Finally, the mercury is squeezed through leathers and the hard amalgam is sent for treatment to England. Retorting is not practised at present in any of the mines. The only reduction-gear belongs to the Gold Coast Mining Company; and some time must elapse before it is ready for use. My discovery of native cinnabar will then prove valuable.

The Effuenta can now bring to bank, with sufficient hands, at least a hundred tons a day of good paying ore; whereas the stamps can crush at most one-tenth. When this section of the lode, about 200 fathoms, shall be worked, there will still be the balance of 1,000. But even this fifth of the property will supply material for years. The proportion of gold greatly varies, and I should not like to hazard a conjecture as to average, but an ounce and a half or two ounces will not be above the mark.

At present the manager works under the difficulty of wanting European assistants. His mining-engineer and one mechanic lately left him to return home; and he has only a white book-keeper, an English working-miner, and a mechanic, besides a man who made his way from the coast on foot, and who is now doing good, honest work. The progress made by Mr. MacLennan, during his ten months of charge, has been most creditable. He has literally opened the mine, the works of which were begun by M. Dahse. He has personally supervised the transport and erection of all the machinery; and at present, in addition to the ordinary managerial routine, he has to act as chief of each and every department. Owing to his brave exertions the future of the Effuenta mine is very promising: it will teach those to come 'how to do it,' in contrast with another establishment which is the best guide 'how not to do it.' If the Board prove itself efficient, this property will soon pay a dividend. But half-hearted measures will go far to stultify the able and energetic work I found on the spot. [Footnote: This forecast has been unexpectedly verified with the least possible delay. Perfect communication has been established between the shafts and levels; and the mine can now (October 1882) turn out 100 tons a day at five shillings. But imperfect pumps have been sent out, and the result is a highly regretable block. Of the value of the mine there can be no doubt.]

The northern extremity of the Takwa ridge, whose length may be nine to ten miles, remains unappropriated, as far as can be known. The furthest concession has been made, I am told, to Mr. Creswick. South of the section in question lies a property now in the hands of the late M. Bonnat's executors: the grant was given to him as a wedding-present by his friends, the chiefs. Report says that from this part of the lode, which is riddled with native pits, came some of the specimens that floated the G. C. M. Company. Succeeds in due order the African Gold Coast Company, French and English, which was brought out in 1878. It is popularly and locally known as the Takwa (not 'Tarcquah') mine, from the large native village which infests its grounds. I have described the Effuenta, its southern neighbour. Beyond this again is a strip belonging to the Franco-English Company; and, lastly, at the southern butt-end, divided by a break from the main ridge, lies the 'Tamsoo-Mewoosoo mines of Wassaw.' The latter has lately been 'companyed,' under the name of the 'Tacquah Gold Mines Company,' by Dr. J. A. B. Horton and Mr. Ferdinand Fitzgerald, of the famous 'African Times.' When its directors inform us that 'twenty ounces of gold lately arrived from a neighbouring mine, the produce of stamping of twenty-five tons of ore, similar to that of Tamsoo-Mewoosoo,' they may not have been aware that the produce in question was worked from the alluvial drift discovered, about the end May 1881, in the north-western corner of the Swanzy estates. This drift has no connection with the Takwa ridge-lodes.

After morning tea on March 28 I bade a temporary adieu to my most hospitable host, and walked along the ridge-crest to the establishment of the Franco-English or African Gold Coast Company. Here I found only one person, Dr. Burke, an independent practitioner, who is allowed lodging, but not board. M. Haillot, of Paris, formerly accountant and book-keeper, was in temporary charge of this mine and of Abosu during Mr. Bowden's absence. I shall give further detail on my return march. Passing through the spirit-reeking Takwa village, where nearly every hovel is a 'shebeen,' I walked along the valley separating the ridge from its western neighbour, Vinegar Hill, and in half an hour entered the huts belonging to the Gold Coast Mining Company. [Footnote: These gentlemen are still (October 1882) doing hard and successful work at the mines.] Here I breakfasted with the brothers Gowan, who had been left in charge by Mr. Creswick. My notes on this establishment must also be reserved for a future page.

