International African Institute

The Ashanti Rubber Trade with the Gold Coast in the Eighteen-Nineties
Author(s): Kwame Arhin
Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1972),
pp. 32-43
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1159529
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 [321

THE ASHANTII RUBBER TRADE WITH THE GOLD

COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES

KWAME ARHIN

INTRODUCTION

THIS study of the Ashanti rubber trade with the Gold Coast in the closing years
of the last century explores further a theme with which I have for some time now
been occupied. The theme is the nineteenth-century background to Ashanti economic
development in the present century. In an earlier study of Ashanti trade with Hausa,
Mande, and Mossi caravans I suggested that Ashanti experience with the kola trade
provided a significant foundation for the successful introduction of cocoa cultivation
early in this century, and that an adequate explanation of the latter requires a know-
ledge of the tools and the social framework of kola production and also of the
organization of kola distribution from the areas of production to the kola markets
in modern north-central Ghana in the previous century (Arhin, I970). The rubber
trade was complementary to Ashanti trade in the north, and a close look at it should
throw more light on the economic outlook and organizational methods developed
in the previous century which account for the eagerness with which the Ashanti took
to cocoa cultivation and the success they made of its distribution before the era of the
lorry. Secondly, there was an interesting link between the rubber trade and the domes-
tic slave trade with Samory2 which presents the Alymany in the role of a stimulant
to the Ashanti economy; one tends to think of him solely in terms of his military-
politico activities. Thirdly, the Government of the Gold Coast, which took a keen
interest in the rubber trade, sent officials to observe its production and sale in the
interior so that written reports may be compared with oral information. After a brief
note on changes in the basis of, and the personnel involved in, Ashanti trade with the
European establishments on the Gold Coast in the nineteenth century, I shall
examine the beginning, growth, and importance of the rubber trade; the categories
of traders and the different modes of rubber collection; and lastly, the organization
by which rubber reached the exporting agencies. The emphasis throughout will be
on those features of the rubber trade which are significant for twentieth-century
developments.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHANGES IN ASHANTI TRADE WITH THE GOLD COAST

From its establishment at the beginning of the eighteenth century to about 1874
Ashanti trade with the Europeans on the Gold Coast was based on the exchange of

I The Ashanti are a Twi-speaking matrilineal so that it embraces the Ahafo, Brong, and Sehwi
people distinguished among the Akan peoples of peoples who were under the political influence of
central and southern Ghana by their political allegi- the Ashantihene in the nineteenth century but do
ance to the Ashantihene, the occupant of the Golden not now owe political allegiance to him.
Stool based in Kumasi. But ' Ashanti ' has also been 2 For a short account of Samory's military and
used here to denote the forest lands of central Ghana political activities, see Hargreaves, I968, pp. 244-6.

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 33
gold and war-captives for guns and ammunition, salt, and some c
was largely in the control of the Ashantihene, the divisional and s
who were in charge of the wealth of the country and therefore of
with the Europeans (Arhin, 1970). Also, since the chiefs considere
Europeans as an instrument not so much of the development of ma
political expansion, they ensured that supplies of gold were used f
of the instruments of warfare.
Two major events in the nineteenth century affected Ashanti's
tions with the Europeans. The first of these events was the British
slave trade in 1807 which had the consequence of making gold th
Ashanti trade with the English, the leading European, traders. Th
British invasion of Ashanti in 1874. The commercially significant
invasion was a considerable decline in both the quality and quanti
(Akers, i888). The decline is traceable to the political disorgani
invasion brought to Ashanti. Rebellious and secessionist movemen
crises (I875-92) diverted the chiefs from commerce, and the obvi
the Ashanti machinery for military mobilization encouraged gan
throw trade routes into jeopardy and commerce became an extrem
venture.' Perhaps even more significant, in terms of real econom
the enforced withdrawal of the chiefs from trading gave room f
moner participation in the trade with the Gold Coast which result
the war-oriented character of Ashanti trade with the Gold Coast: c
reasonably be assumed to be less interested in the promotion of war
change in what may be called the conditions of the coastal trade c
development of the rubber trade, and the flow of goods through
Ashanti was more significant in terms of material welfare than it had
I88os.

