GOLD COAST REPORT ON FORESTS. 83 



which was the Odoum; this species is fairly plentiful about here. 

 The country is rather hilly, and the valleys are swampy. Some 

 farms were noticed on either side of the road, which was bordered 

 for most of the way with a fringe of evergreen forest. Other 

 trees seen were the Baku (scarce), Kokoti, a few Khayas, the 

 Penkiva (Pseudocedrela cylindrical), and another species of the 

 same genus with very large capsules. As usual the dominant 

 species of trees consisted of the Off ram, the Waw-waw, Sterculia 

 cordifolia, and Sterculia Barteri, the Esea, two species of Pipta- 

 denia, Ricinodendron africanus, Eriodendron anfractuosum, and 

 Alstonia congensis. The oil palm is also met with in fairly large 

 quantities. 



Between Bonipata and Akwasihu at the foot of the mountain 

 system of Kwahu, we passed over very broken country which is, 

 however, well wooded with fairly old secondary forest ; cocoa 

 farms are met with along it at frequent intervals. At the village 

 of Prahso there is an excellent little plantation of Funtumia clas- 

 tica, about seven years old ; the plants are healthy and show very 

 good growth. 



The depressions between the hills are all of them more or less 

 swampy and are occupied with the usual swamp vegetation of 

 tropical West Africa. On the hills we noticed some rich but 

 restricted patches of the Okisibiri or flint-wood tree, that is used 

 for mine props in Tarkwa and Prestea. We had not seen this 

 species since leaving the hills of Wassaw. Cedars, both the 

 PenJiwa and the large-capsuled species, were noticed along the 

 roadside, and the forest consisted of the usual type to be met with 

 in Eastern Ashanti. As we approached the high hills of Kwahu, 

 farms became more numerous, and the country became in conse- 

 quence more open in character. 



A large-leafed Khaya, probably Kliaya grandis, was seen on 

 the slopes leading up to the final escarpment of the Abetifi hill 

 system. This escarpment is very steep, and stands up like a waP 

 of sandstone facing the low country to the west and south-west. 



The crests and summits of the Abetifi hills are comparatively 

 flat, and in places broaden out into undulating plateaux that appear 

 to be well suited as sites for the formation of sanatoria and the 

 residence of Europeans. 



The climate is delightfully bracing, and the difference in tem- 

 perature between the tops of these hills and the surrounding 

 low country is much greater than I have experienced, for a similar 

 comparatively small difference in altitude, in any other tropical 

 country. The average altitude is about 2,000 feet, and the 

 climate is similar to that which obtains at elevations of between 

 3,000 to 4,000 feet in Burma and Siam. 



The hills have been extensively farmed, and several of the 

 ridges in the vicinity of the large town of Obo are now covered 

 with grass and low, scrubby oil palms ; some fairly broad belts of 

 forest, however, have been left intact on the higher and more ex- 

 posed hills on which the sources of the numerous streams watering 

 the country are situated. 



12315 F 2 



