Opposite the fort is the normal school-room, occasionally served by Mr. Graham, of Atabo; Bein has a tide-waiter, but no pedagogue. Beyond it rises the large and uneven swish-house of the 'King,' who has lately been summonsed, as a defaulting debtor, to Cape Coast Castle: the single black policeman who served the writ evidently looked upon us as his colleagues. The people eyed us with no friendly glances; they were 'making custom' for the ruler's return. The vague phrase denoted, in this case, a frantic battering of drums, big and little; a squeaking of scrannel pipes; a feminine 'break-down' of the most _effrenee_ description, and a general libation to the Bacchus of Blackland. A debauched and drunken Ashanti, who executed for our benefit a decapitation-dance, evidently wishing that we had been its objects, thanked us ironically for a sixpence. We met some difficulty in seeing the swords, which were _not_ to be sold. They were the usual rusty and decayed fish-slicers; Cameron, however, was kind enough to sketch them for me, and they will appear in my coming book. Most of the adult males had travelled inland to the Takwa or French mines, where the Apollonians bear the highest reputation. Whole gangs flock to the diggings, bringing their own provisions and implements. Thus they have begun working on tribute and contracting for piece-work. [Footnote: This information was given to me by M. Plisson, traffic-manager to the Company.] This is a favourable phase of the labour-question. At the same time it is clear that the labourer can easily keep the richest specimens for himself and palm off the worst stuff upon the stranger. Here we are next door to the Ivory Coast, and elephants, they say, are still to be found within two days north of Bein. The hunters cross a broad stream (the Tando?) and a dry swamp; they then enter an uninhabited forest; and, after a couple of marches, they reach the animals' haunts. Small tusks are at times brought in, but no Europeans, so far as I know, ever killed a tusker in these wilds. My informants heard that a route from Bein leads to Gyaman, and that it may be travelled without difficulty. The following note, by Mr. Edward L. McCarthy, describes an excursion from Bein to the unvisited Essua-ti, made by him in August 1881:--