processes involved have been forgotten. What one finds now in 

 West Africa is a widespread appreciation of yam cultivars for 

 their particular characteristics and a recognition of value even 

 in minute differences. 



Coursey and Coursey (10) have described the new-yam festi- 

 vals common throughout the Yam Belt. The elaborate beliefs and 

 practices appear to have one essential purpose, the inhibition of 

 eating of yams before they are mature. It was, and still is, wise 

 to permit tubers to grow to near their maximum size before using 

 them. The usefulness of the ceremonies in the growth of a rela- 

 tively high-level culture is quite understandable. It is probable 

 that the ennoblement of the species has been intricately involved 

 with the religious forms regulating and protecting the species. 



Distribution 



The Yam Belt, where the majority of African yams are found, 

 extends from the Ivory Coast to Cameroon, a distance of about 

 3,200 kilometers (fig. 1). Yams are usually not found near the 

 seacoast, but their production begins within a few to about 160 

 kilometers from the coast and continues for one to several hundred 

 kilometers inland. This is an upland region, often of rolling hills, 

 where rainfall is regular enough through one or more periods to 

 permit the plants to mature. 



Little is known of the prehistorical distribution of yams out- 

 side the Yam Belt. The impression frequently given is that African 

 yams do not grow outside this belt. However, while not as likely 

 to be a staple food, yams are cultivated at least as far north as 

 Senegal, in quantity in Sierra Leone, and to a sufficiently great 

 extent in the Congo. The West African yams occur in limited 



Figure 1. — The Yam Belt of Africa, showing principal regions where 

 D. rotundata and D. cayenensis are located. 



3 



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