0.3
------------ --------------
African Total 103,096 tons 38.1 per cent.
------------ --------------
British Africa 76,566 tons 28.3 per cent.

THE GOLD COAST (_Industria floremus_).

_Accra Cacao._

The name recalls stories of a romantic and awful past, in which gold and
the slave trade played their terrible part. Happily these are things of
the past; so is the "deadly climate." We are told that it is now no
worse than that of other tropical countries. According to Sir Hugh
Clifford, until recently Governor of the Gold Coast, the "West African
Climatic Bogie" is a myth, and the "monumental reputation for
unhealthiness" undeserved. When De Candolle wrote concerning cacao, "I
imagine it would succeed on the Guinea Coast,"[4] as the West African
coast is sometimes called, he achieved prophecy, but he little dreamed
how wonderful this success would be. The rise and growth of the
cacao-growing industry in the Gold Coast is one of the most
extraordinary developments of the last few decades. In thirty years it
has increased its export of cacao from nothing to 40 per cent. of the
total of the world's production.

[4] De Candolle, _Origin of Cultivated Plants_, quoted by R.
Whymper.

[Illustration: MAP OF AFRICA--WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.]

[Illustration: FORESHORE AT ACCRA, WITH STACKS OF CACAO READY FOR
SHIPMENT.
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa".]

PRODUCTION OF CACAO ON THE GOLD COAST.

Year. Quantity. Value. L
1891 0 tons (80 lbs.) 4
1896 34 tons 2,276
1901 980 tons 42,837
1906 8,975 tons 336,269
1911 30,798 tons 1,613,468
1916 72,161 tons 3,847,720

1917 90,964 tons 3,146,851
1918 66,343 tons 1,796,985
1919 177,000 tons 8,000,000

The conditions of production in the Gold Coast present a number of
features entirely novel. We hear from time to time of concessions being
granted in tropical regions to this or that company of enterprising
European capitalists, who employ a few Europeans and send them to the
area to manage the industry. The inhabitants of the area become the
manual wage earners of the company, and too often in the lust for
profits, or as an offering to the god of com