"Martin to Basel"

Reports that in Anum the influenz was claiming 3-4 people a day at its height, often young people, e.g. the chief Kwasi Kumit whom Martin describes as in the prime of life. His successor was middle-aged - Obese Kwasi. The bulk of the report is concerned with incidents between the Christians and the townspeople which are also outlined in Rösler’s Report (No. 137): - The chief was worried about the Christians' planting of atokol, a kind of millet which is planted in Salaga but only found growing wild near Anum usually. - The chiefs from the other quarters (Obese is said to have been from Apenkwa) were called Bomo (Amamforo) and Opoku (Ammoanna), - The blue baft had-part of at least – been bought by Christians from traders in Anum town. - The dogs were reckoned to have been brought back by Christians from Akwapim and Accra when returning from the Asante war. - Obese Kwasi had lived his whole time on the coast until his election as chief. - A deceased fetish priest-called Badu had worn blue baft - In the Sunday morning services they were saying prayers for the chief elders and the people. - The quarrel was really between the Christians and the elders - the king being silenced by a barrage of questions which led up to the futility of the prohibitions (he had himself kept dogs) and mutual assurances of good will. The confrontation between missionary and catechist and elders on the one side and chief and elders on the other took place in an atmosphere of tension, many elders and people shouting out that they would kill the dogs if they were not taken away. - When going to fetch water from the Volta (the Anum people were not letting them use their water sources, and they had told the Dodi people not him to let them get Volta water at Dodi), they went to the river by a side way through the farms of an Ada man who did not oppose them because he did not know about the business (The next day, however, they had to use water from the mission house cistern). In two skirmishes the leader of the rioters was a very rich man' from Amanforo called Nyako - The community from Boso, Kpalime and Tsate had brought water for the Anum community, and had arrived at the same time as a soldier and messenger from the English side of the Boundary Commission. These were sent to the chief and linguist of Amanforo. The German members of the Boundary Commission were visiting the Anum station and present when Martin first approached one of the English members (Hicks) and asked him for the intervention the English Government. (Hicks advice was apparently that the dogs should be sent to the protection of the DC at Akuse). When Martin sent a night messenger to Williams the ex-Akuse DC the same messenger was asked to survey his report to the German delegation too The situation was eventually pacified in a court held by Williams in Anum in which five leaders of the Anum heathens were bound over to keep the peace for a year on penalty of a £100 fine each. The Christians seem to have exercised a fair amount of discipline and self-control in the situation as Martin records it, though the arrival of the government messenger coincided with an explosive situation, and that because of this no real fighting broke out. Water pots were destroyed in numbers, but little else occurred.

06.07.1892

06.07.1892

Text