CLIMATE, &c. 
315 
CHAPTER VIL 
4 
Climate, Population, Revenue, City, Market, ^c. 
1 HE climate will be best judged of by the account of the ther- 
mometer (from May to February) in the Appendix. During the 
first two months, May and June, it rained about one third of the 
time, throughout July and August it rained nearly half, and abrupt 
tornadoes were frequent in the evening, just after sun set, ushered 
in by a strong wind from the south-west. The heaviest rains were 
from the latter end of September to the beginning of November, 
they fell even in more impetuous torrents than are witnessed on the 
coast.* The influence of the harmattan was described as very 
powerful. Generally speaking, from the elevation of Ashantee, 
(unfortunately we had no barometer,) it was much cooler in Coo- . 
massie than at Cape Coast ; indeed, from four to six in the morn- 
ing, there v^ as a severity of cold unknown on the coast. 
I can only calculate the population of the kingdom of Ashantee, 
small in itself, from its military force, of which the following is the 
most moderate of the estimates I received. 
* At Cape Coast in 1815 there was scarcely any rain fell in its season, from May to 
August. In 1816, the rains were heavy, but no fogs succeeded. In 1817, there was 
but little rain, but a protracted succession of slight fogs. The climate has been observed, 
by old residents, to alter as unaccountably within these few years as that of Europe. 
