Remarks on the topography and diseases of the Gold Coast / by R. Clarke.

  • Clarke, R.
Date:
[1860]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the topography and diseases of the Gold Coast / by R. Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/60 (page 5)
    upon the hopes and fears of the parties to actions about to be tried. For I may here remark that the inhabitants of the Gold Coast are an exceedingly litigious people, disputes about the right to lands being especially a subject of contention since palm oil has become an article of such large export from the coast. With few exceptions, nearly all the people of the protected territory may fairly be set down as consisting of two races, differing from each other not only in language, but in many of their customs and laws. Within the protected territory, the Oji is spoken by the Fantees on the coast, and by the Assins, Wassaws, Dinkerras, and others in the interior. In the Lee¬ ward districts it is not the language of the coast towns ; but it is spoken by the Akims, Aquamboes, and Aquapims in the interior. The purest type of the Oji is the Ashantee, the Fanti differing greatly from it. The Akims, Assins, and Aquamboos, speak almost pure Ashanti; nevertheless, they, with the Fantees, understand each other. Not a very long time ago, these tribes were subject to the King of Ashantee, and their territory was part of his kingdom. The Accra language is chiefly spoken by the Accras of Jamestown, Dutch Accra, and the people inhabiting the adjoining country ; but the Croboes, who occupy the inland region about sixty miles from Accra, speak a dialect of Accra known as the Adempi tongue. Course of the Seasons.—The seasons of the Gold Coast, as in all other tropical climates, may be divided into wet and dry. There are, however, two rainy seasons in the year; one begins about the end of May, and diminishes in September, when there is generally an interval until the end of October ; but this last hardly merits the name of a wet season compared with the quantity of rain which falls in the former period. Towards the end of July, the heavy rains are considered at an end, and shortly after, the fogs or “ smokes” set in. This is by far the most unhealthy period of the year. The fogs con¬ tinue for several weeks, but are generally over about the 14th or 18th of August. The dry season sets in in November, and continues, with trifling variations, throughout the remainder of the year, and until the following month of May. Tornadoes commence in March, and continue about two months. About the middle or end of December, the Harmattan winds blow, a haze accompanying it. It blows at any hour of the day, time of the tide, or period of the moon. On the Gold Coast, this wind blows from the North-east, or from the E.N.E., and gene¬ rally prevails in December, January, and February. The sun is obscured the greater part of the day, and is often only visible for a few hours about mid-day, when it appears of a deep red, causing no unpleasant sensations in the eye. The moon, which