THE BEGINNING AND GROWTH OF THE RUBBER TRADE

The first consignments of rubber, like the first Portuguese exports of gold back
the fifteenth century, came from the immediate Gold Coast hinterland.2 K.
Dickson (I969, p. I62) states that an agent of the Basel Mission started exporting
rubber in the i86os; that before 1885 rubber exports came mainly from Akim, Krep
and Wassaw; and that owing to the 'destructive' method of tapping the tree
supplies from this southern area were exhausted by the beginning of the i89os; s
that 'The rubber trade was only saved when the forests of Ashanti were made to
yield their wealth of rubber from about 890 '.
The exploitation of rubber in Ashanti more than doubled the volume of exports.
In a dispatch (November I893) to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, th
Governor of the Gold Coast gave the following export figures:

On the political consequences of the British 2 Szereszewski, I965, pp. 1-12, provides a genera
invasion of x874 on Ashanti see Tordoff, I965, survey of trade in the nineteenth century.
pp. I-28.
D

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34 THE ASHANTI RUBBER TRADE WITH THE

Year Rubber exports Value (,s sterling)

quantity (lb.)
I880 I,200 43
I88I 555 31
i882 70 I
1883 57,913 2,372
I884 223,843 I3,620
1885 548,474 26,775
I886 1,549,I2I 69,011
1887 1,306,252 62,430
I888 878,387 38,048
1889 1,241,628 55,198
1890 3,36I,055 231,282
1891 2,946,913 198,901

The Gold Coast Annual (Colonial) Reports give the following

1894 3,027,527 232,250
1895 4,022,385 322,070
I896 3,735,439 313,817
i897 4,957,016 4I9,9I3
1898 5,984,984 551,667
1899 5,572,554 555,73

One cannot estimate exactly Ashanti's share of thes

Gold Coast were in no doubt that a much larger pr
Ashanti. The Annual Report of 1894 attributed the f
the previous one to political disturbances in Ashanti.
From returns received from Ashanti, it is shown that 7
the season, pass through Kumasi to the coast. There are
rubber is carried in large quantities from west and east; t
west and north of the Colony now goes through Kumasi

Throughout the eighteen-nineties, then, the rubber

Ashanti in the form of goods worth over 200,000o p
It is unfortunate that one cannot estimate in any pr
amount was saved or used in the acquisition of tr
I mean commodities like cloths, drinks, salt, and iron
trader himself but put to further trading. But there is
saving in the sense of withholding part of the cash
from immediate spending. The Gold Coast Blue Boo
A proportion of the silver coins [realized from the sale
gold and ivory-] which finds its way into the interior cou
natives for security. British Gold Coins are occasionally
ornaments, and silver coins are also melted and worked

The meaning of 'security' in this context is unclear

Brong-Ahafo Region, and among the Brong inhabita
Coast),' spoke of the care taken by traders to conce
1 I made inquiries on the rubber trade in the at Aboisso, so
Dorma, Brong-Ahafo region, and at t1rebo, east Coast, wester
central Ivory Coast, in the summer vacation of 1970. not differ fr
The old traders of t2rebo said they sold their rubber

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 35
of the chiefs for fear of being dispossessed through forced loans and dub
processes. It may also be that owners of silver coins feared thieves. On
part of the Blue Book statement, it need be said that in the inland Aka
chiefs wore gold and silver ornaments, but these were elaborately wro
men's works and not just coins. It is also worth noting that buried silv
useful to the owners when, in the next century, effective British adm
restrained the chiefs from persecuting rich men, thus removing a majo
economic growth in Ashanti.

