The siege of Kumassi

Preface

IN writing an account of the siege of Kumassi, in which my husband and I found ourselves involved very shortly after our arrival there, and of the events which immediately preceded and followed it, and in which I had a share, I have been actuated by a desire to place on record, while the facts are clearly in my mind, an experience which may be of value to those who keep themselves in touch with events of interest in outlying portions of our empire. It has been my aim to state everything as I saw it, without embellishment, and while it is possible that some may think that here and there I have expressed opinions which are too candid, I can only say that they are opinions which I hold.

I have thought that a slight sketch of the social life of the Gold Coast would also be acceptable, drawn from a woman's point of view, and although

Preface it is in some degree outside our subject, I have ventured to include it, adding also a few words from experience upon the gold prospects.

For many of the photographs I am under a debt of gratitude to Mr. P. A. McCann, of the Liverpool Ashanti Gold Concessions. My own photographs, and I had taken several during the siege the reproduction of which would have been very interesting, were lost with all my other effects during the early part of our march out of Kumassi.

CHAPTER I. CHAPTER n

CHAPTER HI.

With the Kings at Kumassi

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

Rivals for a Tribal Stool

CHAPTER VI.

The Storm Gathers and Breaks .

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

Success and Reinforcement

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

Friends from the North .

CHAPTER XI.

Brave Hearts and True

CHAPTER XII.

A Forlorn Hope .

1 1

Contents

CHAPTER XIII.

Our Escape from Kumassi .

CHAPTER XIV.

Through Fire and Flood .

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

A Welcome Resting-place .

CHAPTER XVII.

Letters and Telegrams

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XIX.

A Day of Safety Dawns

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XXI.

Gold in the Gold Coast .

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXin.

Servants and Native Letters

CHAPTER XXIV.

Advance.ment of the Natives

CHAPTER XXV.

Effects of British Rule .

Index ....

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Lady Hodgson ....

Frontispiece

Sir Frederic M. Hodgson

Corner of the Drawing-room in Government House

Bank of the Lagoon at Awuna .

Procession of Chiefs with their State Umbrellas

„ 00

Mahommedan Chiefs at Kumassi

King of Mampon, Wives and Attendants

„ 84

Loyal Ashanti Kings and Chiefs with us in the Fort

„ 100

A Street in Kumassi ....

„ 120

The Fort, Kumassi ....

Major A. Morris, D.S.O., Royal Irish Regiment

Chief of Gymassu and Followers

Ashanti Fetish Temple

A Palaver of Loyal Chiefs

„ 180

Girls grinding Corn ....

„ 192

Carriers crossing a Mountain Ridge

„ 204

A Street in Akropong ....

„ 216

Dining-room in Government House

The Hausa Brass Band saluting Lady Hodgson

„ 240

A Weaver at Work ....

„ 252

Native Drummers ....

List of Illustrations

A Fetish Grove .... Face page 270

Loyal King of Mampon (Ashanti) . . „ 278

Kings of Accra and Christiansborg awaiting Lady

Hodgson . . . • M 288

Old Halls of Justice, Prempeh's Palace, Kumassi . „ 296

A Landing-place, Accra . . . „ 304

The Road to Government House, Accra . . „ 312

Officers' Quarters, Cantonments, Accra . . „ 320

The Sanatorium, Aburi . . • » 328

Shell Fishers, Volta River . . . „ 336

Girls at a Water-hole . . • >» 34^

I

THE SIEGE OF KUMASSI

CHAPTER I

OT many days after my arrival at Accra

1 ^ in November, 1899, I learnt with some little dismay that my husband was making arrangements to visit Ashanti, and that I was included in them. It is the rule for a governor to visit his outlying provinces as often as possible, and the time had come when another tour of inspection in that part of the Protectorate was desirable. It was to be taken in the ordinary course of affairs, and there was not any suspicion of trouble ahead, for there had been no reports indicating that the people were either discontented or disloyal. Had this been the case he would never have thought of taking me with him, nor would he have left Accra without making provision for any emergency that might arise. We started on our journey with no prospect of trouble beyond the discomforts of bush travelling, and I confess that I was feeling not a little proud of the fact that I should be the first Englishwoman to enter Kumassi.

