Note 76 — Chapter III
Reading edition
A person accidentally killing another in Ahanta, pays 5 oz. of gold to the family, and defrays the burial customs. In the case of murder, it is 20 oz. of gold and a slave; or, he and his family become the slaves of the family of the deceased. If a man dashes himself to the fetish on the head of another, the other must redeem him. If a man kills himself on the head of another, the other must kill himself also, or pay 20 oz. to the family: in Fantee the sum is indefinitely great: this is frequently resorted to, when there is no other prospect of revenge.
Adumissa, an extraordinarily beautiful red skinned woman of Cape Coast, possessed numerous admirers, but rejected them all. One of them, in despair, shot himself on her head close to her house. The family demanding satisfaction; to save her relations from a ruinous palaver, she resolved to shoot herself in expiation. She accordingly assembled her friends and relatives from various parts of the country, and sitting, richly dressed, killed herself in their presence with golden bullets. After the body had been exposed in state, it was buried with a profusion of cloths and gold. The beautiful Adumissa is still eulogised, and her favourite patterned cloth bears her name amongst the natives.