CATEGORIES OF TRADERS AND MODES OF OBTAINING RUBBER

H. M. Hull (I897a) and C. H. Armitage (I898)I reported that rubber traders

operating in Ashanti were Akim and Fanti from the Gold Coast and natives of the
central districts of Ashanti. The Akim and Fanti traders operated either independently
or in partnership with such established firms as F. A. Swanzy of Cape Coast. Opanyin
Abebrese of Asante-Mampon stated that Ashanti traders, too, operated either inde-
pendently or in partnership with established Ashanti traders at Cape Coast and Salt-
pond. He called the latter gotogas (' gold takers ') among whom he mentioned Akosa
of Asante-Mampon and Adusei of Serwuah, eight miles east of Kumasi. Akosa and
Adusei were both famous in Ashanti for their wealth. An independent trader
financing his own enterprise had to provide his own equipment, such as the hand-
scale for weighing the rubber, and purchase the goods used in barter for it; traders in
partnership with firms or other traders were advanced equipment and barter goods
or sums of money as an operating capital which they paid off in the course of their
operations.
Some initial capital for starting in the rubber trade was necessary not only for the
purchase of equipment and barter-goods, but also because the forest lands in which
rubber was tapped were subject to hire or rent for specific periods. In a letter
(d.I4.i.97) to the Colonial Secretary of the Gold Coast, Hull noted that 'anyone
wishing to collect rubber in Sehwi and Gaman [Dorma] had to pay the owner of the
land ?2 before commencing operations. This entitled him to work for 3 to 4 months.'
By ' anyone ' Hull certainly meant anybody who did not owe political allegiance to the
chiefs of the districts in which he was operating. Natives of the Ahafo, Nkoranza,
Sehwi, Wam, and Wenchi districts-the areas most prolific in rubber-were exempt
from the rule. It is said at Dorma that strangers sometimes obtained access to land
for rubber collection and shared the produce with the landowner, usually the chief,
the tapper getting a third. Strangers who did not themselves tap rubber made arrange-
ments with tappers to obtain supplies.
Three types of traders can be distinguished by the manner in which they obtained
rubber. The first were those who contracted with local collecting agents to obtain
supplies, so that they collected the assembled loads without themselves visiting the
bush. The second were itinerant traders who visited bush settlements and collected
rubber from the tappers. The third were local tappers who carried their rubber to
the coast for sale. Each of the first two groups had their own peculiar devices and
I Both Hull and C. H. Armitage acted as Travel- districts in 1897; Armitage visited the War (Dorma)
ling Commissioners of the government of the Gold district in I898.
Coast. Hull visited the Ahafo, Sehwi, and Wenchi

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36 THE ASHANTI RUBBER TRADE WITH THE

practices for obtaining rubber. But they all aimed at maximizi

reducing the 'producer' price as much as possible. Like the mod
they did not themselves determine the selling price of their p
Coast.
According to Hull (i897a) the first group consisted of ' unscrupulous brokers of
the " scholar " class as well as Ashanti pure and simple '. These visited the collecting
centres and made advances of money to agents, both chiefs and commoners, stipulat-
ing that they were to receive so many bags or loads of rubber at a certain date. To
maximize the difference between the producer and the re-sale prices the broker, Hull
reported, used his own scale which weighed generally up to 90 lb.; 'the spring was
" tied" to make it weigh more, and not unfrequently had been shortened for the
same purpose by having a piece cut off. I have myself seen an instance of this where
the spring was both tied and cut; the real value of the scale was 6s. and it had been
given to the chief [of Wenchi] by the owner in payment of a debt of ?3.' The result
of this practice was that a load of rubber seldom weighed less than I20 lb. and upwards
and the broker made a clear profit of ?5 on the load on the coast. Hull calculated the
profit as follows:

Value of the load on the Coast-1C8; Transport at local rate-?I; Value of the
load in the bush-?2; Profit-?5.

Hull also reported that as well as manipulating their scales, brokers extorted money
from their agents for what they represented as breaches of contract. He wrote: ' On
settling up day if there [was] any delay in producing the stipulated amount of rubber,
the honest broker [had] to be pacified with a bonus of ?I and if he [could] pick up
a quarrel at the same time with the debtor he would manage to squeeze another LI
or ?2 out of him.' To illustrate the point Hull recalled a case he had settled in which
the servants, nhenkwaa, of the Kumasi Akwamuhene, Asafo-Buakye, had demanded
and received as ' pacification ', ?2. I4S. from the Wenchihene, to whom the Akwamu-
hene had given an advance of ?I6, for delivering on the appointed day only five
instead of the promised ten loads.

