_parlance_ this ordeal is designated as 'chopping
nut.'"[15]

The hardest workers amongst the Fantis are the fishers, who use a canoe
of wood of the bombax, from ten to twelve feet in length, and
strengthened by cross timbers. The net--a casting net--is made from the
fibres of the aloe or the pine-apple, and is about twenty feet in
diameter (?).

Next to these come the farmers, whose rough agriculture consists in the
cultivation of maize, bananas, yams, and pumpkins; and lastly, the
gold-seekers. Of this there is abundance; and where the European coin of
the coast ceases, the native currency of gold-dust begins. Sums of so
small a value as three half-pence are thus paid; smaller ones being
represented by cowries.

The highest of their arts is that of manufacturing gold ornaments, and
this is the hereditary craft of certain families. These transmit the
secret of their skill from father to son, and keep the corporation to
which they belong up to a due degree of closeness, by avoiding
intermarriage with any of the more unskilled labourers. A little
weaving, and a little potting, constitute the remaining arts of the
Fanti--as far, at least, as they are either _fine_ or _useful_.

The craft of the _Fetish-man_ comes under none of the preceding
categories. He is the priest, sorcerer, or medicine man; the
representative of "Paganism, in its lowest and most hideous form, the
objects of their worship being the most repulsive reptiles, and their
ceremonies the most degrading. They certainly have some idea of the
existence of a First Cause, and believe themselves to be in the power of
the _Great Fetish_, their protection or destruction being dependent upon
the will of this power, of whose attributes they know nothing further.
They also believe in the existence of a spirit of evil, and on some
parts of the coast consider his power over them so great, that they
address their supplications, and erect, for his especial service, small
mud huts, usually of a conical shape, built under the shade of some
stately palm or wild fig-tree, in one of the most inviting spots to be
found. These huts bear the unattractive name among Europeans of 'devil's
temples.' It will be seen thus, that this belief in the existence of the
Great Fetish professed by the Fantees, is a faint glimmering of that
natural religion which all nations possess. Of the creation of our
species, they do not appear to entertain very correct ideas, unless it
be that they