GOLD COAST 193 
like”—but the best was pithy and brief. It read: This boy, Joseph, 
was in my employ for three weeks. He says he is a cook. 
Choosing a houseboy and a cook from this assortment was 
indeed like a shot in the dark. Our final choice fell on two boys 
of different tribes as we thought this would circumvent any collu- 
sion. The cook was of the Hausa tribe and the houseboy a Twi. 
All complete we set off for the capital. 
The rail route to Kumasi through forest, resembling somewhat 
that of the French Cameroons, was very hot and uncomfortable 
and after a while became rather monotonous. In an endeavor to 
keep cool I traveled with the electric fan switched full on and 
as a result spent two days in Kumasi Hospital suffering from 
muscular rheumatism. This was not as boring as it might have 
been for I was able to get an occasional glimpse of the local bird- 
life, and was highly amused one day at a little comedy acted by 
a party of Pied Crows. They had gathered together in the shade 
of a small tree, near the window of my room, when there was 
a sudden commotion and I noticed that they had treed a large 
lizard. Two of the crows were chasing it among the branches and 
the rest had spaced themselves evenly on the ground below watch- 
ing the proceedings intently, knowing full well that sooner or 
later the lizard would have to jump for its life. They frequently 
changed position according to the movements of the prey over- 
head and after several minutes of this comic procedure the lizard 
was cornered and was compelled to jump. There was an im- 
mediate scrimmage of crows on the ground and one emerged 
with the lizard in its beak and flew off, with the others in hot 
pursuit. 
From Kumasi we went about thirty-five miles north by road 
to the outskirts of Mampong—a native town in the forest. Actu- 
ally most of the virgin forest in Ashanti had disappeared owing 
to the extensive growing of cacao by the natives. It happened that 
just prior to our visit the price of cocoa rose so suddenly that the 
natives were getting far more money than their limited require- 
ments necessitated, which made them rather independent and un- 
helpful. 
As in all cacao-growing countries the climate is very hot and 
humid, and any exertion in the Gold Coast forest is sufficient to 
