112•

. ON THENIDROES I RELDION m GiiNERAL

BY L.F.

R~1.rgq

Translation by Irene Odotei*

113.

occasionally

"helping" Rpmerto make himself .understood.

There are

still

a few points whioh I need to clear with eighteenth

century

Danish language experts before the complete Translation

is published.

As a historian,

I find this chapter of Rpmer's book very interes-

tinge

It makes references

to actual names of people, places and

historical

incidents which can be cross-checked with the marn;t.$crJpts.

and oral

traditions

of the period.

It shows the historical

value of

customs and festivals.

The Labadi (a section of Accra) fe~t..tY:.al.is.

easily recognisable with a few modification.

Possessed. priestesses

behave in almost the same wa::rdescribed by Rpmeras toda::r.

Rpmer is torn between his position

as a Christian from a

different

culture

and a man who has been exposed to something which

has shaken his world. Very often he looks downwith 'contempt'

on

the belief

of the people and at other times he is comrinced that

there

is some power which to him defies

logic behind the action of the gods

which are worshipped. To quote him •••

IIIshould confess that

I

believe S~~~ is mighty 8J.llongthe heathens".

Whatever attitude was adopted by J:l.pmeror the Europeans ont'he

coast did not alter

the fac.

that

religion

played a crucial

role in

the relationship

between the Europeans and the Africans.

A remarka-

ble feature

of Rpmer's observation was his assertion

that

the

Africans believed in a supreme ~od with minor geXisunder Him. This

means that before the missionaries

started

their evau.gelisation

in

the nineteenth century the idea of the supreme God existed amon'Sthe

114.

Africans.

It is generally accepted that

the Africans have been

influenced by the Suropea..Ylsin their

reli'S'ion. Rpmer shows that

in

the eighteenth century it was the Africans who influenced the

j<Juropeanson the coast.

This is evidenced by his statement

that

the

Europeans were influenced to the extent of wearing charms procured

for

them by their black wives, mistresses,

and servants .-- The mortality

rate amongthe Europeans was so high that

there was an urgent need

to use whatever means was available

to preserve life.

The Europeans

therefore

relied heavily on African herbs.

Since the Africans had a

strong belief

in the role played by the supernatural

in disease and

health,

the Europeans found themselves eventually accepting the

belief

in the efficacy of these gods for

the preservation

of their health.

Inadequate manpowerand meagre resources also compelled the

Europeans to use the African method of maintaining law and order.

Trial by ordeal was utilised

by both Africans and Europeans alike.

One striking

feature

as observed by Rpmer is that African

religion

is as open to corruption as aJJY other religion.

In his

view Africans could cheat and rene<se On their promises to their

own

gods. The Europeans freely participated

in this corruption.

Rpmer

often gave drinks

to one priestess

at Nungoto tell

her people to be

obedient

to the Danes knowing that such a womanhas a lot of

influence with her people.

Rpmer also gives a lively description

of our story-telling

tradition which shows the African r s love for the theatrical.

Speech

and movementwere combined to entertain

in the open air.

No sta;.:re,

enclosed space or special

costume were needed for

the African theatre.

The tradition

of origin of the Ananse stories

is given putting the

blame of ~e's

roguery and cunning on the ingratitude

of humanbeings.

The wrIter has chosen the third chapter of Rpmer's book for a

start

of trc.nslations,

because it

is the most informative

and enter-

taining for both Historians

and non-Historians

alike.

2.

Since the nature and. customs of a people usually flow from their

religion,

I will begin with that

topic,

although it

is difficult

to-

write about a religion which does not appear to be systematic.

For,

most of them never bother

to think about such things,

and the elderly

amongthem who do, are,

in most cases, of such varied opinions as

East

is from West.

What I write here is based on what I have been told by a High

Priest,1

namely cur caboC<:lbl:,2 Putti3

(O~oti)

of Labadi and also

Naytee (Nuete),

the old Tessing (Teshie)

cabuceer and others.

Not

only is Putti

(Okpoti)

the '!lost famous and greatest

priest

(fetish maker)

on the Gold Coast but LabOOihas the most distinctive

but not

the

strongest, which is in Fante.

This will be explained later.

You should have stayed Onthe coast

for a long time before a

black would answer your question on his religion.

Furthe:rmore, you

should not have been seen laughing at

their

cermonies or rediculing

their

answers to questions posed by the Europeans.

If we say l'This

is rubbish,

etc",

they ansvler "It ca.>1-well be,

think what you will",

and they laugh with us. They usually do not answer us when we ask

more than one question in a conversation.

I rememberPutti

(Okpoti) carneto me one afternoon wi tli greetings

from the Fetish (Oracle) which assured me of his friendship

and

protection,

and asked for a bottle

of brandy. Since I had given him

some not

long before,

I made objections

that his fetish

is not as great

as that of the Fante and yet

is thirstier.

I would bet our old bu'll

to see if he (the Fetish)

could take a bull or cowup in the air as the

Fante's.

Putti

answered that

the Labadi (fetish)

could not.

I asked

why and was answered th8.t the ancestors of the Fantes were with Goa

whilst

those at the (Labadi's)

died in war. WhenI asked whether

those who died in war did not go to God, he became quiet and sent an

:

old black whowas with him on an errand.

1,llhenwe were alone, he

answe~d my question thus,

"Don't you know, that

the blacks cut off

each other's
.

head. in war? Do you really think that God takes in

people without heads? Can't he get enough people who die in their

,

houses and are b.1ried with their heads on?:'

I had. to be satisfied with

such an answer.

All

the blacks know that

there is a SupremeBeing who created all

things,

guides,

rules and sustains

the world; but others say that

there are three subordinate gods, namely, the sky,

the earth,

and

the sea .g-ods. They believe that

there is a powerful evil

spirit with

many evil

spirits

under him whoproduces all

the evil

in the world and

caUSes as muchd.amageas possible,

if not prevented by God and the
In Accra, God is called Niumbo(N.vomo)and the devil ~.5

fetish.

I have not seen any picture of Godbut of the devil painted like a

pousse of clay and ,:sumwith a pair of horns on the head and a tail

almost as our painters paint

it.

They 8a;; that

the devil

is white

and paint him \'1ith the whitest colour.

Their picture of the devil

is usually a span hi:sh covered with hair and feathers. WhenI asked

them if

the fetish

had instructed

them to paint

such a picture,

they

answered that

it was an old womanwho produced th~m and hired. them

for eight days or more to those whomthe devil disturbed at night

I:;;

and gave no rest.

The devil

is so afraid of his own picture

that

he never revisited

a house in which he had once seen his picture.

in addition,

traditions

The blacks have,

of a certain Nanny6
(Ana.&mr, and of his wiles and roguery. One could generally call
Nanny (Ana.anu)

the negroes (ulenspeil)

trickster.

,

They have practically

nothing to do but sleep during the day and gather at night

in groups

of fifty,

sit outside the door w~il8t

the old tell

,the youn.gabout

f

.

this Nan..'1Y(Ana.a.rro.).

The y~

find in his intrigues

such excitement

that

they only'wish for an opportunity in the world to imitate

this

tri'ckste:r •

118.

I should like to digress a little

on this

tradition •... A bi,;

black spider

(An.aa11U) ,

in the language of the blacks called Nanny

(Ana.a.nu), on God's orders,

created the first

human bein-ss or, more

correctly,

(accordin;

to the blacks) Na.r:my(Anaanu)spun the material

and God used it

to create man.

Narmy was so diligent

that he spun material

f or a great

rrt.uUb er

of people till

he cmld do no more. Na.r:mywaited and expected grati-

tute from men for his efforts but

they ran away.from himaild preferred

to receive instructions

from.the' fetish

on what to,p.q.

' Nanllycreated

one more creature of thelittli:l

stuff

that he hE4 lefi;,.. This was

lighter

than the previous ones. Nanny nursed, educated and gave' him

his ownname. This stqry is about this

singular creature who could

live in the world without working, but mainly by deceiving- others

and could even cheat the fetish himself. WhenNarmywas supposed to

offer

the fetish a chicken, he would consumethe flesh and set

the

feathers

and bones together

just as a whole chicken as.;:Jlel ha.d.been

tau,ght by the mother. Should be offer an ego'S,he was ~au~hthow he

could punch a hole in it,

drink it, fill

it with sand or earth,

cover

the hole again and in the bargain be praised for giving such' a big and

heavy egg, etc.

