"Jost's Report on a School Journey in Kwahu"

The party about 50 strong - the date before Christmas 1897. An English officer from the interior had lodged with the Abetifihene the night before - the pupils sang to him en route through the town, and he in turn dashed Jost a few silver coins for the night's fufu. In Aduammoa there were few people to preach to. The announcement of their coming was by trumpet and the songs of the pupils. Nkwatia - they were successfully able to draw people away from an obsequy custom (the instruments used in the music to attract the people were flute, mouth organ, and trumpet). Bepong - Jost describes the large congregation at evening prayers not wanting to leave, but staying for an hour exchanging hymns, and telling stories. The next morning 4 speakers had an uninterrupted opportunity to address a crowd of hundreds, since the chief of Kwahu had called several chiefs to Bepong to consult over the problem of arresting a libertine who had made the bush around Bepong so dangerous that the women no longer liked to go for water. It was the missionaries who had reminded the Kwahu chief of his duty to secure the man. On the second day they travelled through Asakraka to Tafo, where Jost writes the respect for the local fetish grows and does not - as everywhere else in Kwahu - decrease. (This is Buruku). From Tafo they climbed to the foot of the Buruku rock then returned to Tafo where they found that the people who had promised to prepare them food had not done so. They therefore had to march to Bukukuwa in the dark (Jost remarks with no loss of morale - the pupils singing all the way) and on arrival were warmly welcomed not only by the Christians, but also the chief.

24.06.1898

24.06.1898

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