Plantains and yams seem to form the chief food of the people in the interior, but maize is largely used by those near the coast, who are better cultivators. Plantains are prepared by roasting or by chopping up and boiling. In some parts, especially in the Krepi country, the fruits are split and cut in pieces, after which they are dried in the sun. They become hard and white in the process, and can be kept for some time. Yams of several kinds are cut up after peeling, and boiled with peppers or made up with palm oil, when they form a favourite dish. They are sometimes pounded in a wooden mortar and made into balls. Maize is ground on flat or grooved stones by means of a stone hand-roller, after which the flour is made into dough and baked, a little palm wine having been added to make it rise. Cassava is treated in the same manner as yams, but the former requires long soaking before cooking. Palm oil or groundnut oil is generally used for cooking, and the pulp of the palm fruit, after the oil has been removed, is eaten. A fermented drink is made from maize, which is said to taste like weak beer, but the chief intoxicant made locally is the fermented juice of the oil and the fibre palms. With the exception of cotton, which has been separately referred to, groundnuts appear to have been the only field crop of importance that has been exported. In 1908 a substantial figure was reached, but has since declined. PART II.—THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES =Tribes.=—The country which is included under the Northern Territories is inhabited by a number of tribes, now chiefly located in the northern half; the central portion being liable to inundation at certain times, and therefore almost unoccupied, and the southern being, perhaps, considered unsafe owing to the proximity to the warlike Ashantis. The more important tribes are the Mamprussis, under the king of Gambaga; the Gonjas, under the king of Kombe; the Walas, under the king of Wa; and two sections of the Dagombas, under the chiefs of Savelugu and Karaga (formerly under the king of Yendi, in German territory). The Lobis, Dagartis, Grunshis, Kussassis, and several others were dispersed by Samory and Barbetu in 1896 and 1898, and have now only nominal chiefs. (See _Colonial Reports—Annual_, No. 566, “Northern Territories of the Gold Coast,” 1907, p. 8.) The Moshis, whose country extended into the northern limits of the Northern Territories, were employed at one time as native levies, but since they were disbanded they have interfered with the tribes on the Gambaga-Kumassi road, in the Sapari Hills, and made trading by that route unsafe. (See _Colonial Reports_, _loc. cit._, p. 10.) Steps have been taken to expel them from the country, and it is hoped that the people living in the hills, who are said to be good agriculturists, will now come into closer contact with civilisation. The Dagombas are apparently the most industrious tribe in the country, and they seem to be numerous.