Whenthe blacks narrate this

story about Nanny,

they, imitate his

actions

in everything.

If he had walked from one place to the other,

they walk a couple.of

steps~

If he had beaten somebody:.the story

teeller

gets hold of 13emebodyiilthe audience and beats him.

If he

had eaten something delicious,

cried~ lau~hed, danced,

limped, etc.

the story telle:: does the same.

I have seen a black imit.ate Nanny on

the occasion whenboth his hands were cut off and the story teller

did it SO welltrult

he had to do if a few times for me and others

in

Portuguese for

tlt t~ unders{a.:i~ him better.

Themshould be five to

six blacks present,

for each has a role to pla¥.

The story is this.

Once upon a time,

there was drought

in the

whole land a!1d'su'6h famine thatabeari

(Faba) cost an egg. Nanny had

i',."

manywives and children.

_His first

and principal wife often reminded

him to procure some fOod..Na.n.ny knew that his neighbour had a ~ood
supply of beans. He was a hunter,P a.fid. when he went out

in the morning

he ordered his children to spread. out

the beans in the sun and stir

it

to prevent worms entering into them. They wE,lre.not

to eat any of

it till

he had returned home to give out ratiops.

Nanny came in the

absence of the hunter, greeted the children who responded.
Nanny had
smeared his wholeb0d3 with pitch or gum and asked for permission to
teach them a new dan",~. He summersaulted in the beans so that many'

stuck to his body. Whenhe had finished,

he showed the children his

hands and said I'YOU can see that

I haven't

taken any thin; with me"'.

trNo, you definitely

haven't,

how can we sa¥ that you have, II replied

the children.

He left,

collected

the beans from his body and, gave them

to his wives. Whenthe hunter came home, the children informed him

that Nanny had been there and they showed him the dance which he

had taught

them.. Eventually,

the hunter noticenthat

his beans were

decreasing and suspected Nanny. One morning', he went out and hid

himself

in some bush very close to his house. He saw Nanny stealing

his beans in the described manner. He cau~ht him, cut off his hands

and. released him. Nanny returned home, hid his hands in a scarf

and.

began to scold his wives for not making axJY attempt

to get some food.

He warned that

he would no longer feed his wives but only his children.

For this

reason, he ordered the ehi.ldren to come to. his house.

The wives had to be satisfied with this

arrangement and each

brought her children to Nanny's hut. He then went to them,

locked

them up in the room and hit each child on the mouth with the stump of

his hand. He threatened

to cut off

their

hands

just

like his,

if

they

did not

tell

their mothers that they had got

their

stomachs filled with

food. The children promised and kept

the secret

for

two days. On the

third da,y-they revealed it to their mothers whopeeped in on NaIU13'

and discovered that he had no hands.

They all

resolved to leave l-l8.nny and find themselves other

husbands. They therefore went awa,y-. Nanny ran ahead of them, hid

himself

in the bush and started. cutting downtrees.

The wives who

were then passing by greeted him without knowing who it was. Nanny

altered

his voice and thanked them asking,

"where are you going"?

The wives told him their

and continued by asking if he

I have more than enough in these hard times".

The

wives left

and went further.

Nanny a.gain ran ahead of them and pret-

ended to have had fifty wives but had sacked forty-nine~-It

happened

did not need any- wives.
husband if you would follow nw advice.
sacked nineteen.

story briefly
Nanny answered "nw dears,

return to youx

I had twenty wives but have

121.

a.O"a,inthe third time when Na.nn.ypretended to have had hundred wives but
'"
had sacked ninety-nine.

their heads together

,

Nanny's wives put

and

resolved to consult

the fetish.

Nanny heard this and decided to

disguise himself as a fetish

in the same bush where he had hidden.

In

t.b.e,end, the wives returned to their husband, Nanny's house but he was

there before them, and refused to open the door except on ternill

favourable to himself.

Someblacks can act

this

fable a whole nig'ht

without getting to the eI1..d.

If one were to ask questions

like howNanny could cut downtrees

when he had no hands (because the story-teller

hits wit.h his hands,

makes cutting gestures and makes a sound with the mouth just

like

someone\"ho is outting wood, puffing and blOWingat w"Ol!kand in all

things

imitates Nanny) that would be to ruin the whole story.

All blacks agree that

there are creatures

that are between God

and men and, aCQOrdingto Putti

(Okpoti), were created at

the time

God created the first men. They were created to teach men to lead

pious and virtuous

lives and also with God's permission,

to foretell

good and evil.

There are (if

I understood the blacks correctly)

creatures

of

different

sorts, male and female, who breed and in Putti's

opinion,

die although they can live OVe2' q. thousand years.

The creature which

allows itself

to be heard once a year

in Wadi

is a man, the one7

in Dutch Accr~ais

messenger (Tie-tie).

the wife and the one9 in Osu is their
10

son and

122.

The or~le which we will

first

describe calls

itself. Giemwo~11

(Dzemawon)IlGod's messenger". His bonorific 12 titles which the blacks

give him are ~13

(wonderful and unfathomable),

and Adja14 (fire).

A but. or house has been built

for him in Labadi town three quarters

of a mile 15 from Christiansborg.

It is round, as usual, with thatched

roof but no ceiling,

at a pleasant place surrounded with palm and

other

tall

trees.

Nearby,

live the priests

(fetish-makers)

and their

wives (fetish

priestesses) who keep the inside and outside of the

hut clean, put food and drinks

inside the hut, and attend when called

by the spirit

to find out what he desired.

The beginning of August is the NewYear16 of the blacks and

Giemwo~ (Dzemawon)through his messenger informs the blacks on what
da.v11 he-would cbme~which is usually at full moon. It is irnmedia~~ly

made known to everybody.

In the evening prior

to his arrival,

the.

blacks assemble in large rnunbers outside the hut, usually they all

have offerings with them which consist of sheep, goats, hens and

s ometimes even a bull,

and each one usually has brand.Y18 wt th him

for offering.

I write here, what I have been told by many old

negroes and especially

by a manwho was born and has worked there

in the country.

This man is now here in Zealand.

[A part of Denmar!y

About three in the monring, Giemwon~(Dzemawon)allows himself

to be heard in the air with a sound almost

like Ollr wild geese when

they fly above our heads in Autumn. Whenhe arrives

in his house,

the earth trembles together with the hut.

123 '

The blacks who are assembled and sit

in a bi,; circle,

fall

on their

faces and greet him by cla-pping-softly.

They bid him weloome..a.nd.

.a.slc

him to be kirid'to them calling him by his appellations~.Ad.iah~, ~:,

etc. GiemwoIlg'(Dzemawon)begins by blessing

them before his speech.

He first

punishes those who have done evil,

praises

those who have

lived virtuously that year and re~onunendstheir virtues.

Strangely

enough, he pauses after

eaoh subject before he starts

another. His

whole narration lasts
for one and a half hours. He speaks an archaic
language 19 and answers the questions of the blacks mostly in parable.

The fetish

priest who sits nearest

to the door receives

from the

blacks brandy, one after

the other.

They hold it out at

the door and
Giemw.o~(Dzemawdn)

it

is taken in without

their

seeing who takes

it.

drinks from the bottle

so that people who are near the door can hear

it gurgling. Whenthe bottle
considerable blessin~ and exhortation.20

is brought out a..g-ain,each gets with it

This fetish

has a great

thirst

for brandy and can consumemore

at a time than two hundred blacks.

There are two to three hundred people who have assembled and

each usually has a present, mostly brandy,

f or him.

At about five o'clock in the morning he~oes

away a~in with

just as much earth trembling '.and screaming as he had come, leaving

behind a possessed fetish

priest whomthe blacks put

in the hut and

make offeri!1o~ to,

just

as they were for

the aforemEmtioned.

124.

The person (i~e.

in Zealand B.•49) swore that he had heard that

spirit, Giemwong-,s83 in his lan:suage "You sh~ld notenmlate

the whites

for although they have God's word.with them, which you blacks don't

have, most of them are nevertheless,

condemnedafter

their death because

of their

evil

life".

It

is not only this person who had heard. such,

but many of the christians

born in the country who had travelled up

and downthe Fort have heard a spirit

speak at

rna.rJY places and mostly

on the same subject,

namely, exhortation of his followers

to piety and

virtue.

