However orthodox the Irish of the present day may be esteemed, there must have been a fair amount of mysticism in the past amongst so imaginative a race. Perhaps this quality brought them into some disrepute with the Church, down to the time when the Pope gave their country to the Norman King of England, in order to bring the people into more consistent faith. Even St. Bernard, in his Life of Malachy, referred to the Irish as "Pagans, while calling themselves Christians." Who were the Druids? This question has agitated the minds of the learned for a long period; and various, as well as contradictory, have been the replies. Tradition preserves their memory as of a pious and superior race, prominently associated with the British Isles and France, and, in a lesser degree, with Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the lands of Scandinavia. Much romance has been long attached to them. We hear their chants in the Stone Circles. We listen to the heaven-inspired utterances of the Archdruid, as be stands on the capstone of a cromlech, in the eye of the sun, surrounded by the white-robed throng, with the bowed worshippers afar. We see the golden sickle reverently cutting off the sacred mistletoe. We follow, in imagination, the solemn procession, headed by the cross-bearer. We look under the old oak at the aged Druid, instructing disciples in mystic lore, in verses never to be committed to writing. We gaze upon the assembly of kings and chieftains, before whom the wise men debate upon some points of legislation.

Colonial warfare on the Dark Continent
The British Empire rapidly spread it's influence throughout the globe during the nineteenth century. Predictably these intrusions rarely found favour with the indigenous populations and so, inevitably, the imperial interests of power and commerce were reinforced by the imposition of military and naval might courtesy of the British Army and the Royal Navy. British interests in West Africa proved to be no exception to the rule and the so called 'Ashanti Wars' were fought with varying degrees of savagery and through eight campaigns from 1806 until 1900. This book is about the Third Anglo-Ashanti War which was fought during 1873-74. Garnet Wolseley, commanding a force of British, West Indian and local forces marched against the Ashanti who had invaded British territory. The campaign gained particular notoriety because it occurred during the golden age of newspaper correspondents and was covered by both G. A. Henty and Henry Morton Stanley. It made Wolseley's reputation and he became a household name. The conflict was made singular by the nature of the terrain-often thick jungle-across which it was fought and by it's exotic protagonists and this makes it a subject of particular interest for students of the colonial wars in the Victorian era. The outcome of the war was, perhaps, predictable and the British both occupied the enemy capital Kumasi and then burnt it down as an object lesson. This book is particularly useful because the author was an eyewitness to the storming of Amoaful by the Black Watch, the storming of Ordahsu by the Rifle Brigade and the fall of the capital.
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