Twenty-five minutes' walking brought me to where the main road, a mere bush-path, strikes across a gully separating two crests of the Takwa ridge. Then came a good stretch of level ground, composed of sand and gravel of stained quartz, clothed with the ordinary second-growth. When this ended I passed over the northern heads of two small buttes which lie unconformably; the direction of their main axes lies north-north-west, whereas all their neighbours trend to the north-north-east. The climb was followed by a second level, bounded on the left, or north, by the Abo Yao Hill, the emplacement of the 'Mines d'Or d'Aboassu.' Two branch paths lead up to it from the main line of road. Near the western is a place chosen as a cemetery for Europeans; as usual it is neglected and overgrown with bush.

Presently I arrived at the village of Abosu, a walk of about two hours from the Takwa mine. Ten months ago it contained forty to fifty head of negroes; now it may number 3,000, although the May emigration had begun, when the workmen return to their homes, being unable to labour in the flooded flats. There was the hum of a busy, buzzing crowd, sinking pits and shafts, some in the very streets and outside their own doors. This alluvial bed must be one of the richest in the country; and it is wholly native property under King Angu, of Apinto. There is little to describe in the village; every hut is a kind of store, where the most poisonous of intoxicants, the stinkingest of pomatum, and the gaudiest of pocket-handkerchiefs are offered as the prizes for striking gold. There are also a few goldsmiths' shops, where the precious metal is adulterated and converted to coarse, rude ornaments. The people are able 'fences,' and powder, fuses, and mining-tools easily melt into strong waters. Hence Abosu is a Paradise to the Fanti police and to the Haussa garrison of Takwa.

I looked about Abosu to prospect the peculiarities of the place, where the Sierra Leonite and the Cape Coast Anglo-nigger were conspicuous for 'cheek' and general offensiveness. These ignoble beings did not spare even poor Nero; they blatantly wondered what business I had to bring such a big brute in order to frighten the people. Resuming my way along the flat by a winding path, I came upon a model bit of corduroying over a bad marsh, crossed the bridge, and suddenly sighted Mr. F. F. Crocker's coffee-mill stamping-battery. It lies at the south-western end of a butte, one of a series disposed in parallel ranges and trending in the usual direction. All have quartz-reefs buried in red clay, and are well wooded, with here and there small clearings. The names are modern—Crocker's Reef to the east, Sam's Reef, and so forth.

Then I passed an admirably appointed saw-mill. At this distance from the coast, where transport costs 24l. to 26l. a ton, carpenter's work must be done upon the spot. A wide, clean road, metalled with gravel, and in places bordered by pine-apples, led to store-houses of bamboo and thatch, built on either side of the way. After walking from Effuenta seven and a half geographical miles in three hours and forty-five minutes, I reached the establishment known as Crockerville. It dates from 1879, and in 1880 it forwarded its first remittance of 11l. 10s. to England. The village was laid out under the superintendence of Mr. Sam, the ablest native employe it has ever been my fortune to meet. He is the same who, when District-commissioner of Axim, laid out the town and planted the street-avenues. In conversation with me he bitterly derided the native association formed at Cape Coast Castle for obtaining concessions and for selling them to the benighted white man. He resolved not to put his money in a business where all would be at loggerheads within six months unless controlled by an European.

The houses are bamboo on stone platforms. One block is occupied by the owner, and a parallel building lodges Mr. Sam and his wife, the two being connected by an open dining-hall. The kitchen and offices lie to the north and east. Further west are quarters for European miners, and others again for Mr. Turner, now acting manager, and his white clerk. Furthest removed are the black quarters, the huts forming a street.