Great were the preparations for our departure in March, and, terrible to relate, the date fixed for it was the 1 3th of the month ! We were nearly prevented from starting on this date of ill-omen to the superstitious by a serious case of illness which our doctor had in charge. Everything in West Africa gives way to health, and one's best emotions are forthcoming when a friend is laid on a bed of fever. So it happened that on the 12th it was almost decided not to start until the doctor was willing to leave his patient ; but this disarrangement of plans made so many complications that in the end it was decided to start on the 13th, only putting off the hour from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., in the hope that the doctor would be able to leave with us instead of having to overtake us — as indeed he did, for the patient took a turn for the better.

It had taken days to pack the stores and wines that we were to carry with us. The chop boxes " had been packed so as to weigh not more than the regulation 56 lbs. " Chop " is the term used in West Africa for provisions. A common expression among those who care to use West African slang or pidgin -English is "pass chop," which means "bring in dinner," or "give me my breakfast." It is astonishing what a little makes up 56 lbs. when put into a chop box, and it is with dismay that you see the rapidity with which the number of boxes multiplies ; but the fact is that the box itself is heavy, having to be made strong and solid in order to stand the hard wear and tear incidental to bush travelling.

When you start on an expedition up country it means taking everything with you, from matches upwards ; household furniture in the form of travelling tables and chairs, beds, baths, crockery, all cooking utensils — in fact everything in a compressed form, and woe betide the traveller if anything is forgotten. The natives who have been selected as carriers arrive in charge of their headman some two hours before the time fixed for the start, and are lined up in a row. When the roll has been called, and a last inspection made of them, they are brought one by one to the loads, and each man, taking the load allotted to him, returns to his place, and puts it down in front of him. When once a man has obtained his load, it is his until the end of the journey.

It is marvellous how each carrier can always tell his load among a number that are all so much alike ; many of them twist into the padlock of the box a piece of coloured rag or a twig, or put upon the box a small mark, known only to themselves ; they can tell in a moment when they resume their loads if anything has been added to the contents, and grumbling often ensues, for although the addition has not made the load appreciably heavier, it has perhaps spoilt the balance, and made it not quite so comfortable on the head as before. No complaints, however, are heard if the load has been lightened since it was last parted with. Each carrier ties on to the top of his load his worldly possessions for the journey, consisting generally of a native mat to sleep on, and a small bundle of rags — I cannot call them clothes, for the costumes are varied and vague ; also a shallow native cooking-pot, in which he cooks his food, and from which he eats it.

After saying good-bye to the officials who had come to see us off, we were escorted from Government House to the outskirts of the town by a guard of honour of volunteers, with the drum and fife band of the corps. There was also a crowd of natives, some honouring us by swelling

i8 the crowd, and some gathered to see their friends and relatives start upon their long journey.

There is always, I think, a keen pleasure in seeking the unknown, and we started for Kumassi looking forward to our trip with excitement, never dreaming of what sufferings were to be ours, nor even thinking of the fatigue and discomforts of the twelve days' journey before us. The mode of travelling on the Gold Coast is in hammocks, and a tedious, irritating mode it is, for the hammock is unrestful, and at the end of a day's journey you are stiff and cramped. There are two kinds : one is the ordinary hammock, in which the occupant travels lying down, and the other is known as a sitting hammock. The latter is by far the more comfortable, and it certainly is not so hot ; it has also the advantage of allowing the occupant to see where he is going. The angle of the sitting hammock can be changed by means of a foot-rest, and this is a great relief to your tired body on a long day's journey.

To every hammock are allowed eight men, four carrying you when the road is wide enough for two to be abreast, and four ready to relieve their comrades on duty, or to assist them with the hammock over difficult ground. The hammock is made of stout canvas roped on to a bamboo pole, at each end of which is a flat cross-piece of wood which rests upon the bearers' heads, as two men walk in front and two behind. They swing you along at a fair pace, four miles an hour being considered good going. Sometimes they take it into their heads to run with you, and this is far from agreeable, for the shaking and swinging of the hammock is most unpleasant.

Hammock bearers are a merry set of men as a rule, and will keep the conversation going with much hilarity amongst themselves. You often wish you could join in, and so pass an hour or two of the time that hangs so heavily in bush travelling ; but their language is quite unintelligible, and you feel somewhat annoyed that they cannot even understand enough English to obey your orders. For instance, you may call out to them to stop from running, and they will run all the faster, thinking you are enjoying the fun — as they are — of outstripping other hammocks of the party ; instead of which you are getting a shaking that seems to make every bone in your body rattle. If any European lady is thinking of travelling in this fashion up country in West Africa, let her be

wise in time, and take my advice, which is similar to that given by Punch **to people about to marry"—'' Don't!"

