. herbs. The rivers generally runin a very winding di- 
= rection, and in some places overflow their banks during 
the wet season, formi t ponds, 
_ The soil varies considerably ng the coast, from a 
: sand or gravel, toa fine black mould and loamy 
a rc but it is more uniformly rich and productive to- 
wards the interior of the country. For the space of 
six or eight miles from the sea may be found soil of 
* ike description, suited to every kind of cultivation. 
_ The climate is not so hot as in many other parts of 
Africa, nearer the tropics ; and it is generally observed 
that the countries on the equator, from five to six de- 
grees on either side of it, are the most temperate in the 
tropical regions of Africa. The temperature is found 
Satie countries to be affected, not merely by the la- 
titude, but by various other causes ; and is always cool- 
er where the soil is good, cultivation extensive, and the 
country open, with high lands in the vicinity. At 
Coast, though accounted the hottest situation on 
the Gold Coast, the thermometer is usually, during the 
hottest months, from 85 to 90 degrees of Fahrenheit. 
_ At Winnebah and Acra, it is seldom known to exceed 
87 ; and, during the months of June, July, August, not 
higher than 78 degrees. 
. The seasons, as in other tropical countries, may be 
distinguished into wet and dry ; or rather into two wet 
and one dry period. The first wet season commences 
in the end of May, or beginning of June, when the rains 
fall with great violence, and without intermission for 
several days. Strong breezes commonly follow this first 
deluge, and the rains are seldom very heavy during the 
remainder of the wet season, which terminates with 
the month of July. Then begins the foggy season, 
which is extremely unhealthy, especially in low, swampy, 
or woody situations, and continues for two or three 
weeks, About the month of October, the second rainy 
season begins ; but the rains do not fall with so much 
violence as the first, nor are they succeeded by mists and 
foggy weather. The dry season begins with Novem- 
ber, and continues during the remainder of the year to 
the month of May; but, in the course of this period, 
the coast is visited with violent storms of wind, gene- 
rally denominated tornadoes and harmattans. Torna- 
‘does * commonly commence in March, and cease with 
the beginning of the first rains ; but sometimes blow 
before or after the second rains or preceding a har- 
mattan. They a come from the eastward, and 
are generally experienced a day or two after the full 
and change of the moon. Their approach is sufficiently 
indicated by vivid and successive flashes of lightning in 
‘the east, attended with thunder and heavy clouds, and 
by the clear and bluish appearance of the horizon. 
ir nearer approach is announced by the darkening 
of the horizon, especially in the eastern hemisphere, 
‘the increase of the lightning, and, finally, as an im- 
‘mediate prelude to the tempest, by a solemn stillness 
and entire calm in the lower part of the atmosphere, 
while the upper regions appear in dreadful commo- 
‘tion. A gentle air is then perceived, which is almost 
_ instantaneously succeeded by violent gusts of wind, 
~ usually accompanied with rain ; and seldom continuing 
above half an or fifty minutes. Tremendous peals 
-of thunder, and torrents of rain, for the space of two 
or more hours, terminate the storm. During its con- 
“tinuance, the thermometer suffers a rapid depression of 
Mr 
GUINEA. 
549 
five ees or more; the air is subsequently cooled, Guinea. 
vegetation refreshed, and the human constitution invi. “yo 
gorated. A harmattan t is an easterly wind, which 
revails in the months of December, January, and Fe- 
ruary, along the coast from Cape Verd and Cape Lo-« 
pez. It comes on indiscriminately at any time of the 
day, or of the tide, or of the moon; and continues, 
sometimes one or two days, sometimes five or six, and 
sometimes even fifteen or sixteen, It is always ac- 
companied by a fog or haze, which occasions a con« 
siderable obscurity, and renders the sun, which ap- 
Hany only a few hours about noon, of a mild red co« 
our. Extreme dryness is another attendant of a har- 
mattan, and, during its continuance, no moisture is 
perceived in the atmosphere, or any falling of dew 
on the earth. All vegetation is checked, and the more 
tender plants are completely destrovei, The grass be- 
comes like hay, and the jost Vigorous ever-greens droop 
under its infiuence. Its parching effects are severely 
telt on the external parts of the body, particularly the 
eyes, nostrils, lips, and palate, which become dry and 
uneasy. Drink is often required, not so much to 
quench thirst, as to remove a painful aridity in the 
fauces ; and, though the air is cool, a troublesome sen- 
sation of prickly heat is felt on the skin. If the wind 
should continue for four or five days, the scarf-skin 
generally peels off from the hands and face, and even 
from the whole of the body. Notwithstanding these 
disagreeable effects, it is found, on the coast of Guinea, 
to be highly conducive to health, restoring persons la~ 
bouring under dysenteries, fevers, or any debilita- 
ting evacuations, arresting the progress of epidemics, 
and apparently preventing even the artificial communi- 
cation of infection. { 
The principal vegetable productions of the coast of vegetable 
Guinea, are maize, millet, rice, yams, cassada, potatoes, productions. 
pulse, plantains, guavas, bananas, chillees, &c. The 
sugar cane grows spontaneously, to a tolerable size ; 
and the cotton shrub is found in a wild state. The in- 
digo plant is common in many parts of the coast ; and 
black pepper has been discovered in the inland districts. 
European cabbage and eschallots are cultivated in some 
places ; and a mucilaginous vegetable, called encrumah, 
the same as the ockra of the West Indies, (Heluscus es- 
culentus,) is ra plentiful in the country. Besides the 
ordinary tropical fruits, there is one of a very nutritious 
nature, called enteraba, which is much used, and is 
about the shape and size of the largest onions. The 
silk-cotton tree is found in every Ya of the coast, and 
grows to a majestic size, so as to furnish excellent ma- 
terials for the formation of canoes. There is a great 
variety of useful timber in the country, but the palm- 
tree is the most profitable to the natives. Of the leaf 
they make rope, thread, nets, fishing lines, &c. From 
the fruit they express an oil of great delicacy, which is 
used in all their dishes, and, when eaten fresh, is equal 
to excellent butter. The kernel contains a hard pulpy 
substance, which is sometimes roasted and eaten by 
women, as promoting corpulency. From the trunk of 
the tallest species, which sometimes reach 100 feet in 
height, they draw an intoxicating liquid which they 
call -wine, and which is procured by inserting a 
reed into a hole at the top of the tree, through which 
the liquor flows into an earthen pot. A similar liquid, 
of a more agreeable flavour, and less intoxicating qua- 
" * The name tornadoe is supposed to be a corruption of the Portuguese word trevado, a thunder storm. 
' + Supposed to be a Fantee word, pronounced by the natives harmanta, and said by them to signify a cold dry wind. 
+ It appears to be the same kind of wind as the sammiel of Egypt, and the sirocco of the Mediterranean. 