Rubber and slaves

The second group of traders-those who obtained rubber directly from tappers in
the bush-may be further subdivided on the basis of the mode of financing their
enterprises. Written sources and oral information indicate the following two sub-
divisions. First, there were those who came to the rubber trade from trading kola in
the north, and, secondly, those who started off in the rubber trade by obtaining gold
dust in one of two ways: by finding treasure trove or by gold-mining.
In his Report (i 897a) H. M. Hull wrote: 'I strongly suspect but cannot absolutely
prove it, that the kola nuts brought [to Wenchi] are exchanged for slaves who are
largely used for bringing down rubber.' Hull was only partly correct. Slaves obtained
in exchange for kola nuts were used for porterage, but, for central Ashanti traders,
slaves obtained with kola or with grey baft from Samory's war-camps were of greater
importance as a barter-commodity with which one obtained loads of rubber. Traders
involved in the exchange of slaves for rubber usually took to rubber after trading in

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 37
the kola markets north of Ashanti. The father of a former cattle trader o
a late nineteenth-century market town I20 miles north-west of Kum
trading kola for slaves, Hausa blankets, and Mossi coarse cloths and sh
disposed of these to the Ashanti at Kintampo. In the last decade of las
with Ashanti was disrupted so he turned his attention to rubber. H
rubber in the Nkoranza district for slaves and other goods from th
it to Lome, then capital of German Togoland, or to Cape Coast, whe
guns and ammunition, drinks, and salt to be exchanged for more ru
I969).
While some central Ashanti traders followed this practice, the majority belonged
to the group of traders who exchanged grey baft for slaves from Samory's war-
camps. This happened particularly in the period 894-7 when the Alymany fought in
the Bonduku, Bona, Bole, and Wa districts, while certain of his lieutenants operated
in the neighbourhood of Banda and Wenchi. In Ashanti, Samory is remembered not
only as a great warrior and a potential ally, but is also associated with the rise of a
great demand for grey baft (obtained from Cape Coast) and a plenitude of war-
captives which greatly lowered the price of slaves.'
According to Opanyin Abebrese of Asante-Mampon, unless a man was lucky
enough to find a treasure trove of gold nuggets and dust, which he shared with the
chiefs, the potential financier of both the kola and rubber trade had to go gold-mining
at Manso-Nkwanta, forty miles south-west of Kumasi. Manso-Nkwanta was the
principal Ashanti gold-mining centre in the last quarter of the nineteenth century
(Arhin, 197I). Gold dust was directly exchanged at Cape Coast or Saltpond for bales
of grey baft or exchanged for silver coins which were then used in purchasing the
grey baft. There were two possible reasons for changing gold dust into silver coins
and then converting the latter into grey baft and other goods. One is that Ashanti
and other middlemen, known as gold takers or changers, who stood to gain from
such exchanges in the form of commissions and the manipulation of scales, may have
succeeded in persuading incoming traders that the conversion of gold into silver was
a necessary part of trading on the coast. Old Kwesi Johnson, a Senior Divisional
Chief of Cape Coast, whom I asked about them, described gold takers as cashiers
attached to European firms. The second reason is that a certain amount of silver was
required by chiefs to be used for personal adornment and for embossing what were
known as the ' silver stools '. The traders took bales of grey baft to Samory's war-
camps and exchanged them for war-captives (nnonkofo). Some of the latter were then
taken to the Ahafo district, formerly western Ashanti, and directly bartered for loads
of rubber in the bush settlements. The Ahafo district was a sparsely populated area
where nnonkofo were in great demand for labour and for incorporation into family-
groups.
At Dorma, which adjoins Ahafo on the west, Mpanyinfo Yaw Addo and Kwame
Oppong (former participants in the rubber trade) stated that, towards the end of the
century, most rubber tappers in the district stopped selling rubber to visiting traders
and carried their own produce to Cape Coast. Dorma traders exchanged grey baft
for slaves from Samory's war-camps in the neighbouring town of Bonduku, but did
not re-exchange them for rubber. They incorporated them into their families, kept
I Grey baft was the material from which Samory made the long flowing garb of his Sofas or warriors.

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38 THE ASHANTI RUBBER TRADE WITH THE

