The yam custom, or holiday, is another annual ceremony, kept up to prevent people from using yams before they are ripe, as they are then deemed unwholesome; and also to compel the people to use all the old ones, in order to guard against the consequences of failure in the yam crop of the following year. On this occasion all differences are settled and crimes punished; but no sacrifices are offered up here, as at Ashantee. The propensity for thieving is found in all the natives, high and low; they are also, generally, void of all gratitude, and deem it part of their duty to rob white men whenever they can. In the market they invariably ask you four times as much as they will take. If your servant is unwilling to connive at their swindling tricks, they open a full battery of abuse upon him; but servants in this country seldom put them to that test. Of all the African tribes I have met with, I consider the Fantees the worst. It is remarkable that one-eighth of the population is either actually crippled or suffering from a loathsome disease called _craw-craw_, which bears some resemblance to the mange in dogs or horses. In appearance and personal strength they are much inferior to most other Africans; probably from their great indolence and want of exercise. The wives are treated with great harshness by their husbands, in case they offend them. They have no ingenuity, but a considerable power of imitation. Some of our British manufactured articles in wood or gold they can imitate very fairly, but when closely examined, their work will always be found to be defective. They seem never to improve by their own ingenuity, but always remain stationary in any art or trade which they have learnt. They seem to have no idea of a straight line, and cannot build a wall straight, or make a hedge in a direct line; nor in the whole neighbourhood of Cape Coast is there a footpath in a straight line for the distance of twenty yards, although the ground is quite level. They certainly possess many strange ideas.