribed gambols. But the great "customs," or feasts were the chief occasion of the wholesale massacres, which had become a necessary institution under the Ashanti system of government. The autumn harvest feast had especially to be copiously watered with blood; at that season the provincial cabaceres were required to visit the coast, and on entering the town they offered a slave to the local genius. Each quarter had its sacrifices, blood flowed everywhere; the executioners indulged in frenzied dances, beating their drums decked with human skulls, and the fetish-men concocted philters against death by mixing human blood with corn. Licence reigned in the riotous city, for it was the feast of renewal, of life and death.

One of the streets of Cumassi was called "Never dry of blood," and according to a Fanti play of words the very name of the city meant "Kill them all." The new-born infant was slain on a day of ill-omen; in certain districts the poison cup was the means of solving all difficulties, and in this way whole villages were nearly depopulated. In such a land of terror and oppression life was held in slight esteem, and suicides became very frequent, especially amongst the slaves. When one of this class made up his mind to die he gave notice to his owner, who gave him a bottle of brandy to make him drunk, and then had him clubbed to death. It was full time that by the influence of the English on the one hand and