Crockerville at present is decidedly short of hands. The number on the books, all told, black and white, is only sixty-two: when the whole property comes to be worked, divided and sub-divided, it will require between a thousand and fifteen hundred. The hands are mostly country people, including a few gangs employed to sink shafts. One gang lately deserted, for the following reason. Two men were below charging the shots from a heap of loose powder, whilst their friends overhead were quietly smoking their pipes. A 'fire-'tick,' thrown across the shaft, burnt a fellow's fingers, and he at once dropped it upon his brethren underground; they were badly scorched, and none of the gang has been seen since. I mention this accident as proving how difficult it is to manage the black miner. The strictest regulations are issued to prevent the fatuous nigger killing himself, but all in vain: he is worse, if possible, than his white confrere. If I had the direction all the powder-work should be done by responsible Europeans. I would fire by electricity, the battery remaining in the manager's hands, and no native should be trusted with explosives.

Here I fell amongst old acquaintances, and was only too glad to remain with them between Friday and Thursday. Mr. Turner gave me one of his bed-rooms, and Mr. Crocker's sitting-room was always open by day. We messed together, clerks, mechanics, and all, in the open dining-hall: this is Mr. Crocker's plan, and I think it by far the best. The master's eye preserves decorum, and his presence prevents unreasonable complaints about rations. The French allow each European employe 4s. 9d. a day for food and hire of servants, and attempt most unfairly to profit by the sale of provisions and wines. The consequence is that everything is disjointed and uncomfortable: some starve themselves to save money; others overdrink themselves because meat is scarce; and all complain that the sum which would suffice for many is insufficient for one.

The Swanzy establishment has set up an exceptionally light battery of twelve stamps, made in sections for easier transport. Neither here nor in any of the mines have stone-breakers or automatic feeders yet been introduced: the stuff is all hand-spalled. One small 'Belleville' drives the stamps, another works the Tangye pump, and a third turns the saw-mills. I will notice a few differences between the Swanzy system and that of Effuenta. The wooden framework of the stamp-mill is better than iron. The cam-shaft here carries only single, not double cams, a decided disadvantage: in order to strike the same number of blows per minute it has to make double the number of revolutions. Moreover, by some unhappy mistake, it is too far from its work, and the result is a succession of sharp blows on the tappets, with injury to all the gear. On the other hand proper fingers are fitted to the stamps: this is far better than supporting them by a rough chock of wood. At Crockerville, as at Effuenta, only six of the twelve stamps were working: there the pump was at fault; here the blanket-tables had not been made wide enough. I could hardly estimate the total amount of ore brought to grass, or its average yield: specimens of white quartz, with threads, strings, and lobs of gold, have been sent to England from Crocker's Reef. The best tailings are reserved either for treatment on the spot or for reduction in England. The mine, as regards present condition, is in the stage of prospecting upon a large and liberal scale. The stamps are chiefly used to run through samples of from 50 to 100 tons taken from the various parts of the property: in this way the most exact results can be obtained. During my visit they were preparing to work a hundred tons from Aji Bipa, the fourth and furthest butte to the north-west.

I visited this mound in company with Mr. Sam, who interpreted the name to be that of the gambogefruit. We descended, as we had ascended, by the stamping-battery, crossed the bridge, and then struck northwards, over the third hillock, to No. 4. Unlike Crocker's Reef, Aji Bipa does not show visible gold; its other peculiarities will best be explained by the report I wrote on the spot.

This property is situated near Crockerville and can always be easily reached from that place. In fact, the southern boundary marches with the northern limit of the Crockerville estate. The rich gold-bearing lode is situated on the western slope of the hill, and can be seen in all the three shafts which have been sunk. The formation of the hill seems in many respects to correspond with the Lingula flags at and near Clogau, Dolgelli, and Gogafau. This formation is practically the same as that of the range of hills on which the concessions of the Gold Coast Mining Company, of the African Gold Coast Mining Company, of the Effuenta Company, of the Mines d'Or d'Aboassu (Abosu), and the Tamsu concessions are situated, and also as that of Tebribi Hill; but each of the three areas has its own marked features. In all the rocks are talcose and show a sort of conglomerate of quartz pebbles, in some cases water-worn and in others angular, bedded in a mixture of quartz and granite detritus. This has in the three areas undergone varying degrees of pressure, and has been upheaved at different angles. In some cases the pressure and heat have been so great that the rock assumes a distinctly gneissic character.

