"Werner to Basel: Report of a Journey from Kibi to Kwahu"

(This letter is printed more or less in full in the pamphlet “Begoro und Okwau. Bericht über zwei Untersuchungsreisen als Vorbereitung für die Asante-Mission", 1875) They went by the Begoro route, and saw in that town the snail harvest – the women returning each with a 60 pound load, gathered in the course of one day. The route was through deserted country – they had to bivouac the first two nights, they third they spent in a small gathering of empty huts, which, seem to have been their only sight of human influence except for a hunting family who had a house at the mid-point of their journey, and who were able to sell them antelope and monkey flesh. Werner had a tent, Asante and Handel had only their hammocks. Werner had a revolver. They crossed the Kwahu-Akem border at a place where it is marked by the river Aurupong. The actual town sites which they visited were: Ntesso - the first – consisting of 20-30 huts. The chief there was the man whom Asante hand sent on a secret mission to the prisoners in Asante. He complained much of the debts which he had incurred in the course of the Asante war, and how they had been badly handled by the Asantes on account of the mission which he had tried to perform for the missionaries. Tafo – a short journey from Ntesso, where they were lodged in the king’s house. Abetifi – they were received with suspicion until they made it clear they were not from the Accra government. They were impressed by the industriousness of the Abetifi people; seeing there at least one weaver; and spinning, dying, carding; A maker of wooden bowls, there was a lot of mat-making going on, and there was a smith too. Aduamo they passed. Obo, the biggest town of Kwahu, with several thousand inhabitants. “We saw something new to us in the street – here and there merchants, stalls with cloth, salt, fish, and so on offered for sale”. Five minutes from Obo is the town of Kyeneduruase – to the south west a wooded hill which is sacred to the town. No rice is grown here because it is prohibited by the Prah, but they are not afraid to eat rice. Obomeng – reached from Obo by walking through farms and palm woods. A town distinguished by its broad street and neatly arranged houses. Their general impressions were of a district with a pleasant climate. (Nights as cool as May nights in their home country) and an industrious people. They returned to Kibi by another route, though the first night had to be spent in a bivouac again. After nine hours on the second day they reached Abomosu after what seems to have been particularly difficult trek – Werner says almost every 5 steps there was some sort of obstacle to surmount. They were back in Kibi on the third evening. The manuscript ends with 2 pages of recommendations as to policy over the establishment of new stations. Begoro is clearly not the place for a station as support of a Kwahu station – it is easier by far to travel to Kwahu straight from Kibi, and the coastal traffic to Kwahu passes through Kukurantumi and Kibi.

06.05.1875

06.05.1875

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