(Prince Ansah here began talking to Buaki.)
_Rowe_ (_to the Interpreter_). “What is Ansah saying to Buaki?”
_Ansah._ “Buaki has left out part of the message, and a most important part.”
_Rowe._ “Does not Buaki come direct from the king with a message to me?”
_Rowe._ “How then do you know his message better than he does himself? I think your interruption is very unseemly.”
_Ansah._ “Buaki told me his message when he first arrived at Prahsu. He has now omitted something he then told me.”
_Buaki._ “It is true what Prince Ansah says. I have, through my old age, forgotten a part of my message. It is about the golden axe. The axe belongs to the fetish: it is a sign of the fetish. In the time of Governor Maclean there was a dispute concerning a man: the axe was sent, and the end was peace. Under Colonel Torrane a difference arose and the axe was again sent. The matter was settled amicably. To two other Governors the axe was sent, and the end was peace. In the present case the axe was sent as belonging to the fetish, to obtain our desires peaceably. It is in fact a sign of an extraordinary embassy. There are those who have said the axe means war: so the king has heard. It was not so. It is not so. Take no heed of this; the king of Ashanti only wishes for peace.”
The representative of Awooah, chief of Bantama and general of the Ashanti army, said:--
“My master is the greatest captain of the king’s army. If we had been going to war would not my master have known before others? But he knew no such thing. Let it be known to the Government of the Gold Coast that the king of Ashanti has many enemies near home, and it is they who have endeavoured to embroil him with the English, so that they might seize their opportunities. Why should we fight with the English? They are our good friends. I, my master, and my king, only wish for peace.”
The representative of the Kokofuah district then rose and said:--
“Why should we quarrel with our good friends the English? If we want salt, we get it from Europe; if we want cloth, we get it from Europe; and if we want powder to fire at a custom, where do we get it from? Why, from Europe. I and my master only wish for peace. Why should we fight the Government of the Gold Coast, so far off, when we have many enemies close at hand ever ready to fight?”