The thought of ladies travelling in the interior reminds me of a Belgian lady, who came out to the Gold Coast by the steamer on which I too was travelling to Accra. Her husband was going out to prospect for gold, and to obtain concessions of auriferous land from native chiefs. Very foolishly he was taking his wife with him, for he was completely ignorant of the country of his quest. She hardly spoke English at all, and he not too well. In conversation I learnt that they were uncertain whether a railway ran to the part they wished to reach ; but anyhow, failing this means of conveyance, they had arranged for a caravan to be in waiting for them on their arrival at Cape Coast. I tried gently to combat their preconceived ideas, and to explain that hammocks would be the only possible way of travelling to their destination. I had not then had much experience myself of bush life, or of hammock travelling, but I knew enough to feel certain that the life they were about to embark on was not fitted for a woman, and I wish now that I had been even more emphatic than I was in my warning to the man not to take his wife with him into the interior. She had been during the voyage very bright and lively, but when the time came for her to go ashore at Cape Coast she must needs put on one of her best frocks, and she manifested deep distress and became much annoyed when advised to change it — it was a pretty blue and black silk — for a more suitable one for the surf to disport itself upon. I suppose she thought there would be an admiring crowd on the beach.

I took so much interest in her that I was constantly asking officers on their return to headquarters if they had met this lady up-country. At last one day I heard news of her. An officer had passed through the place where they were staying, and had dined with them. They were living in a native hut, and no other white people were near them ; she was looking ill and worn, and he, poor man, had not found the Eldorado he came out to seek. They had made a little garden round the hut, in which they were growing vegetables and English flowers. A few weeks later I heard of them again. The husband had been very ill, and was then at Cape Coast out of his mind. She had brought him down in this pitiful state quite alone, except for her native servants. So all their bright hopes had fled in the short space of less than four months. Of course this is an exceptional case, and about the only one I have known of a lady going gold prospecting with her husband in West Africa, but it may serve as a warning.

West Africa in its most civilised aspect is not a kind place to the European woman ; if ever she has had even a pretence to good looks, the climate demands them, and takes them from her if she stays too long under its influence. There is also a terrible battle to be fought against the climate in its attempt to rob you of your memory. After a few months' residence in West Africa it becomes most difficult to remember small events, and a constant effort has to be made to prevent things from slipping from your mind.

On arriving at the village where the first night was to be passed, we found the tent already pitched and the people all on the look-out for our arrival. It was a very small and dirty village, and crowded with natives, but perhaps our own large party gave it this crowded appearance, for we numbered some two hundred and fifty, including the Hausa soldier escort of thirty men. We were not quite pleased with the spot on which our tent had been pitched, and wandered about trying to find a better site for it further away from so many native huts. As we walked down the principal street of the village we came upon a stream where the people were washing clothes and bathing. Evening is always the time chosen by the native for his tub. We thought the other side of this stream looked more inviting, and made the men know that we wished to cross over. There was a very leaky and rickety canoe into which we were invited to get. This was pushed across the shallow stream by two men, while a third stood behind me to steady me, for I was standing, seats being unknown in a native canoe. We found that distance had lent enchantment to the surroundings, and that the land was not only swampy, but otherwise entirely unfitted for our camp, and we had to content ourselves with the site already selected.

My next visit was to my cook to see where his kitchen was, and when I found him, the sight was one which made it best to shut my eyes if I wished to enjoy, or even eat, any dinner. He had been allotted a portion of a very dirty hut in a still more dirty compound. The native cook is a very clever man on the march, and will give you as tasty a dinner as if he had prepared it in his own kitchen with everything to hand : this is always supposing that he has proper materials, and is not tied down to the warming of tinned meats or fish, which is more often than not what an ordinary bush traveller

SIR FREDERIC M. HODGSON has to put up with. The natives have a very simple arrangement for a stove, namely, three large round stones made of burnt earth, in the centre of which the fire is lighted, while the pots are balanced on the stones. For baking, the native uses an oven of burnt earth very similar in character to the Dutch oven used in England. Most of the cooking is done in the open, but the native appears to have no fear of burning his hut down, as, when occasion requires it, he, or perhaps more properly speaking she — for the family cooking arrangements fall to the lot of the women of the establishment — makes the fire inside the hut, or just by the door, so that the flames and smoke blacken the walls. As a general rule the hut is built of dried earth, the roofing being of thatch, made of coarse dried grass, which is very inflammable ; yet, strange to say, very few fires occur.

