Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0147.jpg

ASHANTI ing the common ash, native to the British Isles; the white or American ash, with a light bark and pale green leaves, abundant in Canada and in the United States west to Minnesota and Texas; the red ash, met with in swampy ground in the middle states of the union: the black ash, native to New England and west to Missouri, and with its soft though tough wood, useful for barrel hoops and staves; besides the green ash, prized for its ornamental beauty in the middle states and the west; and the mountain ash or rowan tree (a species of Pyrus), allied to the ash tree proper only in its leaves. The two varieties familiar in the middle and northern states are the white and the black ash, and these are the most useful for their tough, yet easily worked wood, as well as for their ornamental purposes as a shade tree. Ashan'ti or Ashantee, lately a negro kingdom in western Africa, on the north of the Gold Coast. Formerly, it was shut off from the seaboard by the Gold Coast colony, eighty miles broad, an English protectorate. Since 1896, it has become part of the northern territories of the Gold Coast under a British protectorate, and is governed by a British resident agent. Its exports are gold, palm-oil and india-rubber. Its population is from one to one and one-half millions, one fifth of whom are warriors; area of Ashanti, the Gold Coast and protectorate, about 82,000 square miles. The land is tilled near the towns, but elsewhere is a dense forest. The natives manufacture beautiful cottons, earthenware and sword-blades. They have been wont to practice human sacrifice and are polygamists, the king being allowed 3,333 wives. The capital is Coomassie (Kumasi).

The people of Ashanti probably came from north of the Kong Mountains. They were first heard of in 1700, when a powerful king, Osai Tutu, conquered several neighboring states. They have fought two wars with the English and lately one with the French. In 1900, there was a serious rising r,t Kumasi against the English, who for a time were besieged in the city, but were relieved by a force from the coast.

Progress is going steadily on, Kumasi being linked with Obassi and the coast at Sekondi by a railway 168 miles long, built at a cost of $9,034,000. The census of 1911 estimates the population in the northern territories (those beyond the eighth parallel of north latitude) at 357,-569, distributed over a territory^ between 38,000 and 50,000 square miles in extent. They are administered by a commissioner and commandant with headquarters at Gambaga. The revenue in 1910, derived largely from caravan taxes, was $188,105, the expenditures $586,990, and the grant in aid $68,800. Permanent roads are being made, light steamers are plying the Volta, and a silver currency has been introduced with increasing benefits. Kumasi, the chief town, had in 1905 a population of 5,940. Ashe'ville, N. C., the capital of Buncombe County, North Carolina, a central railroad point in the state, 210 miles west of Raleigh. Situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains and comparatively close to the Smoky Mountains ot Tennessee, it has become a noted health resort. Here is Ashe-ville College for Women, a Methodist institution, founded in 1843. Asheville is the seat of an extensive trade in tobacco. Population, 18,762. Ash'land, Ky., a city in Boyd County, on the Ohio River, opposite to and a little to the southeast of Ironton, O., and about 145 miles southeast of Cincinnati. It is reached by the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Norfolk & Western and other railroads as well as by steamers on the Ohio. Settled early in the fifties, Ashland* became a city in 1870 and is today governed by the revised charter of 1894. Besides Central Park, a pretty, recreative area of 50 acres in the heart of the city, it has other pleasure resorts without the city limits, especially Cliffside Park. The town is important as a manufacturing and shipping center, and has an extensive trade in coal, iron ore, sheet steel, wire rods and nails, brick, lumber, furniture, leather and other products of its industrial establishments. Population (1910), 8,688. Ashland, Wis., capital of Ashland County, Wis., in the northern section of the state, situated on Chequamegon or Ash land Bay, Lake Superior, 60 miles east of Duluth, 180 miles from St. Paul, 250 miles from Milwaukee and 410 miles from Chicago. It is the center of a large lumber, brown stone, and iron mining trade, and its position on the lake contributes to the commerce and expansion of the city. It is, moreover, the terminus of four railroads. It has a number of churches and schools and several charcoal blast-furnaces and other industries. Population, 11,594. Ash'tabu'la, O., an important railway and shipping center on Lake Erie, 55 miles east of Cleveland and about midway be~ tween the latter and Erie, Pa. It possesses a good harbor, and has a large trade in the shipping of coal and iron ore irom the mines of both Ohio and Pennsylvania, It is a station on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, and has railroad connections besides with the New York, Chicago and St. Louis and with the Pittsburg, Youngstown and Ashtabula division of the Pennsylvania Lines, It is becoming an important manufacturing center. The town has some fine public buildings, and has electric railroads and other modern equipments. Population, 18,266. Ash Wednesday, the fitst day in Lent; so called from the old ebotcli cttstoin of