At Aji Bipa the lode runs N. 38 E. (Mag.) in the centre shaft, and N. 40 E. in the southern shaft, a sort of fault occurring in the centre shaft. In the northern shaft I should put it at 38, but from the way in which the neighbouring rock had cleaved it was difficult to get the strike accurately. The dip is the same in all three shafts, viz. 82. The lode being so near vertical, it can be clearly traced for the whole depth of the shafts, and is very well defined. The hanging (eastern) wall is highly coloured with iron oxides, and contains many quartz crystals which are through-coloured with the same, and I do not think it at all unlikely that garnets and other gems may be found in it. One or two minute crystals showed a green colour, and might be tourmaline or emerald; but perhaps it was only a surface-colour caused by the presence of copper. The foot wall is very well marked by a strip of whitish yellow clay about an inch in thickness. The rock on both sides of the lode is gold-bearing, and is evidently, as well as the real lode, formed of the debris of old quartz and granites. Talcose flakes are frequent, and in some places it seems to be clearly gneiss. Although with a small plant it might not be profitable to treat this, still with large and suitable machinery it may be made to pay, and the trouble of separating the rich lode from the inferior stone avoided. One remarkable trait in the lode is the manner in which it splits into blocks and slabs, all the faces of the quartz pebbles being cloven in precisely the same plane.

The length of the concession along the line of lode is 2,780 feet, and from the way in which the lode stands on the western slope of the hill, and the dip being eastward, I am of opinion that if a drift were put through the hill other and parallel lodes would be found. Of course this can only be proved by experience.

The thickness of the lode where I measured it varied from 22-1/2 to 25 inches in the southern shaft; and although I saw one pinch in the northern, and the fault in the centre one, it can easily be traced and worked, and should prove most profitable. In the centre shaft it is 24 inches, and in the northern 30 inches.

A curious sort of black substance occurs close to the line of clay which defines the under side of the lode, and may be remnants of some vegetable material; but with the means at my disposal I will not give any decided opinion.

Over the rock which forms the main body of the hill lie the usual red clay and oxidised quartz gravels, which, if treated by hydraulic mining, ought, as it contains gold, to prove a paying stuff: moreover washing off the surface-dirt would lay bare the rock and render all after-work easy and simple.

The alluvials in the bottoms should here prove unusually rich, and means might be adopted by which they should be raised mechanically and then flumed down again.

Ample water supply exists both for hydraulic mining and reef-working; there are good sites for all necessary machinery and building, and timber as usual is to be had in any quantity that may be required.

The question of transport is of course a most important one, and in the present state of the roads and country very expensive; but from the route-survey I have made I am convinced that a cheap and efficient service to the mines of this and neighbouring districts would be easily organised, and that instead of paying, as at present, the absurd price of 4s. or 5s. per ton per mile, it could be reduced to an average of from 4d. to 6d. The shafts now open are— South, 45 feet deep, 9 feet by 4 feet 9 inches. Centre, 36 feet deep, 8 feet 6 inches by 4 feet 2 inches. North, 45 feet deep, 8 feet by 5 feet 10 inches.

This is both a most valuable and interesting piece of country to work, and I hope that it may soon be provided with all necessary staff, plant and machinery.

Rich returns may be confidently expected, and under proper management should prove a most paying business.

The exploratory works now existing have been done in an honest and businesslike manner, like all I have seen where Mr. Crocker and Mr. Turner have worked; and the zeal and intelligence displayed by Mr. Sam could scarcely be equalled and certainly not surpassed.

