74 THE GOLD COAST 



The weight of nuts exported from the Gold Coast is 

 about 50 per cent, above that of Sierra Leone, but, in 

 value, the latter are worth from three to five times as 

 much per ton. The fresh nuts are shipped to Lagos 

 and are transported far into the interior by Haussa 

 traders. 



COTTON. No record is available to show when the 

 tribes of the forest country commenced to cultivate and 

 use cotton for local requirements. It has been stated 

 that the people of the kingdoms of the Western Sudan 

 were acquainted with the uses of the fibre, and have 

 cultivated the plant, from a remote period, and it is 

 probable that contact with these people, during their 

 expeditions against the tribes to their south, led to the 

 adoption by the latter of cotton-growing upon the small 

 scale in which it still remains at present. Cruickshank, 

 writing of the Fantis in 1853, says : " They spin the 

 thread from the cotton which grows in the country, but 

 they more commonly make use of the thread out of 

 English cloths, which they pick to pieces." In speaking 

 of the Appolonians, a tribe inhabiting the coast region 

 near Axim, Cruickshank remarks that they " make fine 

 grass cloths, which are strong and durable." In 

 Ashanti, until recently, a cloth was commonly made 

 from the inner bark of a tree, generally supposed to be 

 Antiaris toxicaria var. africana, which was produced by 

 the removal of the woody portions by beating, leaving 

 a pliable material composed of the interlacing fibres. 

 These instances are cited to show that the value of 

 cotton for cultivation has not been recognised by some 

 of the large and dominant tribes in comparatively recent 

 times. Since cotton clothing has begun to be appreciated, 

 the necessity of growing the plant and weaving has been 

 somewhat checked by the large imports of finished material 

 from Europe. 



Throughout the forest region occasional plants of 

 cotton may be seen growing near villages, but the sys- 

 tematic cultivation of the plant is only met with on the 

 outer northern boundary of the dense forest and in 

 the Krepi country to the east of the Volta river. The 

 inhabitants of the northern forest boundary are a mixed 

 people, many of whom have probably been driven from 

 the countries farther north, where cotton is a recognised 