For these oracles have different

names, and, according to

the blacks

it

is not Giemwong'in Labadi which visits

the upper and

downwardcoast aIlrnlally but other spirits

•.

Putti'

s brother,~assi,

told me that Giemwongonce chased an e

eminent black out of the gathering and told him, to the hearing of

everybody present,

that he did not accept off erin.:,:o'Sfrom someonewho

had slept with his owndaughter. After that he was not respected among

his equals and so he committed suicide.

In a particular

year, a mullattress whoWal? a christian,

poisoned

some people in our fort. Whenshe brought forward her offering (which

was a bottle

of brandy) Giemwo~ would not accept it like the others,

but (this

is hillarious

and I ask for permission to narrate

it) he farted

and cursed her with these words ltyou shall be wiped out of memoryll.

Many blacks told me this

and all our employees in the fort knew it,

so that

the woman,who was a Sergeant's

(Cornelius Petersen) wife, did

not dare enter

the fort

for a whole year,

for

fear of being turned

out by our soldiers.

.

125~

This d88", (the festival)

the blacks make merx:ywith.the

brandy

whioh GiemwoIlR'(Dzemawon)has left

for

them. They receive,

every

othex hour, a claJ" pot full S.V. Urin* into which they quite greedily

dip their

fingers

and suck itsa.ying

that GiemwoIl,g-has left

it

for.

them. WeEuropeans such.as the Danes,

the English,

and Dtltch,

usually go there t a watch the black IS fantast 1c ceremonies, which

last

for three days. One sees nothing but

three drums, 23 each with

its drummer, who is an old man. One of the drums

is considered very

sacred and it is not played except on these three daJ"s of the year.

The drummer, who has it,

ie.e.

the drum, hanging with a band

around his neck, acts as if ~ossessed with eyes widely open without

blinking.

He acts as if

the drum is leading him unconsciously to

one person or the other who should dance for him.

Something like

a beard made of raffia

smeared with red earth,

is hung round the

drum. T.he one who has the honour of d~g
hold of this beard wr~lst

the drum is still

with the drum takes
It is

being beaten.

surpI;'ising to see aJl old manwho can hardly walk dancing with such

dignified

and quick steps when it comes to his turn to dance with

the drum. He takes hold of the drumf s beard with special honour and

respect,

then wipes his face and whole body whilst he makes his

sacred capers.

Everybody in the ring dances with the upper part of

their body without moving their

feet.

They sing what the possessed

fetish

priest

in the hut starts.,

It

is in the archaic language21 and

they sing it with such a melancholy tone which comes out

through the

nose with so many hiU haS and it

is

impossible to describe and imagine

such a thing.

So;na.ny furopeans of the ships'

crew and those living

in the country whomI have ta!<en there,

had to admit that

they had

never seen such a thing before.

It usually falls

on us Danes to

entertain

in Laba.d.iwhen so manyforeigners

ask us to take them there

to see something which they have heard but have ;never s~en before.

Their black employees remind them not

to come,to that

sacyred place with

empty hands, but should carry an ~

.j,

.'

or half .an~

of brandy with

them as an offering. Whenwe ar~. on our wa;r withmanyankers

and

bottles

of brandy being carried after us,

the possessed or damnedin

the hut knows (so the blacks sa.Y) that whitemen are coming with

offerin.gs

for Giemwon~(D:?femawon).In their honour. the fetish

priest

sings ,a sp~cial

song to which nobody but

the high pries"\;.1~tti

should

dance. The words ofth~

song are ;'Whites1 childre;n.of Whitesl Blessings

on you.ll

I don't know,any other Wa.Yof translating

:l<llewords.

''Blafonse

biat~

,boo,n etc.

Stopls"are

set

fR~UB to comp;J.etethe circle.

Putti

comeSwith the ~to

dance eSI>eciallY for.\e~

EuropFan.

~

This drum is regarded as particul~ly

sacred ~d yto,other perso~}J~~, !

the old and distin'5Uished could do theirca.;pers

"

. ,

...

before it.

': ~.' :.

-,

:fo~th.e

ordinary and younger blacks,

with a beard.

The biggest

there are two; other drums also decorated
and most sacred is about 4 fee~. high'r7k1e
They have two frightful

second 3 feet and the third probably 2 feet.

looking sticks with whioh they bea~ the dplln. They are curved like
a horn and are used with such streIlo.o-thin beating the ,drum t~t

;",

.;

,

"",

'.

'.',',I. "'.

'..

:

sometimes a thick ,~lephant e\U' is::j.pped into pieces. causing them

to stop their

fun until

it

is repaired.

They slaughter

their beasts not with a knife24 but with a sharp

stone, giving the blood to the fetish

priest

in the hut who sprinkles

some of the blood in the hut and smears some on the forehead and ohest

of the one whobrings

it. Their beast

is left

lying in the sum with

the skin, hair and all

the muck till

the fol1owin~ day.

It becomes

so swollen '.'lith the sun's warmth that

it

is an easy task to skin it

without a knife.

The third da,y, it begins to smell which the blacks

relish.

In this wa({they usually treat

all

their meat and fish.

They aCcuse us of eating our beasts

and fish almost alive

and that

too much of su.ch unrotten food kills

us.

A prominent black celebrates

this

fel'itlVal

for one da({ and

leaves the second and third da({Sto younger people of lower status.

But if somethi.ng'very good has happened to them the previous year,

they _.usually' oelebrate

it on all

the three days with such frightful

clamour. Oriebas never heard fighting

between them, althou'S'hone

should' e:lq>ectsuch incidents when they have drunk too much. They

lie down quietly and sleep off their drunkenness till

they wake

up and start

afresh.

The third or last da.v, the festival

is

concluded with a ceremony which I have often seen but could not

understand what

it meant until Putti gave me an explanation of it.

Four blacks,

two at each end, carry a long piece of wood or

bar on which rides a black who ma..1cesfunny gestures.

He climbs on

it at cahoceer Putti'

s house and is carried OVerthe whole square

and through the whole town. All

the little

boys and girls

follow

him screaming enough to pierce one's ears. One is therefore

obliged

128.

to stand. out of the waQin order not to be drawn into the crowd. It

is a ceremony perf ormed in Putti' s honour. Once in the time of his

forefathers,

his town (Labadi) was suddenly attacked by enemies and

all

the people big and small were captured with the exception of

Putti's

forefather.

They did not dare lay hands on him because he

was the highest priest.
people and had. gold weighed for each and everyone. The one who.i'iaes

He was so rich that he redeemed all his

on the bar makes gestures as if he has a balance in one hand and is

weighing with the other. He acts as if he is taking the one redeemed

and is pulling him towards him. The young people running before him

and at his sides shou~ "buy me firstI

buy mefirst 1:l Andwith this

ceremony,25 this great

festival

comes to an end.

Whenever a black wants to consult

the oracle he goes to the

fetish

priest

or priestess.

This he does, when either his relative,

friend,

child, wife are sick or he intends to undetake something

important.

Our Ursue (Osu black town under Christiansborg Castle)

has only two worn-out old womenwho serve Tie...l.rieand ask if

they

could get

the fetish

to speak. To this

she replies

"yeal! or "no".

The sick, however, first

tries

if herbs or other things knownto be

effective

in such sickness could help.

The following da,y when

26

.~ ;.h("

asked,

bottle

the supplicant brings his offering which consists mainly of a
of brandy and one or half of rixdallers27

in goods or bossies.28

It should be noted that

the fetish hut

is alwa,ys round and in it

lie

or hapg a thousand types of knick-knacks.

In one corner stands a

meantime, he dares to accuse the fetish

that he has offered so many

sacrifices

in his honour and yet has been overtaken by illness

despite the fetish's

promise.

There are kings up in the country who, when asked to offer a

clllcken or somethin~ else as on the coast, have one or more of their

slaves beheaded in a barbaric manner. Often one sees of the fetish

pa.rwarred (which in the Danish language means devil-possessed women),

that

they (the possessed) get

it with convulsions and make such

motions with their bodies which appear very unnatural.

Their eyes

sta,y wide open; they foam at

the mouth, and gasp for breath.

They

usually get

these attacks

suddenly and unconsciously.

(The possessed

is unaware of the state

she is in.) A womansometimes carries

a pot

of water or something else,

talking

to someone walking by her side,

then suddenly she becomes possessed.

