The Grain Coast is named from the grains of the Malaghetta pepper plant. This plant is a species of parasite, and yields very abundantly.
The Malaghetta, or Grain Coast, is often called the Windy, or Windward Coast, on account of the many brief but furious tornadoes which it experiences throughout the year.
The negro republic of Liberia occupies nearly four hundred miles of this coast. It was founded by the American Colonization Society in 1822, for the purpose of establishing a settlement for the freedmen of the United States. Its capital is Monrovia, named after Mr. Monroe, the president of the Colonization Society. It is situated on the rising ground of the coast, within the shelter of Cape Mesurado, which forms a breakwater against the incessant roll of the high surf from the Atlantic. It carries on quite a commerce with England, Holland, Germany, and the United States.
The Ivory Coast extends from Cape Palmas through three degrees of west longitude. It derived its name from the great quantities of ivory it afforded at one time. Now that the elephant is becoming extinct, the supply must, of course, cease.
Numerous French forts and settlements along this coast have, since 1871, been abandoned.
The Gold Coast is controlled entirely by the British government, and is, in fact, a Crown colony. It reaches from west of Cape Three Points to the river Volta.
The Gold Coast has long been visited for gold dust and other products. It has been described as an outer margin of plain, on the coast of which a roaring surf continually breaks. It extends east and west for about three hundred miles, and is bounded inland by hills covered with primeval forests. It is rich in the oil palm and oil-bearing groundnut, but the climate is exceedingly dangerous to Europeans.
Attempts have been made to introduce cattle and horses. These have all been unsuccessful, owing to that African scourge, the poisonous tsetse fly.
As far back as 1849 all the Dutch possessions along this coast were ceded to England, and by a treaty of 1871 all the Dutch possessions became British property.
The principal British station is Cape Coast Castle. It is named from its great church-like fort on the water's edge beside the filthy native town, above which the European residences peep out from among the woods. Elmina, "the mine," is situated about midway along the coast.