them as measures of wealth, as means of reward for favourite wives

and used them as labour in gold digging, rubber production, and in sn
an important aspect of the Dorma economy.
Informants in Dorma and in central Ashanti divided rubber traders into two
groups. One made single journeys with rubber to obtain specific goods-cloth
drinks, salt, and tobacco-for their own use; they also distributed some of them
their kinsfolk. Goods obtained for personal and social uses were known as abotomde
The second group were batadifo, continuous traders. They obtained much the sam
goods with their rubber as the first group, but, in their case, these were adwvadide
traders' goods, since they were used for further trading. For the first group, slav
were ahonyadee, prestige goods; for the second they were adwadidee, to be used as part
of the traders' personnel or to be exchanged for rubber. It was pointed out at Dorm
that the development of the rubber trade led to the founding of settlements in t
forest which later became centres of cocoa cultivation. The inhabitants of such settle-
ments were single or compound conjugal families and, if the founder had any, of
slaves. The boom in the domestic slave trade with Samory was due partly to the
labour requirements of these settlements. Their growth was not due to the activities
of the first group, the target traders, but to those of the second group, the profes-
sional traders.
Unlike informants in central Ashanti, those in Dorma were specific on the rates
of exchange between grey baft and slaves, stating that a piece (I 2 yards) of the cloth
cost 2S. 6d. at Cape Coast; 4 pieces of grey baft (much less after a particularly success-
ful Samory expedition) fetched a slave. A slave, then, cost Ios. If, as was stated at
Asante-Mampon, 4 slaves fetched a load of rubber which cost ?8 on the coast, the
trader made a profit of ?6, less living and porterage expenses from the bush to the
coast. Samory's wars were a great boon to enterprising traders.
Hull reported ( 897b) that to maximize their profits collectors of rubber from the
bush had recourse to practices similar to those mentioned in connection with the
brokers. They tampered with hand-scales, and held unauthorized courts at which they
tried alleged offenders, imposing fines in the form of loads of rubber. If the fine was
not forthcoming in rubber, it was commuted to porterage duties, and the alleged
offender, his wife and children were made to carry loads of rubber to the coast.
Captain D. Stewart, the British Resident at Kumasi, replying to Erwine' on the
subject of traders operating in the bush, wrote on their ' malpractices ':

they establish themselves in the bush villages and proceed to hold court, terrorize the
natives, extorting money on every possible occasion; buying rubber is about the last thing
they do, stealing and extorting it are their real methods.

It should be said in explanation that the interval between the exile of Prempeh I
of Ashanti in I896 and the effective deployment of British administrative law-
enforcement personnel, about I901, was a period of disturbance in which there was
increase in organized robbery on the roads: the Ashanti had a word for this: kwan
mu ka, ' disturb travellers on the roads'.

I Erwine was an official of the Ashanti Development Syndicate.

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 39

THE ORGANIZATION OF RUBBER DISTRIBUTION FROM THE

FOREST TO THE COAST

The previous distinction between target and professional traders is

a description of the organization of rubber distribution from the fore
pean firms on the coast. A trader's status determined the scale of his o
in turn, determined the type of labour he used for porterage, wheth
supplemented road with river transportation, and whether, on the coa
rubber to a broker or to a firm such as the Swanzys. An occasional r
who made only periodic trading sorties, carried his own rubber, aided
unmarried children, and slaves he had. A return journey to Cape Coast
weeks with a daily rest-stop. On the route the group slept on their loa
open halls, of the houses at which they asked for accommodation
rent for accommodation but were obliged to buy foodstuffs and
materials from their landlord. Recurrent trading journeys led to the es
regular host-guest relationships which modified the nature of mutual o
host then became the traveller's fiewura or' landlord ' who reserved ac
for him in the rubber-trade season. The wives of the host were expect
the guest and the latter returned their services with gifts, including salt f
and tobacco for the husband.
The landlord' the trader encountered on the journey was different from those at
Cape Coast or Saltpond, where the exporting firms were located. The landlords in
these towns were either rubber brokers or commission agents for brokers and firms.
They competed keenly for guest traders, particularly among the natives of their own
home districts. Opanyin Addo of Dorma told amusing stories of how landlords
regaled their guests with choice foods and drinks, apparently without any gain to
themselves, in the contest to win more visitors and retain their accustomed guests.
A landlord who was also a broker bought the rubber from his guests; if not, he gave
information about current prices obtaining at the various brokers' and usually
succeeded in directing guests to brokers of his choice. He received his commission
from the buyer and had a share of the rubber acquired from the differences between
the brokers' and the firms' weights.
Informants stated that visiting traders chose their own townsmen as landlords or
brokers in the expectation that they would be given a better deal in the matter of
weights. A better deal meant that the difference between the 'bush' and 'Cape
Coast' weights of rubber would be smaller than they would find elsewhere. The
capacity of an ofiewura to attract and retain visitors depended on visiting traders'
experience of his weights. Traders could tell the degree of cheating because they
weighed their rubber before setting out for the coast. But it was also found that all
landlords' scales weighed heavier than those used in the interior. This was because
the broker's business at the European trade establishments, which operated within
the traditions of the gold and ivory trade of two centuries behind it, required a period
of apprenticeship and a certain amount of investment in housing and hospitality.
It was a full-time job. Commissions on business with the firms were probably not
enough to cover living expenses and also sustain the broker's business and had to be

For the functions of landlords in another West African city see Cohen, I966, pp. I8-33.