I have seen someone ~(e

all

these contortions

and still

keep the pot on her head. She la,y on

her back,

turned the body quickly three or four

times and still

--
balanced the pot which was full of water, without spilling

a drop,

eVen though the pot was i'ound-at

the bott am.

(Let our Suropean

jugglers

imitate them.) Sometimes I have seen the pot break, when

the patient w~rks for a long time, before the fetish,

as the blacks

say,

is able to get

the power to talk through her mouth. Whenthe

first

excitement

is over,

the womanusually lies on her back and

makes such motions and contortions which modesty forbids me to

describe. Whenthis

is OVer, she begins to talk.

I have forgotten

to mention that

the blacks, when they can, usually form a circle

130.

clay pot with red clay in which is put the feather of a cock's tail.

In the wall are pegs v1hichare bound with a piece of string of raffia.

In between is perhaps a red feather of a parrot's

tail

and human or

animal hair.

Indeed, one oannot count the curious objects_or creatures'

bones and other things they have there. Under the tip of the roof,

hangs a bell

like the type our farmers hang round the necks of their

cOWsand sheep when they ~ into the woods. Around the bell

is bound

a string or raffia vl'hichreaches aJJnost to the ground. Let us not

forget

the most important

item in the fetish hut which is the fetish

stool on which he can sit and his mat on which he can rest.

The mat

is not bigger than a man's hand and the stool

is proportional,

that

is,

to .the mat in size.

There is also a little

bottle of brandy which

always stands ready for him.

Whenthe supplicant comes, he delivers his offering to the fetish

priest/priestess

who puts it outside the door. She crawls on her

hands and feet

into the hut so that

the string of raffia

lies on her

neck or back. She orders the supplicant

to enter the hut,

locks the

door, sits on the ground and bows his head between the knees covering

his face with his hands. Th~(priestess

then makes motions or invokes

the fetish. Whenthe fetish arrives,

the bell

is rung. The priestess

is or appears to be possessed.

She stretches out her arms and legs

and begins to foam at

the mouth breathing in short gasps with chest

lifted

high. The supplicant;knows that

this

is the momentto ask

what. he wants, for example I.'will IT'lf friend or brother

recover from

his illness?",

"what sh9Uld I3"ive you to remove this

sickness

131.

from him?a ,

"whywill you kill my brother?",

!'wbat has he done

a,gairi~t' you?\!, etc.

To these,

the possessed fetish

priestess

replies

with a fine piercing voice (just

like a piping chicken)

in that ancient

,

larlooouage.Iu most cases,'
get~ good comfort on condition
that he should kin a white cock* or chicken and lay it at a crossroad,
or drive ten to twelve wooden pegs into the ground. By so doing,

the supplicant

,

he is supposed to drive his friend's

sickness

from his boQ.yinto

the ground. There are over a thousand types of such offerings.

In

my conversation with the blacks,

I have often asked 'why don't you

lift

up your head a little

in the air and open your eyes when you sit

in the hut

to see who rings

the bell?

Could it not be the priestess

who pulls

the string?" Most of them have answered r'The first

five

or six times when we had errands at

the fetish

house, we were curious

to know who or what was up by the bell
looks like a bird resembling' an ow129- or a type of small black

and have seen something which

monkeywith a white beardl'.

Somehave told me that,

as often as they

have been there,

they have peeped through the fingers

to see which

of these two creatures would appear.

A rich black usually consults

the oracle on the state

of his

health even when he is well and heal thy. He gets an answer that his

health is good and is likely to continue.

If he is ordered to offer

a ohicken or an eg'S, he goes and slaughters

....

a sheep or goat.

The

fetish

does not get

the meat which he eats with his friends but a

little

of the entrails

is taken t"o him.

If h bock

ec mes si

e

,

in

th

e

132.

around the womanand do not allow any Zuropean to come inside the

circle

for

fear

that he mi;ht scoff at both the fetish

and her.

She usually begins at

least

as often as I have seen with the words

.' -.:::.

"Eaminse ~~"

(lls: minse aba) and repeats

these words.~ dozen times,

to which those standing by answered a,2 ~lt

and clap softly.

The words

mean "Let good come:!to which is replied "Let it come". After this

she besins

to foretell.

At Fredensborg30 I have often heard that

the fetish's

errand

has been nothin'S' but

these words :'13eobedient

to your whites. Do

what the whites tall

you1l• One can well

imasine howwelcome such an.

oracle is for us Europeans who have problems from these malicious

and stupid blacks all

the time especially

at

this place. Consequently?

I myself have often siven a bottle

of brandy to such a sopthsayer

and wished that

she should be possessed everyday since, she has great

incluence with the blacks.

Somewomencontinue for da,ys with their madness running from

one town to another. Whenwe meet such a woman,the blacks usually

carry us a little

off the road. to let her have the road to herself.

If a European is walkins? he is ~ked to leave the road to avoid

the fetish womanbeing angry with him.

It

is better

to be bitten

by a mad.dog in Europe than have such a womanrelease her madness on

us with her curses.

The blacks are so convinced of the efficacy of

such curses that

they consider

the one who is cursed by .a possessed

fetish womanas ill-fated

person. Generally,

those who get.these

distortions

are held in high esteem.

133.

In all

the houses of the blacks we find signs of the fetish

in

varying degrees.

In most houses, one sees one or more poles which

stand on a wall

two feet

above the ground and are painted red and

white. Hair or feathers

bound with raffia

and usually

stained with

blood are tied to the top.

Once,1 ,entered an old black's

curio shop i..''1 which were over

twenty thousand of such tomfoolery.

(r don't know what else to call

it).

This black was our caboceer Noyte in Tessing (Teshie),

two miles

from Christiansborg.

I was travelling

from Fredensborg to Christia..'1s-

borg when I stopped OVerat Tessing (Teshie)

at

four

t:hirty after

a

terrible

ni'Sht, for we have had two storms in one night.

I went

there to change my clothes

and ask the caboceer to have breakfast

made for me.

I came down to his hOUseand asked for

the caboceer,

but his people told me that he was still

in bed.

I waited for a

while and asked again but got the same answer.

I could not

imagine

why, because I had often come in the middle of the night and Noyte

had immediately cometo bid me welcome. Meanwhile, I became

impatient

and in order not

to freeze

I took a walk in his extensive

yard which is surrounded by houses of his family.

I saw an open

door which I had often seen locked.

I became curious,

looked inside

and met to my greatest

astonishment, my old friend Noyte of Tessing

(Teshie)

sitting

among many thousands of curios amongwhich was

elephant's,

bUll's,

sheep's heads and many more. He did not see me

until

I had cast my shadow in the room by pushing my head and half

my body through the narrow door. He stood up and told me toga

back.

I refused but promised not

to move nearer

if he would tell me the

meaning of all

that.

He swore by his father

(which is a great oath

with the blacks)

that he did not know in the l~aSt 'how beneficial

it had been, but

that

all

together

(probably with the exceptiod'~Of

a few hundred. pieces) were ~ollected by his forefathers.

Each piece

had, with God's and the Fetish's

aid helped his forefathers

in one

thing or the other. Of this discourse

I amno wiser than before.

...

I asked what he had done with all
whole town 'had been burnt by the Asante the previOUSyear. He replied
that he had buried them before he and his people left

these in the last war, since their

,.

the town and
..

fled to our fort

in Accra.

In his lifetime,

these sacred objects

had been hidden ten times in the earth a.Tld,strangely enou~h, once

in fifteen

years.

I saw near me an ordinary stone which was as big

as a hen's egg.

I took the stone in my hand and said ''Tell me

caboceer, what do you do with this?

Surely you can easily collect

many of these within a short

time?lt Noyte was noticeably disturbed

by my impudence but he replied "Did you not see howhard the Asantes
were against me when they defeated the Akims31and came to us from

my neighbours?

If

I had not had the friendship

of the Danes who

protected me and pleaded on my behalf howwould I have fared?

I

this predicament when I heard that my friend Ursue

anticipated
Owusu32(One of the AkimKin<ss) had been killed and his people had

fled.

fort.

I buried these and more in the ni-sht to seek refuge in the

The first

step I took over my doorstep I stepped on this

stone and it v1aspainful.

