ABSTRACT
At first sight the Gold Coast appears to resemble Nigeria in the distribution of the Muslim, pagan and Christian elements in its population and in the areas where Islamic law might be expected to prevail. Like the Southern Provinces of Nigeria, the Colony and Ashanti were largely pagan until a considerable proportion of their peoples embraced Christianity; while the Northern Territories, like the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, are a mixture of Muslim and pagan elements. But the resemblance is superficial only, for Islam is in fact incomparably weaker in the Gold Coast than in Nigeria. Thus the Muslim elements in the Colony and Ashanti are largely limited to immigrants from the north or from outside the territory, and there is nothing comparable to the growth of Islam among the Yoruba of the Western Provinces of Nigeria; while the impression-prevalent in the south-that the Northern Territories are largely Muslim is chiefly derived from the fact that most northerners seem to profess that religion if and when they come south, whereas in their native setting the overwhelming majority are frankly pagan and the Islam of the minority largely skin-deep.