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40 THE ASHANTI RUBBER TRADE WITH THE

supplemented by the rake-off on weighing. Tampering with scales w

similar to adulterating gold.' In the first case, the broker made his profits
the seller; in the second case, he cheated the firm.
Professional traders, who dealt directly with the firms, employed
boo paa, and also slaves for porterage. Labourers for hire, apaafo, we
sufficient numbers because the inland people wanted to visit Cape Coas
such visits as opportunities for acquiring cloth and minor European t
The ?i per load of rubber, which they earned, was often enough to l
independent traders. In an answer to an inquiry from the Colonial Secre
recruitment of rubber carriers in the interior led to domestic slave trade between
rubber traders and the coastal peoples, the District Commissioner of Saltpond wrote
(18 October 1897):
From enquiries I have made, I understand that the men who carry rubber down from the
interior are not slaves, but either independent people who buy the rubber themselves from
the producers in the interior and sell it on the coast on their own account, taking back either
money goods in return, or else employed by the producers to take rubber to the coast and
bring back imported goods.

The District Commissioner of Cape Coast also told (7 October 1897) the Colonial
Secretary,' Porters, whether adults or children, who bring down rubber are not sold
in Cape Coast. They come down as porters and return with trade goods.'
The denial by the District Commissioners that traders used slaves for porterage
constitutes only an apparent contradiction of oral information which asserts the con-
trary. The Commissioners' statements were either based on misinformation (in view
of the prosecution of alleged domestic slave dealers) or they simply meant that no
porter was sold within the area of British jurisdiction. In the second case, slave
meant human beings intended to be sold or actually sold. Informants meant by slaves,
nnonkhfo, human beings acquired by purchase or in war who could be given in pawn
or resold. Visiting traders knew that the laws of the Government of the Gold Coast
(G.N.A., 1874) forbade the sale of nnonhkfo, and did not openly sell them. However,
the legal prohibition on slave dealing on the coast did not prevent the use of men
bought outside the area of British jurisdiction.
The Governor of the Gold Coast appeared himself to be aware of the slave trade
with Samory though not of its importance to the rubber trade. He wrote (2 5 Novem-
ber 1897) to the Secretary of State for the Colonies:

From reports made to me on my recent tour [on the western Gold Coast] I have no doubt
that slaves captured by Samory's bands are sent down to French Gaman [mid-eastern Ivory
Coast] and that they are thence taken in small parties into western Ashanti and into Sehwi.

The Governor was only slightly misinformed: Ashanti traders who obtained slaves
from Samory did so directly and not circuitously through agents on the French side
of the border.
While professional traders generally used the normal trade tracks, agents of estab-
lished firms with more capital and operating east of Atebubu in the Nkoranza dis-
tricts used the river (Volta) in addition to road transportation. According to Hull
I See Dupuis, 1824, Appendix, lxx.

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 41

(1897a), porters were sent along the existing trade tracks between K
bubu, and Yeji, whence they engaged canoes to convey the rubber ei
or Adda, a well-known centre of the salt trade in eastern Gold Coast
portation was cheaper since ' 2 men could take between 20 and 25 loa
each in a large canoe'. Rubber intended for Lome (German Togol
canoe as far as Kpandu and overland to Lome; or it was sent to Akus
to Keta. Hull makes it clear that what determined the movement of rubber was the
cheapness of labour on the various routes and the articles required by the rubber
trader. Wenchi was visited by agents of European firms' because Samory's presence
in the neighbourhood ensured adequate and cheap supplies of labour; traders from
British territory smuggled rubber to Lome because the Germans appeared to be less
concerned about the domestic slave trade while some preferred German to British
goods.
It appears from both the oral and written accounts that, considered in relation to
final disposal of their rubber, professional traders may be divided into two sorts.
The first, mentioned in earlier paragraphs, consisted of self-financed traders who,
therefore, had the option to sell either through brokers or directly to any of the
European trade establishments. The second consisted of agents who, since they
were initially financed by the firms, were obliged to sell their rubber to them. As
has been noted, the desire for adequate returns led both groups to resort to the same
weighing tricks. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the rubber, like the kola, trade
of the last century, was neglected in the early part of this century in favour of cocoa
production.
CONCLUSIONS

