Thus with man's assistance, aided by the great annual fires that 

 sweep through the Sudanese Zone grassland, and the desiccating in- 

 fluence of the " Harmattan," the forest is steadily receding, and when, 

 as in the case of the Gold Coast, it is being attacked not only from the 

 north and east, but also from the south, where a wedge of dry country 

 vegetation is ever widening, the regression is rapid. 



The extent of the main zones of vegetation in the Gold Coast is 

 as follows. The Northern Territories, northern and eastern Ashanti, 

 the east of the Colony and a coastal wedge as far as Seccondee, belong 

 to the Sudanese type. Only the west and centre of the Colony and 

 the southern part of Ashanti belong, at the present day, to the 

 Guinea Zone. 



Both of these zones exhibit two sub-types of vegetation. The 

 Sudanese Zone is subdivided into " Savannah " and " Savannah 

 Forest." By " Savannah " is distinguished that part of the country 

 which is clothed with a graminaceous vegetation, and in which trees 

 and shrubs are only found isolated and at intervals. By " Savannah 

 Forest " is distinguished the country in which the grassland pre- 

 dominates, and in which trees and shrubs occur isolated or in small 

 patches of stunted forest along the watercourses, which may be actual 

 rivers in the rainy season, or may not show any free water surface. 

 The survey of the Sudanese Zone of the country has not yet been 

 sufficient to furnish an idea of the respective areas of these sub-types. 

 The Guinea Zone is subdivided into the " Deciduous Forest " and 

 the " Evergreen Forest," the main differences being that in the " Deci- 

 duous Forest " the dominant trees do not form a closed canopy, and 

 that many of the trees of the " Evergreen Forest " are absent. The 

 " Deciduous Forest " appears as a triangular area in the north of the 

 " Evergreen Forest " from a base line reaching from Sunyani through 

 Mam'pon to Juaso, and with the apex as far south as Dunkwa. It 

 approximately covers the area of west-central Ashanti bounded by 

 the 6o-inch rainfall curve (see Map, p. 13), and is the northern part 

 of the present forest area where it is not protected by the Kwahu 

 range. Undoubtedly this hill mass shelters the country to the south- 

 east from the Harmattan, and also causes increased precipitation over 

 that area, over which the prevaiUng rain-bearing south-west winds 

 travel before striking the Kwahu high ground. 



