14 COCOA 



They occur frequently in the rainy season, and there 

 is usually a grand finale, one like the present outburst, 

 to herald the arrival of the dry season towards the end 

 of October or the beginning of November. Also, an odd 

 tornado is common in the middle of the dry season : 

 somewhere about Christmas-time or New Year. 



Looking back on your experiences of a few moments 

 ago, and listening now to the roar of the wind outside, 

 you will not be surprised to hear that the strength of 

 a tornado is sufficient to blow roofs off houses and 

 uproot veteran forest trees of monster girth. Wide- 

 spread damage is wrought by tornadoes in the towns, 

 villages, and forests of the Gold Coast, but by some 

 miraculous means the cocoa trees generally escape 

 any very serious injury. Yet, as I was about 

 to tell you at the moment when this tornado burst 

 with characteristic suddenness, there is a rule of tropical 

 agriculture, founded on the widest and best practical 

 experience of cocoa cultivation previous to the develop- 

 ment of the industry in the Gold Coast, which says 

 that, given all other ideal conditions; cocoa trees will 

 not thrive^ in a country where they are exposed to 

 strong winds. 



CHAPTER IV 



WE LAND AT ACCRA 



Two days after leaving Freetown we call at Seccondee. 

 We have reached the Golci Coast. 



The West African portion of our Empire which is 

 commonly spoken of as the Gold Coast for short, 

 includes the Gold Coast Colony and its dependencies 

 of Ashanti and Northern Territories; the whole of 



