44 THE GOLD COAST 



From a climatic as well as an agricultural standpoint 

 the country is more conveniently divided into two parts 

 by a line which sharply defines the limits of the region 

 of dense forest from that of the grass lands with few 

 trees, which is characteristic of the country to the north. 

 This line is probably the northern limit of the tract of 

 country subject to a prolonged rainy season, and owing 

 to the density of the forest south of it seems to have con- 

 stituted the extreme distance to which the Mohammedan 

 conquerors from the north were able to penetrate, when 

 attempting to subdue and convert the pagan tribes to 

 their south. The improved methods of agriculture found 

 among the tribes inhabiting the ultra-forest country of 

 the Northern Territories may be attributable to the 

 teaching of these conquering people. On account of the 

 marked differences in the conditions and the agricultural 

 development of the forest and ultra-forest regions, it 

 appears to be more convenient to refer to the products 

 from the Northern Territories in a separate part, and 

 this course has been followed here. 



PART I. GOLD COAST AND ASHANTI 



Origin of Tribes. Tradition among the natives maintains 

 that the two great tribes of Fanti and Ashanti were 

 originally from the same stock, and it is probable that 

 this was also the case with regard to the people of Tufel, 

 Denkera, Assin and Aquapim, who are said to speak a 

 dialect of the same language as that of the Fantis and 

 Ashantis. Completely different languages are, however, 

 spoken by the Appolonias, Ahantas, Agoonahs, Accras, 

 and Adampes living near the coast, and these are supposed 

 to represent the remains of an earlier race. 



The native belief is that the whole people were origin- 

 ally composed of twelve families or tribes, and that each 

 was called by a separate name in some way indicating 

 the occupation. According to Bowdich, those calling 

 themselves after animals of the forest probably repre- 

 sented the families employing their time in hunting, and 

 those bearing such names as cornstalk (Abrotoo) and 

 plantain (Abbradi) applied themselves to agriculture. 

 The name Agoonah, implying " oil-palm locality," seems to 

 have been applied to all those who were traders. Indi- 



