' He
demanded from King Adinkara his ancestral and royal stool, which was
thickly studded and embossed with precious metal. The craven yielded it
and purchased peace. His brave sister presently replaced it by a seat of
solid gold: this the Ashanti again requisitioned, together with a large
gold ornament in the shape of an elephant, said to have been dug from some
ruins. The Amazon replied, with some detail and in the 'spade' language,
that she and her brother should exchange sexes, and that she would fight
_a l'outrance_; whereupon the Ashanti, with many compliments about her
bravery, gave her twelve months to prepare for a campaign.
In 1818 Dupuis found Ashanti engaged in the 'second Bontuko war' with
Adinkara, who had again thrown off his allegiance. But small-pox was
raging in the capital, and this campaign ended (1819-20) with the defeat
and death of the womanly monarch, with a massacre of 10,000 prisoners, and
with the sale of 20,000 captives. Thus Gyaman was again annexed to
Ashanti-land as a province, instead of enjoying the rank of a tributary
kingdom; and the conqueror's dominions extended from Cape Lahou (W. long.
4? 36') through Gyaman to the Volta River (E.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377