THE ASHANTEE CAPITAL.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1339, 26 May 1874, Page 2

THE ASHANTEE CAPITAL.

A CARNIVAL @P BLOOD—SICICENING-|dETAILS. A correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, in a letter dated Coomassie, February sth, thus describes that city :—

A town over which the smell of death hangs everywhere, and pulsates on each sickly breath of wind—a town where, here and thers, a Vulture hops at one's very feet, tod gorged tq join the filthy flock preening itself on the gaunt dead trunks that line the rjQadjjjwhere blood is plastered, like a pitch coating, over trees and floors, and stools— blood of a thousand victims, yearly renewed ; where headless bodies make common sport ; where murder pure and simple, monotonous massacre of bound men, is, one employment of the King and the one spectacle of the populace. At every shuddering breath the stomach turns, so pestilential is the air ; but in this atmosphere the inhabitants pass their life. They eat heartily while huiia'ri streams down the streets, while bodies unburied bleach and swfell- before- their eyes. \ The child idoes not shripk as the executioners pass by; the bride does not turn an inch from her (waysto avoid a' fostering corpse. Verily this is the metropolis of murder. The odour of putridity is the air approved by its inhabitants"'1' The sight they love is severed necks and spouting b|ood, and corpses that line the road in a dead procestion. Their houses are built to jommand the widest views. They are. stained red x that the colour of blood may.always<_.ejoice their eyes. Beside the the doors and ialong the stucco friezes one group is .never! absent-^-a fantastic figure, flourishing his knife over a helpless victim. Murder is their'delight, their joy. Though the empire be tottering'under the incessant drain ; t though their own ; lives, are not worth an hour' & purchase, the appetite will hot bo restrained. Children and slaves, which make their savage wealth, are sacrificed with glee to keep up the show- Nowhere are so many dead, trees poisoned

by the noxious exhalations which these people love to breathe ; nowhere is an"?^ life so scant. The pretty lizards . wbicb rustle and hunt over every other town have fled the place. Only vultures abound with, Bickening tamencss, and kites, which swoop close to the ground with plaintive twittering. Coomassie covers a very large space oi ground—to speak of it still in the present tense. It has many handsome houses, an built to the same style. The front is open, raised about four feet from the ground. Here sit the inhabitants and watch the dreadful Spectacles provided for their amusement. Chiefs' houses have a long, facade of dea,d wall on either side, profusely ornamented with stucco devices in high relief. The lower part is painted red and polished. All living rooms lie behind, and little care seems to be given them. , In some houses hottevei" they febver a very large piece of ground—room beyond room, always opening on a court-yard, and huts beyond. The King's palace is r .ally a handsome building of stone, faced with stucco, and extremely solid., It has two floors and a belvidere, used for lumber. An open battlement surmounts the roof, from which one commands an extensive view. The place is apparently used as a , treastire-house exclusively. Only one room the King lives in, to judge from appearance—alow, dark bed-chamber on the ground floor, hung with cloth of country silk, and containing a silk bedstead, with curtains at one end and a low divan on the other. The rest of the building is simply stored with loot., although it seems probable that the most valuable articles haVe been removed. I made out a list of objects noticed in my visit. Imprimis, a great number of umbrellas, some of them very handsome, and one of black arid red velvet in alternate Squares, bound with gold lace, with a golden top, perfectly new. A quantity of common pot figures- Highland Mary, two little busts of tbe Duke of Wellington, etc. A number of clocks, various, all stopped with the rust of years. A very ancient coatee belonging to the ' First West India, and shako of incredible shape, probably cont' mporaneous. Calabashes and stools, beautifully bound with silver. A bird-organ, playing as advertised, " 0, rest Thee, Babe, Slow bfoke the Light, Adeste Fideles," etc. Portrait of a gentleman in oil. Four gold masks, very heavy, quite pure, valued at £150 to £200. A great quantity of old Dutch engravings in portfolios. Numbers of big toilet-glasses. The King's plate, mostly Dutch metal. Many guns, one double-barrel, silver mounted. A lot of kettles. A gold-bound lantern. Boxes of embossed silver ; two tea tables, one inlaid with gold, one with silver. Silver and gold Chibouks. A magic-lahtefn. A handsome box. Picture of the new Custom-house on the Biver Thames. Ivory model of a ship. Chairs, beautifully carved, and a collection of "stony marbles "