The rubber trade was clearly not a marketing activity of the peripheral kind.2 It was
a transitional trading activity which was linked with Ashanti trade in the north,
and gold-mining in central Ashanti. It was the seed-bed of some present Ghanaian
economic institutions. Among these are hiring land for production and what amounts
to share-cropping, both of which are prominent features of cocoa cultivation.3
But to assess fully its impact on Ashanti one has to examine it in relation to the
two principal categories of traders engaged in it. These were what I have called target
and professional traders. The former were concerned with what the Ashanti called
abotomdee and ahonyadee, consumer and prestige goods. The first included salt, drink,
and cloth and the second slaves, though slaves were put to more than prestigious
uses. To incorporate slaves in small matrilineages was to ensure their survival,
a matter of supreme value to the Ashanti. So incorporated, slaves also became part
of a pool of labour in which role they may be considered as fixed assets. They became
of great use in the next century when the owners took to cocoa production (Arhin,
I970).
But of greater importance, from the point of view of continuing economic develop-
ment, were the activities of the batadifo, professional traders. The batadifo, in this
context the rubber traders, hired land, bought labour, and established broker con-
nections, and so created part of the institutional infrastructure used for the production

Hull met an agent of Messrs. Gredelt of Agome, 2 See Bohannan and Dalton, I962, pp. 20-I.
Palime, and Lome, at Wenchi in I897. 3 See Hill, 197o, ch. Ix, pp. 21-9.

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42 THE ASHANTI RUBBER TRADE WITH THE

and marketing of cocoa early in the next century. Also, the cont
between some entrepreneurs on the Gold Coast and the forest dwelle
was of some value to the success of the later attempt of the Governme
Coast to unify the Gold Coast and Ashanti commercially through the i
a uniform currency. Whereas previously middlemen of the Gold Coa
their contact with traders from the forest peoples to the vicinities of
trade establishments, their search for rubber now led them to the ham
tappers.
It is a problem in a study of this sort that the tangible results of the tr
of the professionals cannot be seen and measured with any precision
modes of capital accounting, which, according to Weber (I96I, p. 207)
mark of the presence of capitalism, cannot be detailed. But there is no dou
accumulated capital which, in Ashanti, took the form of silver hoardin
of slaves, the latter being considered the supreme measures of investm
stock capital, and of wealth, agyapadee. Again, one cannot show in an
way how much of the returns from trade was invested. Silver was h
as a precaution against possible despoliation by the chiefs and was pu
uses after i 896 when the British presence ended the era in which the
accepted as the sole custodian of wealth. Slaves, of which it was said
one man had 170, were permitted to be accumulated because they incr
jects and therefore the 'power' of the chiefs. Incorporated slaves wer
source of labour before hired labour became the normal practice in coc
The experience gained by rubber traders was also of great value: it
their ability to pursue wealth and tended towards the crystallization of th
outlook already engendered by the commercial contact with northern
Samory wars in the Ashanti hinterland also deserve serious considera
impact on Ashanti trade in the I89os.
REFERENCES

