er fell out from his place in the ranks.

Nor was the first night in Coomassie destined to be a quiet one.
Soon after two o'clock a fire broke out in one of the largest of the
collections of huts, which was soon in a blaze from end to end. The
engineers pulled down the huts on either side and with great difficulty
prevented the flames from spreading. These fires were the result of
carriers and others plundering, and one man, a policeman, caught with
loot upon him, was forthwith hung from a tree. Several others were
flogged, and after some hours' excitement the place quieted down. Sir
Garnet was greatly vexed at the occurrence, as he had the evening before
sent a messenger to the king asking him to come in and make peace, and
promising to spare the town if he did so.

Although Coomassie was well known to Frank he was still ignorant of the
character of the interior of the chiefs' houses, and the next day he
wandered about with almost as much curiosity as the soldiers themselves.
The interiors even of the palaces of the chiefs showed that the Ashantis
can have no idea of what we call comfort. The houses were filled with
dust and litter, and this could not be accounted for solely by the
bustle and hurry of picking out the things worth carrying away prior
to the hurried evacuation of the place. From the roofs hung masses
of spiders' web, thick with dust, while sweeping a place out before
occupying it brought down an accumulation of dust which must have been
the result of years of neglect. The principal apartments were lumbered
up with drums, great umbrellas, and other paraphernalia of processions,
such as horns, state chairs, wooden maces, etc. Before the door of
each house stood a tree, at the foot of which were placed little idols,
calabashes, bits of china, bones, and an extraordinary jumble of strange
odds and ends of every kind, all of which were looked upon as fetish.
Over the doors and alcoves were suspended a variety of charms, old stone
axes and arrow tips, nuts, gourds, amulets, beads, and other trumpery
articles.

The palace was in all respects exactly as the king had left it. The
royal bed and couch were in their places, the royal chairs occupied
their usual raised position. Only, curiously enough, all had been turned
round and over. The storerooms upstairs were untouched, and here was
found an infinite variety of articles, for the most part mere rubbish,
but many interesting and valuable: silver plate, gold ma