Coomassie

Coomassie, or Kumassi, the capital of Ashanti (q.v.), West Africa, stands on a low rocky eminence, surrounded by a dense jungle and pestilential swamps, about 130 miles N.N.W. of Cape Coast Castle. It was founded by Sy Tutu in the middle of the eighteenth century, and is about 3-1/2 miles in circumference, with broad, regular streets and stuccoed houses painted red and white. The British, under Wolseley, captured the place in 1874 and destroyed the palace, a large and strong building, close to which is the grove where many human victims were annually slaughtered. A considerable trade is carried on with the interior, and the wealthier inhabitants use gold freely for ornamental purposes.