I have not said anything about the quantity of gold to the ton, as the experimental crushings at Crockerville will enable a much more accurate idea to be formed than any I could make from the hand-washings I saw done.

The boxes of specimens sealed by me are the result of blasts and excavation done whilst I was on the spot.

[Footnote: TEMPERATURE, ETC., AT CROCKERVILLE. Date Thermometer Bar. Rainfall Max. Min. Inches Ins. April 1 91 73 29.55 " 2 91 75 29.50 0.06 " 3 93 74 29.50 " 4 90 73 29.50 " 5 96 76 29.40 " 6 91 71 29.45 3.02 " 7 80 70 29.50 " 8 75 71 29.55 " 9 93 72 29.50 0.01 " 10 92 73 29.50 " 11 93 74 29.45 0.02 " 12 94 72 29.50 0.09 " 13 95 74 29.50 0.50 " 14 96 74 29.50 " 15 96 76 29.50 " 16 88 74 29.45 " 17 92 73 29.55 " 18 89 74 29.55 " 19 85 74 29.55 0.03 " 20 91 73 29.60 0.47 " 21 88 74 29.55 0.01 " 22 93 74 29.60 0.03 " 23 92 73 29.55 " 24 94 73 29.50 0.28 " 25 93 73 29.50 0.18 " 26 93 73 29.50 0.26 " 27 93 74 29.55 0.27 " 28 88 74 29.50 " 29 94 74 29.45 " 30 93 74 29.40 0.26 May 1 90 73 29.45 0.40 " 2 90 72 29.45 0.74

