"Müller's Report for the Third Quarter of 1868"

Has no new news about the war - no mention of a campaign in August, only a report of the battle on July 13th, after which the Pekyi people, too, were tired of the fighting. Messages have just been sent by Dompre and the Anum 'King' to Accra, Akwapim and Akim asking for support in the fighting. Most of the report is taken up with a description of a visit to Boso, part of a preaching tour. Repeats the point: The children do not understand Twi. Evening conversation on the street reported in detail – Müller, a fetish priest, an old man, and a young man making a new tool for weaving. Müller started by asking why the young man made his tool only 4 inches wide. In Europe it would be 2-3 feet wide, and that is how in Europe such wide cloths are made. He replied that he did not understand European methods. Müller ought to show him how. Müller said he should just try with an 8 inch strip. The fetish priest said that white men possessed much wisdom, and that they should teach them this wisdom. So Müller asked them how they thought white men had learned their wisdom. God had in fact taught it; because the white men serve, fear and love him. He has taught them to find out all these things. Africans serve their fetishes, who cannot give such wisdom. But the fetish priest replied that they did serve God; the fetishes were intermediary between God and men. Müller poured scorn on this idea, arguing that the fetishes were nothing but objects. God was the creator - by looking at the sky, and at the thunder and lightning you could see his power. The fetish priest said they did want to serve God. Müller told him that God knew everything - whether someone was just saying something, or meant it from the heart; and that everyone had to answer at the throne of judgement.

29.10.1868

29.10.1868

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