At ten A.M. on the same day we anchored off Cape Coast, and on the morning of the 22d I went on shore, and called at the fort to deliver my official papers from Lord Stanley to the Governor. I was, however, informed by his secretary, that his Excellency Governor Hill had not yet risen. I then waited upon Mr. T. Hutton, a merchant at Cape Coast, to whom I had letters of introduction. He received me with every mark of kindness, and allotted to myself and servant an elegantly furnished house, with servants to attend on us, assuring me that I was heartily welcome to any thing in his house. I afterwards called upon Governor Hill, and presented Lord Stanley’s letter, on which he wished me success in my arduous undertaking, but never once asked me where I intended to remain, or whether I had got my luggage ashore, or how I was accommodated. After visiting the fort, however, I felt very glad that I had escaped such accommodation, or rather imprisonment. Governor Maclean, it appeared, upon his departure, took all his private furniture with him. Nothing consequently remained but the bare walls, and a few of the commonest Windsor chairs and plain tables, as the furniture of the Governor’s apartments. In fact, any part of the fort at Cape Coast far more resembles a prison than many of our prisons in England. CHAPTER II. Attacked by Fever--Death of my Servant--Mr. Hutton--Buildings in Progress by him--Indolence of the Natives--Cheapness of Living--The Fantees--Their Superstition--Description of their Idol or Fetish--Their Customs or Holidays--Native Music--Rum, their favourite Liquor--Proceedings on occasion of a Death--Mode of Burial--The King’s Custom or Holiday--Character of the King--My Reception by his Majesty--Comparatively neglected by the British Government--Fetish Houses--Native Funerals--Want of Natural Affection--The Yam Custom--The Fantees, the worst of the African Tribes--Their Power of Imitation--Wild Animals--The Patakoo--Granite and Sandstone--The Dutch Settlement of Elmina--A fine Field for Botanists--State of Agriculture--Excessive Heat--Message to the King of Ashantee--Cattle--Artizans much wanted--Murder of an Ashantee Woman.