I thought hahal

there you are:

I tonk

the stone and kept it till

I returned to my town and my house was

rebuilt.

You yourself

saw that

I had to speak for

three consecutive

days before I had my case fairly well settled.

Did you not see this

stone in my hand? Did you not see how it helped me to get off whenever

'l

I lacked words to reply to the charges of my adversaries'? Would you

not admit that ~od and the fetish

sent me help and should I not be

grateful?"

I then remembered that at

the time that he was defending

himself, he had something in his hand which he squeezed hard. His

case was of great

,

importance. The Asantes demanded that we should

deliver him and his whole family since he was an Akimking's

slave.

I understood him for

the first

time,

for,

after

that,

I noticed that

whenever a black had an important case to be decided, he always had

something in his hand which he squeezed first
the other and indeed with both hands.
prayers when he sat

for an hour and rumaged in this

junk.

in one hand,

then in

It was a way of having morning

The Fante fetish33

is, as has been previously stated,

the

strongest.

Twomiles from the coast abOVeAnomabo,some mountains

of indifferent

height grOi'ffi with thick bushes and tall

trees

formed

a semi-circle.

Between these mountains,

the ground is quite level.

I am writing about a place I have neVer seen but have heard from the

description

of IDaQy people.

The mountains are considered so sacred that even the priest
would not dare sO very near them but had to keep some distance.

This fetish comes three times a year. He is however consulted when

1)6.

necessary and he answers through the mouth of one priest

and priestess,

generally

in the same wa:.{ as other fetishes

in other places.

This

fetish

is not as distinctive

as the Labadi's but very blood-thirsty.

He has to be offered a humanbeing at eachI!loon and a couple of bUlls~.
This happen~ in the following

after he had received the human beings.

"

manner•.. Whenhe himself

is coming to the place, one of the th:t'ee

times of the year, he does so with an earth tremor, and all

the tall

trees bow to greet him. He comes like a \vhirlwind and all

the blacks

who have formed a semi-circle

joined to the mountains (which then

becomes a full

circle)

fallon

their

faces

just as in Labadi. When

the f~ti~h-~es.

a speech,

it is to be noticed that he speaks like

someone who is shaking,

tremblin$'

stuttering,

has hiccups and is

hoarse 0

I don't know what the blacks say about his voice.

'11hatI

write is mainly from the account of Bassi, Corrantin'sson,

who,

as I have said before, ha.s been in France for' someyears. Afew

others and I have enjoyed hearing Bassi

imitate the fetish's

voioe

andg-iving us a speech in the same language that

fetishuses

•.

.:fle

has been to the fetish

place only once~ This' was at

tnetime

that

he returned from France,

and his tather

forced h.fmto 5'0 with him

to see what he Corrantin had to offer

the fetish

in gratitude

for

nassi's

safe return from France. Bassi

\vhowas an~y with his

father

said to me that his thievish father

had only made the offerin<;

out of the happy anticipation

for

the beautiful

goods which he had

already intended to steal

from the poor French.

137.

Wenow come.to Bassi's

description

of how the fetish

receives

his offering.

The person or beast

to be sacrificed

is brought forward

by about fifty priests

and priestesses who sin~ in a melancholy voice

just as it

is done in Labadi. The blacks who sit

ten and sometimes

twenty men ~hick, open their

circle

on the side between them and the

mountain. The offering is dragged three times in the circle

and all

the blacks sing the Saln.e son~. Finally,

they stand up and the priests

and priestesses

form a smaller circle

round the offering not far

from the bush from where comes a whirlwind which throws the offering

up in the air and is not seen but

is heard screaming and howlin'S.

Bassi and others have assured me that,

as soon as the offering leaves

the ground, it twists

and turns just as a sea pump(trompe ~ mer)pulls

water up from the sea. This Spin.l'lingstarts

slowly but

increases

in tempo as the offering goes higher

in the air.

The blacks do not feel

this wind but keep very quiet.

Just

as the insignia of the Labadi fetish

are old drums so is fire

the

sign of the Fante fetish.

It burns day and night year in year aut,

and is kept at a special place where the priests

sing ancient

songs

and dance every morning and evening. They have players

for drummers

since nobody can dance in that country without drums.

The.drums are,

ho\vever, not regarded as sacred objects.

The following parable was given by the Fante Fetish in one of

his usual orations.

138.

A drummerlived at a place where there were many delicious

fruit

trees. Whenever the drununerwanted some of the fruits

to eat he

pla,yed sweet music under the tree and a snake which lived in the tree

threw downfor him, some of the fruits

of his choice. He lived

.

l;~ppily .for many yea:rs and grew thick and fat.

One da,y, he became

ill ~~d bould not, as he usually did, make music for

the snake. He

could hardly walk from his house to the trees.

He asked the snake

for a couple of fruits

(whiCh look like plums but are quite fleshy

and healthy).

The snake would not show any kindness to our drununer

although the sick man promised to pay for

it after he had recovered.

The sick d.t'um!nerhad to make do with some unripe fruits which were

at

the l~Nest branch of the tree,

and recovered. He decided quite

rightly

to wreak vengeance on the hea:rtless

snake. He took his drum

and went under the tree.

He called the snake to stretch

its head

so as :to hear the music better.

The snake was happy that

its drummer

and had recovered and did what it was told, but

instead of a drum

stick,

the drunmer had two kap-messere with which he quickly cut

off

the head of the snake. With this

tory,

the fetish wanted to

warn his audience not

to be meanwith their

offerings

if they did

not want to share the fate of the snake".

Accordin'5 to Bassi,

the first words of this

same Fante fetish

when he comes to the bush are :'1 greet you all".

In Bassi I s trans-

lation

:13e salue VOllS autres.

139.

He speaks these words clearly and then begins to tremble and

shake. At some other time,

the Fa...'1tefetish

said "If you don't

love

good and -do it and if you don't hate evil

and avoid it, Tmyself

.

shall

aid your enemies to murder you all,

and all your relations

around you.• It is only for

the sake of the virtue

of your forefathers

that you have been spared up till

now.:\ So muchfor Bassi a:hdbi;her~ \

account of the Fante fetish.

A competent artist

and eDo'Tavercould make his fortune

if he

could travel

to the country and 'Sive us engravin3'S of a fetish-pos

sessed woman;the inside of a fetish

hut; half a hundred types of

fetish;

a Labadi gathering when the fetish

has been there the night

before;

some dancin'S blacks,

some blacks 3Oin'Sto battle;

a battle

between two groups of blacks;

a portriat

of Putti

and manymore.

!}enerally,

this

fetish

is awfully blood-thristy.

Not only

slaves but

his orders.

the most prominent people amongthe Fantes are killed by
The Fantes once had five Brafos34 (Generals who hold
in U~ee .Y'l!!~s. These

the highest commandover the -,mole nation)

Brafos were Cf,hosenfrom a particular

li,llea,ge which J:ias kept

that

honour for manyyears.

This family has become so poor in menfolk

that

in the past years no ~

could be chosen since there were

a few boys left.

The fetish

often ordered that

the assembled

blacks should immediately behead this or that prominent black and

the lot often fell

on the~.

The fetish

does not

take it as an

offering but

is content with his blood. The body can be burried by

his friends.

140.

Generally ,the

negroes reckon their

time in good and evil35 days.

I have never been good. at

this

reckoning and our blacks on the coast

did not know it either,
Akim or Asante 200 - 300 miles up in the country oame to correct
them.

before a scholar

(ironically

speaking)

from

I shall,

to the bes~ of my knowledge, put down here the blacks'

time reckoning and leave it to sensible

people on the coast

to

correct

it •. If the book is reprinted

it can be added to it.

I

never

thought when I was on the coast

that,

once in Europe, I would

write

a book on this

or that material,

otherwise I would have made

some written

notes CNer

there.

The negroes have twenty-one big

good days (Grande bonos Dies) which begin from a new moon and last

for

twenty-one days. Thereafter

come fifteen

bad days (Male Dies).

This is followed by thirteen

small ~ood days (Pikane bonos Dies)

and nine padiculaJ:'ly

bad d.a.Ys. Then their

twanty-ono big good days

start

again which finally

begins with a new moon. But this by no

means agrees with the course of the moon.

I will however leave it

to a sensible man on the coast

to allow himself

to be taught by

an Akim le~-ned fetish

priest.

FNery black has his birthday

in the week which is considered

sacred.