This night was the first time I had slept in a tent, and I cannot say that I enjoyed it. I found myself many a time sighing for the comforts of my bedroom, and wishing that I had not embarked upon the journey to Kumassi. But it is a great thing to go through life cheerfully, and as I was embarked on a congenial expedition, having always wished to see Kumassi, I had no intention of allowing a few mischances or discomforts to discourage me. Misadventures in a tent while travelling in the bush are many. More than once, for example, a clumsy boy upset my bath all over the floor, and then, with a childlike disregard of the inconvenience caused, aggravatingly enjoyed the fun. I had generally to undertake some part of my dressing in the morning outside the tent, and had there an admiring crowd of critics round me. My long hair was a great attraction, and the brushing of it was a source of amusement and wonder.

Our party consisted of the Governor and m.yself, the Private Secretary, Dr. Chalmers, and the Acting Director of Public Works. We generally managed to be on the move every morning at seven o'clock, and to keep on our journey until eleven, when a halt was made for about two hours for tiffin and rest. Our travelling tables and deck chairs formed the load of a good-natured, jovial little carrier who trudged merrily along with us, and was always at hand when they were wanted. The meal carried ready-cooked did not take long to set before our hungry party, and travelling gives one a wonderful appetite ! Often the days were very hot and fatiguing, and I must confess that when the novelty of bush travelling wore off I found it rather tedious work, for every day was very much the same, and the scenery for the most part monotonous.

The forest is cool and shady, and gigantic trees tower overhead, making you feel a very small being indeed amid such grandeur. There were some beautiful bits of scenery here and there, and at times we came upon groves of palms, or it might be of bamboos, forming enormous arches delightful to pass under, so quaint were they and weird. Not many flowers were met with. They seemed to have been crushed out of existence by the wild exuberance of the forest trees, which with the wealth of undergrowth monopolised all the available space ; but occasionally I saw some magnificent white lilies and varieties of convolvulus, and here and there a tree, bearing large and gorgeous red flowers somewhat resembling a tulip, gave out a blaze of colour which lit up brightly the prevailing green, so that the sudden contrast charmed the eye.

We spent one night at the Basel Mission House at Nsaba, and were entertained with great hospitality by the missionaries who were stationed there. Nsaba is a very large native town, and the mission station is a typical one, placed on rising ground on the immediate outskirts of the town. This rising ground had been entirely cleared of undergrowth, and with few exceptions all the trees had been cut down. The dwelling, like all the houses of Basel missionaries, was substantially built of wood, with a shingled roof, and the rooms were large and spacious. The ground floor was given up to schoolrooms, for with all the missionary bodies in the Gold Coast education goes hand-inhand with religion, and above, on the first floor, were the bed- and sitting-rooms of the missionaries, surrounded by a broad and roofed veranda, the floor of which afforded shade to the rooms below. Close to the house was the Lutheran church, built for the mission by the natives ; and in front was a large cleared area of some six acres, in which the elder boys under instruction in the school were taught agriculture — chiefly the cultivation of cocoa and coffee, products for which the soil seemed admirably adapted.

I met the Commissioner of the Winneba district at Nsaba, which is almost in the centre of his district. He had come there to see the Governor, who had summoned him for the purpose of selecting a site for the erection of a small cottage bungalow, as it was the Governor's wish that all commissioners should periodically leave their stations on the coast, and by travelling, and at times residing in some central town in their districts, should make themselves acquainted with the native kings and chiefs, ascertain the wants and requirements of the people, look into the due administration of justice in the native courts, see that the native roads are kept cleared and fit for traffic, interest the people in agriculture, and in every possible way push trade and commercial enterprise. There was also a dispute about the occupation of the stool of Nsaba which the Governor desired to settle, and for which purpose we remained a day at the mission station. Some three years earlier the head chief of the district — Nsaba being the place of residence — had been removed by the people for intemperate habits and gross oppression, and his nephew had been selected as ruler in his stead. The choice had not proved satisfactory. The new chief showed himself to be weak and easily led, and had fallen into unnecessary litigation, with the result that the legal expenses were so heavy that he had to place himself in the hands of the ever-ready usurer. He had in consequence mortgaged the revenues of

3* the stool, which was being demanded as security for the debt. The sub-chiefs of the district, filled with resentment, had deposed him from the stool, which they refused to part with to the usurer, and the district was once more without a ruler. This was the previous chiefs opportunity, for he was now intriguing to recover his lost power, and the people, many of whom favoured him, were fast breaking up into parties, so that conflicts between the various factions were imminent.

