3-065-699 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: Lord Gifford and advance scouts on the Adansi Hills warned by an Ashantee priest not to go forward - from a sketch by our special artist, 1874. 'Lord Gifford was sent up the hill to reconnoitre, with fifty scouts, picked from the best native auxiliaries, Kossohs, Houssas, and Bonny men. While climbing the steep ascent through a tangled forest [they] were met by an Ashantee priest, or wizard, sent to warn them not to go any farther. It was near the supposed boundary that separates the proper Ashantee territory from that of Assim. The priest...waved his arms with uncouth gestures, and made various strange noises...and said that the Ashantee army was assembled in thousands at the top of the hill, and that they would kill every man who went up. Neither Lord Gifford nor the men he led were in the least degree alarmed by the declaration. The Houssas and Kossohs were quite wild to get at the enemy. They...rushed up the hill, all shouting, and brandishing their swords and breech-loaders with both hands. When they got to the top all they could see was five men running away...There was a fetish on the spot, fixed in the ground like a scarecrow, but consisting only of a stick, with bundles of cotton and grass tied round it...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.