They decorate

themselves more than usual, paint

their

faces

and bodies with white earth and put on a more beautiful

scarf

than usu.a.l. When a distin3'llished black womanin Accra decorates

herself;

she does not only wear a beantiful

scarf

togethar with

141.

small gold plates

and manyblack corals but: pays particular

attention

to her head dress. On s orneparts on their head they let grow their

hairqr wool. Usually it

is a finger

long-and stand out

inane,

two~

three or. fq~ places like a cylirtder or one]or more square pyramids.

Others let

it grow like a cock's comb.

Indeed they have uncountable

varieties.

'):'.heyuse a woodenroller

to powder these pyramids till

they shine out black from their

skin.

It is necess'ary a...llon~black

womento. cortsult each other seriously

on how a distinguished

black

';'[

womansboulddress

up on her birthday which falls

each \7eek.

kills

F}. hen or chicken, puts the heart on a woodenstick on her

forehead just

like 01ll' womendo with an Italian

flower. A btack

womandeyora;ted in this manner is considered to be as faShionably

dressed, as 9'll' womenwhovisit

a barber and a couple of hairdressers

0

.- '.:.,~....

.

'

A fashiol1{3.~lydressed black womanshould have eight

to ten pieces

of tW<;>"r~dallers ha.nging ona silver belt at each side of the

hips and these should rattle when she walks.

In the same manner,

she shoul~.,have silver

on her feet and many keys at

the sides even

though sh\3 probably has only one chest which has a lock t a it.

Whena noble womanis pregnant,

she should, according to

custom, w~ throu.gh all

the streets

in town completely naked

without weax,:ing-a scarf,

corals or fetish,

accompanied by a great

tollow~.

This is done shortly before her confinement.36

Each trade has its

sacred da.Ys;

for example the fishe~men:have

Tuesday.37 Since the negToes seethe Europeans decorate themselves

142•

.on Sund<\ythan 8IJ;f other d<\y, the.x-think that all

children

in Europe

are born on Sunday and say after

their

fashion when a Buropean greets

them "Thank you, Sunda.v child (J 0 Aussi):l. 38

.l!1achtoWnhas an animal or fish which they .do not eat.'
of Osu under our fort Christiansborg

the inhabitants

example,

FoI.-'
do' not

eat elephant meat. However, necessity

breaks all

laws. A hunter

once killed

a young elephant but did not dare bring the meat to the

town where there was famine and great hardship.

The hunter came and

informed the Caboceer and the big men together with the fetish women

said tbat

they should first

ask permission .from the fetish,

but

the

others were unanimous that

in these hard times,

they should fight

or

appear

to fight with the hunter and his people who carried the meat

before

they entered the town. This happened and our garrison together

with the blacks of the town feasted

on it

for two da.vs~

In the whole of Accra, all boys are circmncized. Vlhilstamong

it happens on the eight

the Jews,
are sometimes eight years39 before they are circumcized. Nobody is

day after birth,

here,

the children

considered a man before he is circumcized, with the exception of

those who become fishermeno 40 Whenone aslfswhotau'S'ht

theIDthe"

custom,the.r

reply that

their

forefathers

had kept it, without

giving airiyf11tther ad~~er.

They have a special w<\Yof swearing an oath which we Danes
iteating 'feti~hl1. A black who has cheated or stolen.:from us can

call

be forc~:acdording

to the laws of the country,

lito eat

fetish;!

to

prove his guilt or innocence. Wespend two rixdollars

on our megler

Adou.i's fetish which is accompanied into the fort by a whole swarmof

old blacks so that

it costs us an additional

two rixdollars

gifts

of brandy. This fetish

is carried on a mat covered with an old

piece of cloth.

It consists of a stuffed snake skin without

the

head and tail but

instead there is the hair of an elephant

tail,

a

cow or wolf's tail mixed with cock's feathers

so that

it

looks

horrib Ie.

It

is however in the nature of a necklace with a string

at both ends so that

the one whoputs it on can tie it at

the back

of the neck.

It is put at

the feet of the European who is aooua;ing

the black. After the question has been explained to all present,

the old cloth is taken from this

sausage-like fetish and a dough

as big as a pea is put on it. The accused steps forward, kneels

down, holding the had behind the back and sas-s this oath:

"If

I

have done this or if

I have stolen that

let

the fetish kill melt.

He then takes the dough from the snake skin with his mouth, holds

it on the tongue and lets

it be seen by opening the mouth that

it is

really there and swallows it. By this act, he frees himself from

the indictment.

The negroes have maQY different methods which they use instead

of the oath. For example they put oil

in a pot over fire

till

it

boils.

They then throw cowries into it and the accused is supposed

to take them out with his hand. If he is not

innocent

it

\vill burn

him, but

if innocent

it will not burn him. Sometim~sa big needle

144.

is passed through the tongue, a glowing knife is brushed over the
arm and many such disturbances.

It can be observed that

in some cases the blacks

swear :.J1 oath

even when they are guilty.

I expressed my views to Putti who said

that one can buy himself

free from smalJ, fetishes

such as Adom, s

but

if one spent

four

rexdollars

on the Labadi fetish,

he will

guarantee

its

effectiveness.

Put ti

then told me something which he swears that no black

T

knew. This is that

the Labadi fetish

on which they swear an oath

js of gold and made like a humanhead but a little

bigger,

and was

from time immemorial found in the earth when Giemwongshowed where

it lay. He said further

that when there is danger and the blacks

have to leave their

town, the fetish

possesses

two.of his priests

and two of his priestesses who hide this

.gold nugget to.getnerwith

the most sacred drum in the ni.ght so that

they.i;hemselves' do}not

know its hiding place. Whenthe danger is OVera!J.d,the negroesreturn

to their

town,

the fetish

possesses

four people, ?om~times other.

than those who hid them and these sacred objects g.re r.€ltu,rned,to

their

place.

The Latadi blacks had once been driven out. Qf.tha,¥, oQUnt.ry

and town and those that had put away these cur~os ,wer.ed~<:l.d.:'Tt.:

did not

last

lo~er

than a month when the fetish

po~sessed acOUplQ

of priests who fetched it again.

Since the ~etish is Of.g91d,nobody

town should endeav?ur to carry ox:possess gold,brass,

in Labadi
copper, etc.41

145:. ,.

'

Shortly after

this

conversation,

I had the opportunity to, visit

this

fetish

and I thoug'ht

that

it could be seen as it was but

I w~.

deceived.

They have so plastered

it with red earth that

there was

nothing- of gold to be seen.

It was about

the shape of a head. The

fetish

is laid in a big wooden bowl which contains water

in which

part of this nugget

is submerged.

The part

for

the one who should eat

fetish

is not dou'5ht but

a little

red earth.

An Osu black told me not

to put any Labadi

blacks before this

fetish

because they can buy themselves free.

J:n

this manner it

is difficult

to be assured of the truth

of thes~ bad r

people.

I have to cite

an example of this.

An Akwamunegro wtl0 wanted

to buy some goods was brought

to me by my black servants.

I opened

the door and the AkwamuSpent aver half an hour among my goods without

sa.y-ingwhat type he wanted or what he had. for pa.y-ment. Finally ,he

told me (which my blacks

translated)

i had fine goods but

it was a

pity that he had nothin3' for pa.y-ment. I reprimanded my servants

for.

bringing- a fool

to me. Myservant

sent

the Akwamuoutside.

r
He asked

to be brought

in again and said that he had a young' wife from Crepe

(a country) but her father

had made him eat a very strong fetish

that

he would not sell her so he was afraid

he would die if he diSObeyed.

My servant knew at once what he wanted and asked him,

.'noth.ing else?

I will

take a couple of friends with me and we shall beat you ,in.

such a wa.y-that

the fetish will be satisfied".

With that,

theAkwaJIR+

was content but asked only that

they should not be angry in case

"

"'j

146.

he had to defend himself as mch as he could. This was promised him.

This rogue returned after

an hour with his wife to help him

choose the goods not knowing that

they were in exchange for herself.

Our Akwarnufriend left

theS'oods and went out.

Somepeople who

stood by, seized his wife and put her as is usual

in irons. One

cannot say what a fuss he made fighting

those who took his vllle.

But

there were four others ready. He fought a stiff

half hour with

them. The four

threw him on the ground and hit him with their

fists.

