Chapter II. 



THE NATURAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. 



Situation. 

 The Gold Coast is situated on the Coast of Guinea, and lies between 

 I degree East and 3 degrees W.est Longitude, and between the 5th and 

 nth parallel of North Latitude. 



Area. 



It comprises the Colony, Ashanti and the Northern Territories, 

 the aggregate area of which is about 80,000 square miles, the Colony 

 being 24,200 square miles, Ashanti 20,000 square miles, and the 

 Northern Territories 35,800. 



The western part of Togoland, for which the British have become 

 a mandatory power, is not here considered, as the Forestry Depart- 

 naent has not as yet been in a position to survey the country. 



Physiography. 



Orography. — The main feature of the country is the plateau of 

 west central Ashanti, which is continued as a sharp escarpment in a 

 south-easterly direction, terminating in the high ground north-east of 

 Accra. 



The country rises generally from the coast until it reaches this 

 high ground, which has an average height of probably 800 feet, with 

 isolated peaks and groups reaching up to 2,200 feet. 



Northwards the basin of the Volta causes a general depression 

 right across the country, at Yeji the height above sea level being only 

 250 feet. 



The Northern Territories represent a periplane with the two basins 

 of the Black and White Volta dividing it from north to south. 



The Colony itself to the west of the Volta basin comprises a series 

 of ridges running in a general direction from north-east to south-west 

 from the Ashanti plateau and range, and forming the watershed of 

 the river system of the Colony. 



River System. — The Northern Territories and the northern and 

 eastern part of Ashanti and the east of the Colony all form the drainage 

 system of the Volta River and its tributaries. The Black Volta rising 

 in the French Sudan to the north-west of the Northern Territories, 

 and White Volta rising to the north, unite in north-eastern Ashanti 

 and continue, as the Volta River, along the eastern boundary of the 

 Colony to the coast at Addah, receiving in its course the Afram, which 

 originates in the Ejura-Mampon basin. 



