2 THE GOLD COAST, ASIUNTI, AND KUMASSI 



the fiercest and most selfish passions of man, wliite and bhick, 

 have vented themselves for four centuries. The white slaver 

 came here for his merchandise, the black slave-owner ashore 

 supplied the trade, and if his barracoons were empty when a 

 cargo was needed, a quantity' of trade goods — rum, gin, cloth, and 

 trinkets— accomjjlisbed his purpose in a moment. It w^as in 

 very truth a survival of the stronger, and one native w^as as eager 

 to sell his brother as he was to collect his pay from tbe native 

 procureur. 



The old Grain coast is comprised within the Republic of 

 Liberia, while the Ivory coast, now French territory, is adjacent 

 on the southeast. The Slave coast extends from the Niger some 

 200 miles west to the Gold coast, the latter section of the Guinea 

 coast lying between the old Ivory and Slave coasts. A hundred 

 years ago these distinctive names were applied b,y all geographers, 

 but today onl}^ the Gold coast is to be found on our maps. Three 

 hundred and fifty miles of the latter coast belong to Great Britain, 

 while the interior borders of the colony, of which this sea-coast 

 forms one boundary, stretch away toward the north as far as the 

 Ashanti country. Since the recent taking of Kumassi and the 

 downfall of the Ashanti confederation the hinterland of the 

 colon}^ has been extended 100 miles further to the north. 



Between the easteiii and the western boundaries of the Gold 

 coast the view presented from the sea is varied and picturesque. 

 The shore is often girt with great rocks over which the surf breaks 

 with tremendous force; again, a sandy beach, fringed with tall, 

 spectral palms, which stand like mute sentinels guarding the ap- 

 proach to the forlorn shore, separates the ocean from salt lagoons 

 and swamps of immense area, while in places the mouths of 

 rivers reveal themselves b}^ the presence of dangerous bars, over 

 which the waters boil and seethe, affording fair warning of their 

 existence to anxious mariners. The villages of the natives are 

 discernible at frequent intervals, and a fair appreciation of archi- 

 tectural taste is evinced in the construction of their huts. Rect- 

 angular houses of swish, or adobe, sometimes with ,a second 

 story, take the place of the rude hvits of the Grain and Ivory 

 coasts, and among these are interspersed the more pretentious 

 residences of European traders, and forts which have been erected 

 from time to time during the past four centuries. 

 , As early as the middle of the fourteenth century the Gold coast 

 was known to the European world, but not until 1471, when the 

 Portuguese navigators, Juan de Santarem and Pedro Escobar 