Finally,

he warned them that

it was enough and they allowed

him to get off. He went aVT~, cleaned the blood and dust on him,

put on another scarf

and came back to fetch his ')'oods.

I heard my'

servants

fighti!),,?: with him so I wanted to knowwhat the matter was.

One could almost

translate

their

conversation thus:

"You dissembler,

you made too much fuss over this nonsense. Didn't you know that a

Crepe fetish

is easy to pacify? A oouple of slaps

in the face would

have been enough. Give us a bottle

of brandy for our troublell.

The

head and body of the Akwarnu. man was swollen so that he could hardly
,.... '

see with his eyes. But mine (servants)

plagued him that he should

give them a bottle

out of his anker of brandy, and the matter was

closed. He had since not

thought of his wife or her father's

fetish.

If I should give my opinion on the fetish,

I should confess

that

I believe

satan is mighty among the heathen.

I have never

seen or heard Giemwongor any of their

fetishes.

I have only had

contempt for

those of our nation who buy the fetish

priests'

curios

and carry it on their body under their

cloths where they aXe accidentally

,147.

seen by their

room mates 0 Suoh fools have we had amongus.

People

who go there young have been asked by their black women(mistresses)

to put on suoh things

as would be good for

this

or that.

But 1 have experienoed inoidents whioh 1 still

cannot understand.

These make it

true that

satan oan seize oontrql

av~

a black's mouth

or tongue.

I oannotrememer what yea:r:this

incident

ocourred.

It

is now ten yea:r:ssinoe 1 left

the ooast, but 1 am sure if enquiries

a:r:emade, there are still

some of our nationals

living who can oonfirm

this

and more to be true.

We had an important oase to settle

between two of our most

prominent blacks

in ChristiansbQrg.

They had been in the fort with

but

it was so obscure and the witnesses were so bad that

the.ircase
we ha!i

to recommendto the parties

to consult

their witnesses on

both. sides

in the town in their

own homes. After

that,

they should

inform us so that we could give judgement.

Since it

is the custom

amongthem tPat when there is a foreign cabocerr,
invited to be one of the judges, Aborre , a caboceer from Acron42

he should be

who was with us, was invited to be one of the judges. At that

time,

(as sometimes before then) he had with him one of his wives who

was sometimes possessed by the fetish.

Our soldiers who were not

on duty, normally go to such places

to hea:r: these cases, because

there is always something to drink.

From these and ma.:ny blacks 1

heard this

shortly

after

it had happened. There was a tUDUlt and

1 was afraid our blacks had each other by the throat.

Aborre's

Wife,

the soothsayer,

began to act as .1£ she was crazy,

l;'an. a:r:oond

-

with her hands on her head and shouted lIAborre,

there

is on:e of your

people dying shot dead.

;:She jumped arOUndand made a sourid just

as

if

she was imitating- a shot flini1

There lies

the third.1f

This happened at

four o'clock in the afternoon,

and it became

,

dmniediately known not only to me but

to all'

the Danes.

'OUr blacks

adjourned their

case and Aborre came into the fort

to complain to me that
he had sent one of 'his people to see whether it was over.

an accident

had occurred in his tovin a.'Yldthat

I consoled

him by saying that

it was not

true but he assured me that his sooth-

sayer wife had never

lied.

I had tog-ive him a bottle

of brandy to

assuage his fright

and he went away.

I a.sked that he should let

me know as soon as his messenger returned •• It was only four and a

half miles from us.

Early in the mornin;, he 'sot

to know that all

wass true.

However, it did not r.appen in his town but

in another,

a mile above his, where a few of his people went to fetch a bride

and in drunkeness,

came into a fig-ht with otherS. Aborreis people

Were shot dead 'at
in:our

Illarket.

the same time t[l.a.t the '.vomanrnadethelse gestUres

Yet another

example. AnAkim king called Pobi and the AkwamU

king Oppoccu Chuma(Opak'.:ll{uma)lay in arms againSt each' other about

twenty miles up in the. cbuhtry.

This resulted:Ln

our getting

neither

blacks nor provisions

right

from Accra to the river Volta.

'All

the

Europea;ns.want'ed;;.themto fight

so that our way would be open again,

<f:or,;' both- ,armies 'had stood for

three months withoUt attacking

other.

OhEfi'oJ:'enoon, Putti sent a mesSage to me that,

each
t~t morning

149.

150.

army. After a few skirmishes of no .great

imports in the first

half

of the year,

the situation

became serious.

The fetish

in tabadi

had Dacon told that he was in the wrong and that he should end the

war by coming.t 0 terms and giving his opponents satisfaction,

but

he refused.

Giemwong,throu,:;,hhis messenger,

informed the blaCks. "

assembled that Dacon would die \vithin three month'3 or in these words:

!'Dacon would not eat any of the new corn wr..i.chthen stood in the

fields.!1

One can well

imagine what joy tr..i.s caused among'our blacks

and fright

amongthe enem,y. Furthermore,

the fetish

in the enemy's

own town and in Osu confirmed the Labadi fetish's

judgement. Dacon

was reckoned as a man already dead and no one would have a..YJYthing

to do with him. Our blacks, with a few people, put a whole section

of the enanw,to flight.

The Dutch had to make peace on our terms

because of these and other circumstances.

But Dacon, against

all

conjecture

lived three yeaxs thereafter

and died not even naturally

as the forecast

had indicated,

but rather during his assistance

to

the Akims against

the Asantes. With the defeat of the Akims,he

sought

refuge with a.l1.othernation but

they chopped off his head and

those of all his people.

These blacks cametater

and wanted to sell

his head, to our negroes but we Europeans would not allmv it.

H~ever,

we got

to know that Okanie b01.lghttwo of Dacon's uppermost front

teeth for ei';ht

rix-dollars,

had a hole bored throus-h them, and

carried

them on his body and round his neck together

'nith others of

the same type on his sacred day.

151.

I had. often pointed this

out

to Putti.

His reply on this

had

always been I'Master,

hO'N can I know what good God found in Dacon

after

he had put a curse on him? Ma.ybeDacon begged him not

to allow

this

to happen and God spared him for

sometime. But within three

yea;r:s after

the judgement had been ,given, you know very well

that

he beg-a.''lnew acts of roguery against

us. God therefore

put

in his

heart

the bad decision

to go with fifty men to help the Akims. Could

this help the Akims ,vho had. two hundred thousand men in the army?

And see if he did not get worse death than had been foretold.!!

I once offended our megler Adoui. He had not been well

for

some da.vs and he visited me in the fort,

complained to me and asked

for a bottle

of brandy. Whilst my servant was awa.vto fetch somethin!s,

I asked him who should be his successor

in office

after

his death.

Greatly agitated,

he stood up and replied,

aGad has sent me into the

world with many years on my head. Do yoo think I am just

like

a

white-man who comes and:;oes?

But since you want

to know, do you

not know my brother Atte?" He did not wait

for his brandy but

left.

The blacks

show the sun some kind of honour when it

comes OVer

the horizon in the mornin'S and they make funny motions for

the new

moon. They talk to it and shake their

body just

as if they would

throwaway their

arms and feet

from their

body.

Finally,

they

take a piece of firewood and throw it just

as if

they would throw

it

to the moon. With this

the ceremony is completed.

152.

They have many different

opinions on their

conditions after

death.

Putti

says that

the virtuous,

esjecially

those who die in

their beds (mats),

and get a decent burial

are considered vlOrthy

of God to take them to himself. But he also maicesa strange remark

which is incomprehensible.

This is to the effect

that

the boror,

when it is separated from the world,

is the greatest hindrance to

the soul

in the other world for

(so he says) that

is also sepq.rated.

Putti becomes totally

incomprehensible whenhe comeswith his

revelation

and drea.msto explain it.

I have heard an old black sigh

and wish that,

he, after his death,

should become a rich European

and 'Ihen ,he was asked the reason, he replied III would rather be a

poor,.~la9k tha[lj3. poor white. For, a poor white should have the

same superflous

things i.e.

shoes, socks, clothin;

as the rich and

therefore

mas- sometimes have to starve".

It should be noted that

this black believes

in transmigration (of the soul) so he thinks

his soul

could fly to Etlrope a...>1dbe born by a European. There are

those whobelieve -l;hat tneir

souls enter

into animals 9 birds and fish.

