We halted for rest at the Esyama village; its landmarks are the ronnier,
the glorious palmyra (_Borassus flabelliformis_), here called 'women's
cocoa-tree.' The village looked peculiarly neat with its straight, sandy
street-roads, a quarter of a mile long; and the tenements generally are
better than those of Axim. We noticed the usual feature, a long thatched
barn of yellow clay--school-cum-chapel. The people are fond of planting
before their doors the _felfa_, croton or physicnut (_Jatropha curcas_),
whose oil so long lighted Lisbon. It is a tree of many uses. Boys suck the
honey of the flower-stalk; and adults drink or otherwise use, as
corrective of bile, an infusion of the leaves and the under bark. They
could not give me the receipt for the valuable preparation of the green
apple, well known to the Fantis of Accra.
After returning to Axim we heard of rich diggings two hours' march inland,
or north with easting from Esyama. They are called 'Yirima,' or
'Choke-full'--that is, of gold. The site is occupied by King Blay's
family, and the place is described as containing three or four reefs which
have all been more or less worked by the natives. After we left the coast
Yirima was visited by Mr.
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