The newly-appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast, Sir Samuel Rowe, at once ordered out to relieve Mr. Griffith, left England in mid-February. He was accompanied by a staff of seven officers temporarily employed. Reinforcements were hurried from Sierra Leone and the West Indies. The Admiralty was applied to for the reunion of cruisers upon the Gold Coast waters. Estimates of native allies were drawn up, showing that 20,000 half-armed men could be brought into the field against the 30,000 of Ashanti. The loyal and powerful chief Kwamina Blay, of Atabo, in Amrehia, or Western Apollonia, offered 6,000 muskets, and an additional 1,000 hands if the Government would supply arms and ammunition. On January 19 the ambassador with the 'Gold Axe' presented himself at Elmina. He was accompanied by Saibi Enkwia, who had signed the treaty at Fomana, a village in Assin, between Kumasi and the Bosom Prah River. The envoy formally demanded possession of Prince Owusu and of one Amangkra, an Ashanti trader who had aided him to escape. Saibi Enkwia added by way of threat, 'The King said, if the Governor would not order the return of Owusu to Kumasi, he would attack the Assins.' He further explained that these Assins were the people who always caused 'palavers' between the Ashantis and the Protectorate, to which they belonged. Naturally the ignominious demand was refused. The messengers left for Kumasi, and Lieutenant-Governor Griffith telegraphed from Madeira to England (January 25), 'War imminent with Ashanti.' It was considered suspicious that all the inlanders were disappearing from the coast. This was afterwards explained: they were flocking north for the 'native Christmas,' the Yam-custom, or great festival of the year.