This first Tutu was a wise and able man. In his day justice was said to be ever on the alert; neither wealth nor office won favor in the judgments of the king or of his courts. He was a great fighter and was killed in battle. Four kings of his line succeeded him. Osai Tutu Kwamina was the fifth. He ascended the throne in 1800 and reigned for twenty-four years.
The origin of the Ashantis is uncertain; they, together with the Fantis and other coastal tribes, are probably part of the Akan people. They are fine in physique, cleanly in personal habits and in the sanitary arrangements of their towns, courageous and honorable, with a passionate love for their nation. Their system of customary law and social order is intricate and of great interest to the anthropologist. Before civilizing influences touched them they were ferocious in warfare, merciless to their captives, horribly cruel in their punishments, and wont to celebrate religious rites with an orgy of sacrifice, often of human beings. Their recorded doings are sometimes ruthless and barbaric to an incredible degree. Their friends found them a singularly attractive people; the hatred of their enemies knew no bounds.
Osai Tutu Kwamina had in heightened meas-
