A FIRST PEEP AT ACCRA 



The mud quarters are the homes of swarms of black 

 people men, women, and children. Thanks somehow 

 or other to cocoa, these natives are all better off to-day 

 than they have ever been before; most of them, it is 

 generally believed, have money hidden away in the 

 ground, and from the evidence of our own eyes there 

 is no doubt that many a one who looks as if he had 

 not a penny in the world keeps his own motor car. 



The wooden bungalows in the barn and loft style 

 are typical of the buildings which served the white 

 pioneers as combined houses and business premises. 

 The majority of those pioneers were fellow-countrymen 

 of ours; some of them are still alive to tell the story 

 of what the Gold Coast was like when they first came 

 out here, but many of them, alas, succumbed to the 

 physical, moral, or mental effects of roughing-it con- 

 ditions allied with an exacting climate. 



Less than ten years ago the worst of the old con- 

 ditions had to be faced by every white man who came 

 to Accra. To-day, fortunately, so many changes for 

 the better have been made that men who came out 

 only five years ago say they can hardly believe they 

 are in the same town; from what we see of improve- 

 ments and developments in course of progress, and 

 what we hear of proposed activities to be pursued 

 in the near future both by Government and private 

 enterprise, we are persuaded that if we visit Accra 

 five years hence we, in our turn, shall not know the 

 place. Already, many a camp-style bungalow that 

 was crowded in amongst native surroundings has 

 given place to commodious business premises with 

 spacious yards or, as they are called, " compounds " 

 and mud huts are being removed to afford sites for 

 more such premises; the location of destructive and 



