41 
huts. Another way is to cut the fish up and dry it, and then to 
pound it all up in mortars until it is reduced to a jelly, which is 
rolled into balls about the size of the fist. These, with their high 
flavour, form a favourite ingredient in soups and sauces which are 
certainly wanting in all other aromatic condiments.” 
The sale of salt acts well as a barometer of the state of 
the inter-tribal relations of the interior. It is often used as 
currency or means of barter, showing its importance. 
With petty warfare proceeding in the interior—a normal 
condition of things—and with roads blocked, or rather 
trade routes obstructed, as a sequence, the trade in this 
much-coveted article is small as compared with its disposal 
in peaceful times. It can then be judged why the curing 
by salt of the interior fresh-water fish is out of the question, 
as also why, when fresh fish is not to be had, “stinking 
fish” becomes the staple commodity for the daily meal. 
Here follows the value of salt imported into the Gold 
Coast Colony during the four years given :— 
Year. Value an eo ve are Value gow hi aca 
& & 
1878 1670 13 I 4250 8 7 
1879 3441 12 Io 2840 19 I 
1880 4079 4 6 5439 18 9 
1881 1682 7 3 8037 2 5 
Fiscal conditions on imports differ in our West African 
Possessions: some articles of food are allowed to enter 
free, whereas on others an ad valorem rate and salt-tax are 
levied. 
Such impositions cannot at present be said to have the 
same effect as it is advanced the salt-tax has had in India, 
as to fish-curing, for such is the depravity of the human taste 
in West Africa—the inheritance of birth and training—as 
elsewhere, that at times, and most frequently, semi-putrid 
