In the open such tactics might not be possible, as the Sniders could be discharged twenty times before the English line was reached, but in the woods, where the two lines were not more than forty or fifty yards apart, the Sniders could be fired but once or at the utmost twice, while the assailants rushed across the short intervening space.
Had the Ashantis adopted these tactics they could have crushed with ease the little bands with which the English attacked them.

But it is characteristic of all savages that they can never be got to rush down upon a foe who is prepared and well armed.

A half dozen white men have been known to keep a whole tribe of Red Indians at a distance on the prairie.

This, however, can be accounted for by the fact that the power of the chiefs is limited, and that each Indian values his own life highly and does not care to throw it away on a desperate enterprise.
Among the Ashantis, however, where the power of the chiefs is very great and where human life is held of little account, it is singular that such tactics should not have been adopted.
The Ashantis were now becoming thoroughly dispirited.

Their sufferings had been immense.