Note 144 — Chapter XVII

Ku (dead), to (land), men (in, here pleonastic). It is the “Samanmadi” of the Fanti, and the “Ipo-oku” of the Egbas. Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 116), mentions a Custom held on April 11, 1845, “to ensure to the spirits of departed friends a safe and easy passage across the great waters westward. They mean the river Votta (Volta). If this custom were not kept up, they believe the spirits would wander on the banks for the space of 100 years, before they would have performed sufficient penance for their friends’ neglect.” But this is a mixture of European classical belief and the creed of the Gold Coast, especially of the Ga, or Accra race, whose ghosts dwell beyond the Volta.