THE FOREST OFFICERS' HANDBOOK 



OF THE 



Gold Coast, Ashanti and the Northern Territories. 



Chapter I. 



THE WEST AFRICAN FORESTS. 



Before attempting a consideration of the forests of the Gold Coast 

 itself it is necessary to obtain an idea of the forests in general of the 

 West Coast of Africa. For information on this point we are chiefly 

 indebted to the noted French explorer M. Auguste ChevaUer, whose 

 journeys through French West African Territory have been described 

 in " La Geographie " and " Les Comptes Rendus." 



Generally, the West Coast of Africa, which is now, on the whole, 

 considered to be subject to elevation, consists of a vast peiiplane, 

 divided north and south by the valleys of the larger rivers, and east 

 and west by their tributaries. In the upper region of the Niger, 

 including the hinterland of Sierra Leone, is a vast series of " massifs " 

 sometimes attaining an altitude of 9,000 feet, and to them Chevaher 

 attributes the orientation of the Coast, the hydrographic configuration, 

 and an influence on the climate over the whole region from Portuguese 

 Guinea to Cape Palmas. The part of the West Coast with which we 

 are more intimately concerned is a considerable distance from these 

 highlands and is consequently not so subject to their immediate 

 influence, although the main divide of the country is a spur from these 

 highlands. In fact, the two chief climatic factors that appear to control 

 the distribution of forests in the Gold Coast and its adjoining territories 

 are the " Harmattan," a dry, sand-laden wind which blows straight 

 from the desert in the north-east for about two months of the year, 

 and the prevalent south-west wind which brings the rain. 



The forests of the West Coast of Africa show occasional connection 

 with South America, rarely any relation to those of North Africa, but 

 an intimate connection with the great equatorial belt of forest to the 

 east. This is to be expected for they are bounded on the west and 

 south by the sea, on the north by the Desert, and on the south-east 

 by the southern deserts of Africa. 



It is, however, the cHmatic factor of rainfaU distribution across 

 equatorial Africa that marks the limitations of the zone of vegetation 