AKERS, G. E. i888. Letter (d. 22/i2/i888) to Colonial Office in PRO CO/879 35.
ARHIN, K. I969. 'The Development of Market-centres at Atebubu and Kintampo
thesis, University of London.
I970. ' Aspects of the Ashanti Northern Trade in the Nineteenth Century', Africa,
I97I. ' Political Succession and Gold-mining at Manso-Nkwanta ', Research Review, Inst
Studies, Legon, pp. IoI-Io9.
ARMITAGE, C. H. 1898. Report d. 31 October to Colonial Secretary in Acc. No. I293/5
Archives [G.N.A.], Accra.
BALSTONE, A. 1905. Letter to the Comptroller of Customs in Acc. No. I293/58, G.N.A.
BOHANNAN, P., and DALTON, G. I962. Markets in Africa. Evanston, Ill.
COHEN, A. 1966. ' The Politics of the Kola Trade ', Africa, xxxvi. i, pp. I8-33.
DICKsON, K. B. I969. A Historical Geography of Ghana. Cambridge.
DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, Cape Coast. I 897. Letter to the Colonial Secretary of the Gold
1329/58, vol. 2, G.N.A., Accra.
DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, Saltpond. I897. Letter to the Colonial Secretary in Acc. No
G.N.A., Accra.
DuPUIs, JOSEPH. I 824. Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. London.
GHANA NATIONAL ARCHIVES. 1874. General Law Forbidding Slavery in No. I of 1874 in
G.N.A., Accra.
GOVERNOR OF THE GOLD COAST. 1893. Despatch to the Secretary of State for the Co
Memorial from merchants, agents and traders of the Gold Coast with his observat
Papers, SC/6/26, G.N.A., Accra.
1897. Letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in Acc. No. I 329/5 8, G.N.A.,

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 GOLD COAST IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES 43
HARGREAVES, J. D. I968. Prelude to the Partition of West Africa. New York.
HILL, POLLY. I970. Studies in Rural Capitalism. Cambridge.
HULL, H. M. I897. Letter to the Colonial Secretary in Acc. No. 1297/58, G.N.A., Accra.
I897a. Report d. 14 February to the Colonial Secretary in Acc. No. 2154/58, G.N.A.
897b. Report d. 14 May to the Colonial Secretary in Acc. No. 3819/58 G.N.A., Accr
STEWART, D. 1897. Letter to H. B. W. Erwine of the Ashanti Development Syndicate i
G.N.A., Accra.
SZERESZEWSKI, R. I965. Structural Changes in the Economy of Ghana, I89r-191I. London.
TORDOFF, W. I965. Ashanti under the Prempehs 1888-19i3. London
WEBER, M. 1961. General Economic History. Translated by F. K. Knight. New York: Co

Resume

LE COMMERCE ASHANTI DU CAOUTCHOUC AVEC LA

GOLD COAST AU 19^me SIECLE

LE commerce du caoutchouc avec la Gold Coast debuta en I86o, mais a la fin

incisions destructrices avaient epuise les arbres a caoutchouc dans l'arriere-pays,
les producteurs durent chercher leur approvisionnement dans les forets Ash
types de commerSants, se distinguant selon leurs modes d'obtention du caoutchou
taient vers la Gold Coast. C'etaient des agents de firmes europeennes, des co
independants, et des producteurs locaux. Mais on peut classer de facon plus intere
commerSants en fonction de leur 'statut', c'est-a-dire selon qu'ils sont occas
professionnels; le ' statut ' du commercant determine, en effet, sa faSon d'obteni
chouc, le personnel utilise pour l'acheminer jusqu'a la c6te, et la maniere dont fi
il reserve le caoutchouc a l'exportation. Ce sont les commergants professionnels, p
sion et les methodes operatoires ainsi que par les profits realises par ce commer
favorise le developpement economique ulterieur des Ashanti. La guerre de S
aussi un facteur important du developpement du commerce du caoutchouc.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS NUMBER

AYLWARD SHORTER. Lecturer and Director of Research, Pastoral Institute of Easte

Uganda; Honorary Lecturer at Makerere University in the Department of Sociology;
the Kimbu and their history.
CHARLES D. LAUGHLIN, JR. Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology-Anthropol
College at Oswego, New York; co-author of Anthropology: A Different Reader (I972)
economic anthropology and the philosophy of science. ELIZABETH R. LAUGHLIN
Social Psychology, Syracuse University; co-author of papers and contributions in fam
sexual values and practices among the So of north-eastern Uganda.
WYATT MACGAFFEY. Associate Professor of Anthropology, Haverford College, H
vania; author of Twentieth Century Cuba (I965), with C. R. Barnett, Custom and Governmen
(1970), and a number of papers on African history and Kongo religion.
KWAME ARHIN. Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Gh
Ashanti Research Project; author of various articles on Ashanti trade in the nineteenth
I. H. VANDEN DRIESEN. Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Western
on the staff of the University of Ife, Nigeria; author of papers on land problems in N

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