"Lodholz' Report for the First Quarter of 1869"

The report is mainly concerned with a journey in the second half of January to the northern boundary of Akim, accompanied by Kwabi, Ako, and a number of the Kibi schoolboys. Travelling west and north from Kibi over a high hill they found no village before Kwamang, which he describes as a very small village. One hour northwards they reached Bangso. They were friendly received there, and after preaching were asked questions about what they had said. On the second day, before leaving Bangso, Lodholz saw an elderly man making an offering. He stood outside his house door holding an egg up as if to throw it, then cast it onto the ground, bowing to it twice, all the time uttering ununderstandable words. Asked, Kwabi said this showed that he was going to undertake some notable work during the day, and asked a blessing on from his fetish. They then travelled, passing through and preaching at Akorofufu and Awyenade after which they reached Kwabeng, where they stayed the night. Their preaching was well received by a large crowd, no doubt drawn by curiosity mostly since it was probably the first time anyone had preached there. They met the two Kwabeng scholars at home on holiday - and another boy asked to be accepted at the school, with his mother's permission. Kwabeng has the reputation of being very rich in gold. They stayed overnight in a pretty house belonging to a man who ought to have been very rich, but was in fact poor because of his constant illnesses. On the third day they came to Anyinam, where, when the Asantes and Akim are trading, there are great throngs of people. On the day of his visit the people at first said there were no places in which he could stay, though eventually, when he prepared to move on to another town, the elders met and the chief himself offered him a bed. In the chief's house Lodholz was surrounded by signs of fetish worship - an amulet hung above his bed, and when he opened a curtain in his room he found it led straight into the chamber of the fetish itself - the fetish itself was in two jars, and around it was fufu, eggs, slaughtered hens. The room was decorated with amulets stem. In Anyinam he preached on the 10 Commandments to convince people of their sins - dwelling especially on the 1st and 2nd. On the fourth day he travelled on almost unusable paths to Adesawase at the foot of the northern Akim hills. The roads were deliberately bad in order to protect the people from surprise attack from the Aaantes. At Adasewase they had a very inattentive audience, in Neupompe Lodholz spoke on the dangers of hell fire after a man had told him (when he was urging boys to come to his school in Kibi) that he did not want to learn anything, he only wanted to give himself up to the lusts of the flesh. A fetish priest in this village who wanted to disturb the preaching walk shamed back to his house by the hostility of the villagers themselves. They stayed the night at Odyenase where there was again a great crowd of attentive listeners. On the fifth day he visited Gyadam, though could not go onto the Mission Hill because he felt fever coming on –and had to hurry to catch up his carriers in Osino. They passed through Samang, where a friendly man let Lodholz lie in his own room while the fever went off, then they went on to Asiakwa.

25.04.1869

25.04.1869

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