Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/289

THE GOLD COAST. 237 Physical Features. Tlio whole seaboard of tlie British possessions projects seawards beyond the normal coastline. But the most prominent headland is Cape Three Points, whose granite, diorite, sandstone, laterite, and conglomerate hills terminate in three sharp peaks. Several of the promontories at this angular section of the coast rise to a height of about 350 feet, and one of the inland summits 12 miles from the sea attains an altitude of 2,000 feet. Most of these hills in the interior are either isolated, or else disposed in short ridges, such as the Ajamanti group north-west of Accra. But north of this town occurs the dome-shaped Dampa, the first summit of the Akwapem hills, which develop a true range running north-east and gradually increasing in elevation. Beyond the gorge pierced by the river Volta, this range is continued nearly in the same direction through the Busso country towards the lofty crests of North Dahomey. West of the Volta other ridges branch o£P from the Akwapem system. Such are the Okwahu hills, which run north-east, merging in a broad plateau 2,200 feet high, which falls southwards through a series of abrupt terraces, but slopes gently northwards to the thinly peopled steppes beyond the Okwahu territory. West of these grassy plains a few isolated masses 1,600 or 1,700 feet high, form the escarpment of the less elevated Ashanti plateau. Such are the Adansi hills, which have become famous in the history of recent wars, their densely wooded slopes forming the natural frontier of the Ashanti" country on the route between Cumassi and Cape Coast. In this hilly district lies the Bussam Och^, or " Sacred Lake," a landlocked lacustrine basin, which has become one of the great fetishes of the country. The fish here captured are smoked and exported, wrapped in banana leaves, to every part of Ashanti. North of the hilly zone stretch vast plains strewn with a few isolated bluffs, such as the majestic rocks resembling Gibraltar which Lonsdale met on the route between Cumassi and Bontuku. The grassy plateaux are con- tinued north-westwards to the still unexplored highland region generally known by the Mandingan name of " Kong," or " Mountains." But in the Salaga and Jendi territories north-east of Ashanti these Kong Mountains are completely inter- rupted, so that the route from the Upper Volta to the Niger is nowhere obstructed by any elevated ranges. EivER Systems. Copious streams descend from the hills and upland plains forming the water- parting east of the Upper Niger. In the w^est the first important river is the Ancobra, or Ankobar, which encircles the promontory of Cape Three Points, falling into the Bay of Axim through a broad mouth with a sill scarcely 7 feet deep. The Ancobra rises at least 150 miles from the sea, in the Ashanti country between the basins of the still larger rivers, Tanvv^^ and Boosum Prah, whence it flows south-west and south through Wassaw, one of the richest auriferous districts