,.

One'of our bricklayerS," a black companyslave called Q;uacu,

(K;.vaku) stood \vorkin; at 120 I clock midday although they have a

break from 11 0' clock to 2.00. A European passing by asked him

IIQuacu, why are you still working,

it

is 12 0' clock." He replied

(quite angrily):

:tOur master is so bad to me toda,y. He says that

I b.aven't ,vorked hard enough so I should have this piece (qf 'work)

..

finished before I stopped but I knowwhat I shall do:l.

Q.uestion:

"Vlhatwill you do?l!

Answer:

Q,uestion:

Answer:

Question:

Answer:

''WhenI die I shall
ask Godnot' to send me into the
world as a whiteman's 131aveand if my prc\yers don't
help,

fight him.

I will

"Vfhatwill you then be whenyou come into the worl.d
again?;'

:'Frempung's slave (FrempungwaS a great AkanKing).

"Why not ask to be Frempung himself?"

"No, that
I comeback,

I shall be a slave1f•

is not possible

for

I know that as often as

WhenI asked Putti

(Kpoti) why his countrymen have such varied

opinions 1 he answered "Sir,

(Seignore)

I have never been dead and

comeback to life

so I cannot dispute with such certainty

about the

other

life

as your holy man did at

the time he was hereit•

This

holy manwhose name I cannot remember in the language of the blacks

is the Priest Elias Svane here in Zeala...'1d. He was priest

at Christ-

iansborg forfeur

or five years and was repatriated
•

never met him but ~I can adequately describe what veneration the

in 1726.

I have

blacks still

have for him.

}Ifa.ny years after he had left

the coast,

our seamen had used his greetings

to this or that black or any one

to get a couple of hens.

I think it was necessary in this Wa:!

to describe the religion

of

the blacks as far as it can be done and is known to me. For it

is

known that people's

ceremonies and customs flow from their moral,s. The

reader

should be prepared to see in their history of hundred years ago

in their wars and quarrels,

such inhumanity which is unbelieVable,

and

from it know their nature 1 manners, oust oms and more.

FOOTNOTES

1. A high priests, Wulomo,is the religious

official
~,

in charge of

he does not

a shrine.
become possessed by the spirit

In contrast

to an ordinary priest,

of the 30d which he serves.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Cabuceer or Caboceer is a Portuguese term Cabeceira from cabeca,_
hecid, is uSed loosely on the Gold Coast to describe a person
office.
holding~ a political
Apart from a kin~ the title was
used to describe a village
head man as well as the head of a
larger political

unit.

tradition

He is known in oral
remembered as the last person to combine the priestly
with political
were the original

of Labadi as Odoi Kpoti. He is
authority
that priests

power. This confirms the tradition

ru1e rs amongthe G-a.

The Oracle is called Lakpa.

Sissa is the Ga name for ghost. The name for devil

is abonsam.

Anaanu is the Ga name for spider.
They are not necessarily

always about Anaanu.

The tales

are knownas ~.

This refers
Accord.ing to tradition,
Kpeeshi of the Kpeeshi Lagoon in Labadi.

to Naa Korle of the Korle Lag-oonin central Accra.

Lakpa has two wives. Naa Korle and

_Fro~the 17th to the 18th century Accra was divided into three
by the Europeans.

(a) Dutch Accra present day; Ussher Town occupied by Asere,

Gbese, Otublohum .and _Abola.

-.

(b) English Aocra:

JamestoWn

oocupiedby Sempat Akumaje

and Alata.

(0) Danish Acora.:Osu •.

9.

This refers

toKlote

of the Klote Lagoon in Osu.

155.

10. Tie Tie - is the name siven by the Europ~~,

to a herald or

messenger of the kings and other
during this period.
Tie - listen.

rulers

of the Gold Coast

The name is derived from the Akanword -

11. Giemawon- Dzemawonis the Ga name for a god•.,. Eaoh Dzamawon

has its ovmname R,6merhas ai ther misunderstood the tarmDzemawon
or has forgotten
here referring
Labadi people. All other Dzemawodziin LabOOiare under him.

the name of that partioular Dzemawon. He is

to Lakpa which is the principal

deity of the

12. Rulers and.sods amongthe Ga have henorific

titles

appellations

or praise names with which they are greeted when they make a
public appeArance. Personal Ga names also haveapp'ellations,
ego Odoi's appellation

is Atoklo.

13. Bribi

- Akan word which also means sometJ:>.ing.

,;;f

. ~.- -.- .

-..

14. Ogra is Akan word for
15. Danish mile about five English miles.

fire.

16. The Ga year

is different

from the European year.

end of the year with the celebration
of a festival
Homowousually in AU5l1Stduring a time of plenty.
ritually
family reunion. Disputes are settled
in with love and merry making. This festival
amongthe eta.

cleansed and publicly 'lTorshipped. It is a time of

and the NewYear ushered

is still

celebrated

They mark the
known as
The gods are

17. The day of the celebration

is calculated by a special priest

in such a.~waQ that each Ga town knows the eXact interval betwen
its

and those of othe» towns.

celebration

18. People nowuse schnapps and gin, both bcal

and imported,

for

rituals
shift

associat.>d with the gods.

It is not knownwhen the

from brandy occurred.

156..

19. There are still

stages of the celebration

during which an archaic

or incomprehensible l:~~e

is used.

20. This part of the celebration

is not practised

toda.y.

21. Most of the songs sang on Wednesda.yare in comprehensible Ga

songs. They are songs compa:;ed to commemorate

and are..calledKpa
historical
sophical
the Kpa dance especially

occasions. Others are proverbial,

praise and philo-

songs. The songs have a special

rhythm which goes with

danced during this period.

22. The languarse used here is not modern Ga.;';

I cannot'translate

it.

23. These drums are still

used toda,y. They are played on the

\Vednesdas(Kpa.sh~) of the oelebration.
Lakpa, the name of the princ~pal god, the rest
Klolo which are names of Labadigods.

The .biggest

is called
are Osabu and

24. These days the throat of the animal is marked with a stone

before a knife is used.

25. This ceremony is still

performed exactly as R,6merdescrib~d it.

It is called Jlo~ugbunte. The song sang by the children and
adults who follow the manbeing carried is:

Agbugbunte Esi boyo
Esi boyo na boyo
.1'~bugbunteEsi boyo.

Nobqdycould tell me the meaning of the words or the. Origin
of the ceremony.

26. The. iInpression is given here that

the blacks believe tha-t

disease can have either physical or spiritual
the use of both herbs and offerihgs

to the ~ds.

'caUses, hence

Z7. Danish currency.

32 Rixdallers

= 10z gold.

28. Boesies - Cowries.

29.

In Ga, the owl is called Aye looflo - witchcraft
shows its

significanoe.

spiritual

bird which

157•

32. Owusuwas the. Ilephewof Bankvlate, chief of AkyemAbuakwa. He

was the one.who gave permission to the Danes to build a fort
at Ningo.

33. This appears to be a des.cription of Nananommpow,the National
of Mankessim. It was destroyed

Fante grove at
by the British

the outskirts
in the second. half of the century.

34. Amon.gthe. Akan~

is used generally to describe the executioner.

35.

Important

transactions were never made during the evil days.

36. This custom is still

practised

in LabaJii when the wife of the

Lakpa Wulomois expecting her first
paraded tl?rough the streets

of Labadi.

child.

She is carried and

31. Ga fishermen still maintain Tuesday as their

saored day. No

fishing

is d.one on Tuesday.

38. Awushi is the Ga appellation

for a Sunday born. This appears

to be the origin of the term "Kwesi Broni:l used in modern
times to describe

the whiteman.

39. Ciroumcission is done by the Ga on the eighth da.Y after birth.'

No Ga child is left uncircumoised.

40. The only explanation I can give is that most of the fishermen

alan'S the Ga coast at
fishing as is done by the Ga of today is supposed to have b~~~
introduced from Fante.

time were of Fa.."lte.origin.

that

Sea

158.

41. Labadi people of toda.v carry and own gold. However,

is not allowed at

wearing .f gold jewellery
(Lakpa's

the
the Lakpa We
home) and on the annual Kpa Wednesd~ (Kpa sh2)'

42. Acron was one of the Fante towns.

43. Darko was from Otublohum quarter

and Okanie (Okaija)

from

Gbese.