GOLD COAST REPORT ON FORESTS. 1G1 



Other less important rivers are the Nakwa, in the Salt Pond dis- 

 trict, the Amaso in Wiimeba, and the Densu in the Accra dis- 

 trict. These rise in the Atikwa and Aqiiapim hills, and all of 

 them flow in a general north to south direction. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea they flow through open country covered with 

 low scrub or savannah forest. In the eastern portion of Ashanii 

 a small tract of densely-wooded country is drained by the Bia 

 River, a tributary of the Konioe, which is the most important 

 water-way of the French Ivory "Coast. 



The Water-partings. 



Generally speaking, the country along the sea-board is undu- 

 lating in character, especially to the east of Winneba, where ex- 

 tensive plains exist between fhe coast and the well-marked hill 

 ranges of the interior, which approach on an average to within 15 

 to 20 miles of the sea shore. Westwards of the above-mentioned 

 town the undulations are much more pronounced and give rise 

 to low hills with abrupt slopes facing the sea. The coast line 

 is on the whole bold and well defined, and the long stretches of 

 low-lying mangrove swamps, so characteristic of the Southern 

 Xigerian coast, are here a very subordinate feature of the country. 



As one recedes from the coast line northwards the land be- 

 comes very hilly, well wooded, and rich in perennial streams, 

 and these characters are maintained till the central plateau of 

 Northern Ashanti is reached, when the dense forests gradually 

 give way to the open savannah formations in which the water 

 supply during the dry season is poor and the contours of the 

 country again assume an undulating character. These upland 

 plains are, however, dominated here and there by well-marked 

 rocky hills that sometimes reach an altitude of over 1,600 feet. 

 The plateau is interrupted by the lower valley of the Black Volta 

 River to the north, but reappears, I understand, a short distance 

 inland from the left bank of that river, and gradually increasing 

 in height culminates in the tableland on which Gainbaga is 

 situated. It must attain an altitude of close on 2,000 feet in 

 that Province. 



The approach to the Ashanti plateau from the east is much more 

 gradual as the valley of the main Yolta leads up to it from that 

 direction. This valley is nevertheless very much contracted in 

 places where prominent hill ranges, running in a north-easterly 

 direction, are in the vicinity of the village of Mem broken 

 through by it ; beyond this .gorge the country opens out on to the 

 Afram Plains, which gradually merge into the Xorth Ashanti 

 plateau. The Yolta River is practically the only drainer of the 

 latter, and the plateau is lowest in the north-east corner of 

 Ashanti. 



The most pronounced ranges of hills are: 



(1.) The water-parting between the Otfin River and its tributary 

 the Adra. To the north of N'Kwanta it culminates in a range 

 over 1,600 feet in altitude. 



(2.) The divide between the Tano River and the Ankobra ; this 

 also reaches a similar altitude. 



1231-5 T 



