"Tschopp's Report for the Third Quarter 1887"

Devoted to a report of his preaching journeys in the first three days of September. In the introduction he reports that Schmid has taken over the boarding school and he is now to devote himself to preaching journeys. He is thankful that he has the health for this, and feels a joy in it. In the quarter he has been able to visit all the 26 towns of Kwahu at least twice. Remarking the Abetifi midden, Tschopp writes that when a town expands the midden becomes surrounded by houses - and he has seen many places where this has occurred. On the Abetifi houses - clearly doors and shutters are not rare, though the majority of the houses are without. There are very few houses with pure earth wall, most are earth plastered on wattle, and their thickness then is only about 2 decimetres thick. The white earth used for the final decorative plaster is to be found near Abetifi- though many houses are not decorated in this way. En route out of Abetifi he passed a grave marked by a framework made of sticks, on which stood a broken brandy bottle. Aduamoa he describes as a new town, not yet completely settled from the old one. In it he came across the end of a process of which he had previously heard in Abene - a man (tribe not stated) had sworn the Ewahuhene's oath against an Ashanti; the case was heard in Aduamoa, but since the chief of the Asante town involved was demanding £800 the Kwahuhene could not settle; it, the man was sent to Asante, and the Kwahuhene's fetish pacified with the blood of 3 sheep. The Kwahuhene suggested the case should be taken to the governor, but this was not done. (The Kwahuhene Tschopp describes as a man of few gifts, who has done nothing to enlarge the authority of his office, but he is friendly to the mission, and regularly appears at street preaching in Abene). Most of the people at the palaver did not wait to hear Tschopp's preaching, those who did were attentive. He offered happiness and holiness, offered the post-resurrection signs as proof that Jesus was the Son of God, and forecast a bad end for people who did not desert their gods. He also spoke with a group of men making cloths - one weaver, and one sewing the strips of cloth together, remarking en passant that this was a very common sight. The subject of the conversation was polygamy, for one of the men said that he would become a Christian if he did not have to have one wife. Tschopp's way of persuading that one wife was right was (a) to appeal to the story of Adam and Eve and (b) to suggest that he loved one of the wives best, and did not having too many cause strife? The man agreed with the latter, but apparently said it was too hard for him to give up the others. Tschopp calls this remaining subject to fleshy lust, and the joys of this world, and that many people were thus easily persuaded to avoid responding to the call of the Word of God for an alteration of their attitudes, and self-denial. In Odumase he was not able to preach, being interrupted by the Twenedurasehene en route for the obsequy festivities of the mother of his predecessor in Pepease. (There is a description of the scene in this village when he arrived, and the first signs of the coming the Twenedurasehene). The Twenedurasehene is no friend of the mission. Obo was very empty, the people - being mostly on- the Akim plains, partly because it was very dry and food was scarce, partly to dig gold. He mentions the grain stores which you see in all the Kwahu villages (used for ground-nuts too) though the Obo fetish forbids rice. Evening prayers were attended by several Christians from Abetifi workings as carpenters in Obo, also people from the town, and several boys for whom they must open a school later (Catechist Mensah has recently been sent to live in Obo). Twaneduruase has a Dente shrine at both ends of the town. Akwasiho -plenty of people there the whole of Kwahu is supplied with pots from this town and Mpraoso. The pots are made in two stages - first the mouth and neck is formed and left to dry while the bottom remains a shapeless mass - then the pot is completed. The whole operation is carried on with bare hands, except that they use a snail shell to rub the pottery down, and to decorate it. They use the fruit of a tree with lines engraved on it. There was also a carpenter's shop in the town making European-style stools, doors, shutters, and boxes. In Kodum the people seemed rather poor, and the place was 'narrowly' built, the people friendly. From Kodum there were other small villages after 3 minutes, after a further 4 minutes, and after a further 5 minutes. The people were all occupied in the woods collecting rubber from a creeper. In the fourth village more pots were being made. 30 minutes further on they came to Asonna where they were attentively listened to, and Tschopp noticed sick people with swollen limbs - no rarity on the Kwahu hills, but more common on the plains. En route home in Aduammoa someone had recently died, and he saw a part of the ceremonies. A long line of women marching through the village with their foreheads bound, shrieking out the dead person's name, and some with red painted bodies (children); some with white painted bodies and face (grandchildren), and some had bunches of pal-twigs tied to their elbows (the close relatives). The chief visited the house of the dead person and gave a piece of cloth for the corpse. The chief was accompanied by his orchestra - horn-blowers, drummers and dawuro-players are cited.

18.10.1887

18.10.1887

Text