A large meeting was held in the town, at which all the sub -chiefs and interested parties were present. The whole situation was disclosed with customary detail, and the Governor, having listened attentively to the various statements, gave his decision that neither the old nor the recent ruler was to be restored to the stool, but that a fresh selection altogether must be made, and his name submitted to the Commissioner for approval, when, if approved, the election was to proceed in accordance with native custom ; further, that the stool was not to be given up as a pledge for the debt, and that the debt was one which the Government would examine, and, after reducing it to equitable proportions, would recommend the people to get rid of by early payment. The decision was received with much favour, and the sub-chiefs departed to their respective villages, after the usual ceremony of hand-shaking, to discuss their interview with the Governor.

It was with much reluctance that I left this hospitable station, and plunged once more into the forest, and life in a tent. The people of the villages through which we passed always gave us a hearty welcome, and in the villages at which we stayed the night the chiefs and all the people turned out to pay their respects to the Governor, and received him according to native etiquette with much drum-beating and dancing. The offering of gifts is a time-honoured native custom, and as soon as we reached our tent a long line of people would appear bearing presents from the chief, such as yams, eggs, fruit, and, if he was a wealthy personage, perhaps a sheep or some fowls. Then humbler folk would bring their offerings, which were similar, but only in smaller quantities. A suitable return has to be made in every case, a gift of money, usually somewhat beyond the value of the presentation, being the general method of discharging the obligation, and showing appreciation of the articles presented. Much offence is caused if this return is made at once. According to native custom the donor must retire, and shortly afterwards be sent for to receive it. When the donors are many this becomes a lengthy and tedious business.

Native children are not very attractive — they are generally dirty and without clothes ; still, it was amusing to watch their antics, and their delight at the novel sight of a governor and his party staying in their village, doing things quite strange and comical in their sight, such as sitting at table, eating out of plates, and using knives and forks. They would stand, fortunately at some little distance, and stare with all their might and main, making from time to time comments among themselves when anything appeared to them unusually droll.

We were eight days travelling to Prahsu, where there is a fairly good Government rest-house, and here, as the Governor had received mails, we stayed for a day and a half Prahsu is not by any means in itself a delectable place. It is practically a Government post, where, since the Ashanti War of 1872-3, a detachment of Hausas has been kept, and where also a telegraph station has been established. It is of importance, as being the point on the main road from Cape Coast to Kumassi, where travellers cross from the Colony into Ashanti and back by means of the ferry service which is maintained by the Government, the river Prah being here the boundary between the Colony and Ashanti.

The river scenery is very pretty, and had it not been for the heavy air, the humming of hundreds of insects, and the buzzing of what is known as the six o'clock beetle, it might have been possible to delude oneself into thinking that we were back in England and gazing out upon the banks of the Thames. Here it was that the services of the Acting Director of Public Works came into play, for the Governor wished to throw a bridge across the river in order to facilitate the large traffic on the road, and wanted levels taken and a site for the work selected. Already the construction by the Government of an excellent road between Cape Coast and Prahsu was nearing completion. We had not travelled by it, but had come from Accra by a somewhat difficult and less -frequented road, as the Governor wished to leave the beaten track for our return journey, having work to do at Nsaba and other of the places through which we had travelled. At Prahsu the river rises and falls with great rapidity, and when in flood is very swift. At times it overflows its banks, and then indeed Prahsu must be a very undesirable place of residence.

Chapter II

IT is strange how the scenery changes when the river is crossed and the traveller finds himself in Ashanti-land. The forest becomes grander, and sterner in its grandeur, and the road, leading over undulating ground, is more picturesque and pleasant. We had so far been very fortunate in having had no rain, and we hoped to reach Kumassi and to return before the rains began in earnest, for we knew by repute that the road to the north of the Prah was by no means good, and led over many swamps and streams. It is a four days' ordinary journey between Prahsu and Kumassi, and at each halting-place — namely at Fumsu, Kwisa, and Esumeja — comfortable rest-houses have recently been built by the Government for the accommodation of Government officers and others who have to pass up and down the road. These rest-houses are available on certain conditions, and by a small money payment, to Europeans prospecting for gold, and are most comfortable, being not only in every way far superior to the average native hut, but also placed on sanitary sites. I hailed them with delight, for I had become very tired of tent life, and was glad to have a roof over my head once more.