" 3 81 72 29.50 " 4 86 73 29.50 0.03 " 5 88 73 29.55 0.04 " 6 83 71 29.55 " 7 89 73 29.50 0.05 " 8 90 74 29.50 " 9 91 73 29.45 " 10 80 71 29.50 0.95 " 11 89 73 29.45 0.06 " 12 89 74 29.50 " 13 94 73 29.35 0.01 " 14 84 74 29.50 " 15 89 72 29.50 2.90 " 16 85 73 29.50 " 17 79 72 29.60 1.23 " 18 85 74 29.50 " 19 82 74 29.55 0.06 " 20 87 74 29.50 " 21 88 70 29.50 0.30 " 22 84 70 29.60 0.92 " 23 88 72 29.60 0.02 " 24 87 73 29.60 " 25 86 72 29.60 1.23 " 26 82 71 29.60 1.23 " 27 86 71 29.60 1.54 " 28 85 73 29.50 " 29 88 73 29.60 " 30 82 73 29.55 0.56 " 31 82 72 29.55 June 1 82 72 29.60 0.18 " 2 82 72 29.60 1.05 " 3 83 74 29.55 0.16 " 4 84 73 29.65 0.05 " 5 84 73 29.60 0.14 " 6 84 73 29.55 " 7 82 72 29.50 0.16 " 8 82 72 29.65 " 9 85 73 29.55 " 10 84 73 29.69 " 11 80 73 29.55 " 12 81 72 29.60 " 13 81 68 29.60 0.02 " 14 85 66 29.60 " 15 86 68 29.65 " 16 86 68 29.60 " 17 87 69 29.60 " 18 83 70 29.60 " 19 82 71 29.60 0.70 " 20 79 72 29.65 0.14 " 21 82 72 29.60 " 22 85 72 29.65 0.03 " 23 82 73 29.50 " 24 75 71 29.65 2.20 " 25 80 71 29.70 " 26 86 71 29.70 " 27 80 71 29.65 0.34 " 28 81 71 29.65 " 29 81 71 29.60 0.14 " 30 78 70 29.65 July 1 79 67 29.70 " 2 79 68 29.65 " 3 80 71 29.70 " 4 86 72 29.70 0.60 " 5 79 72 29.70 0.40 " 6 81 71 29.60 0.17 " 7 79 72 29.70 " 8 81 71 29.70 " 9 80 70 29.75 0.06 " 10 79 72 29.60 " 11 80 71 29.60 0.50 " 12 80 72 29.60 " 13 78 70 29.60 " 14 79 70 29.65 " 15 80 69 29.70 0.40 " 16 83 70 29.70 " 17 81 71 29.60 0.40 " 18 80 71 29.60 " 19 79 71 29.65 " 20 79 70 29.55 " 21 80 70 29.60 " 22 80 71 29.60 0.02 " 23 81 71 29.65 " 24 80 71 29.65 " 25 79 71 29.70 3.30 " 26 79 70 29.70 " 27 80 70 29.70 " 28 85 71 29.70 " 29 81 71 29.65 " 30 78 70 29.65 0.70 " 31 79 70 29.65 Aug. 1 78 69 29.65 " 2 83 72 29.70 " 3 82 72 29.65 0.56 " 4 80 70 29.65 " 5 82 72 29.60 " 6 79 70 29.60 0.28 " 7 81 70 29.60 " 8 80 70 29.60 " 9 81 70 29.65 " 10 82 70 29.65 0.40 " 11 82 70 29.65 0.60 " 12 81 68 29.65 " 13 81 67 29.60 " 14 80 69 29.70 " 15 83 71 29.65 " 16 81 69 29.65 " 17 90 70 29.70 " 18 86 71 29.65 " 19 81 70 29.65 " 20 85 68 29.70 " 21 83 70 29.70 " 22 80 70 29.65 " 23 81 73 29.70 " 24 84 71 29.65 " 25 86 70 29.70 " 26 82 70 29.70 " 27 84 71 29.65 0.02 " 28 84 71 29.70 0.01 " 29 85 72 29.70 0.02 " 30 86 70 29.70 " 31 85 71 29.65 Sept. 1 84 72 29.65 " 2 85 72 29.66 " 3 87 72 29.65 0.01 " 4 86 73 29.66 0.15 " 5 85 72 29.70 " 6 80 72 29.70 0.15 " 7 85 72 29.70 " 8 86 71 29.60 0.18 " 9 86 72 29.60 1.00 " 10 80 72 29.70 0.01 " 11 85 72 29.70 0.01 " 12 85 73 29.65 " 13 77 72 29.65 0.50 " 14 79 72 29.65 0.40 " 15 83 72 29.65 0.17 " 16 82 71 29.65 0.46 " 17 78 70 29.70 0.07 " 18 86 72 29.55 0.12 " 19 78 72 29.70 1.14 " 20 87 72 29.60 0.43 " 21 78 71 29.66 0.02 " 22 78 70 29.65 0.30 " 23 85 71 29.60 0.03 " 24 85 72 29.70 " 25 87 72 29.60 0.03 " 26 84 72 29.60 0.24 " 27 91 73 29.50 " 28 89 71 29.50 " 29 89 71 29.55 0.65 " 30 91 72 29.65

Meteorological Register.

1880 Average Tem. per Diem Total Rainfall per Month April 79.00 — May 78.40 8.27 June 76.60 11.24 July 74.79 3.44 August 74.22 5.30 Sept. 76.28 3.08 Oct. 78.05 4.89

Highest temperature on May 21, 94 (1880).

Lowest temperature on July 6 and 7, 65.

Highest rainfall in 24 hours on June 20, 3 25.

Highest variation in 24 hours on May 2 and 3 94-68 = 26.

Lowest variation in 24 hours on May 14, 76-74= 20.

1881 Average Tem. per Diem Total Rainfall per Month April 83.65 5.89 May 77.67 11.21 June 76.73 7.08 July 75.32 6.65 August 76.46 1.89

Highest temperature on April 5 and 14, 96 (1881).

Lowest temperature on June 14, 66.

Highest rainfall in 24 hours on July 25, 3 30.

Highest variation in 24 hours on April 14, 96-74 = 22.

Lowest variation in 24 hours on June 24, 75-71 = 4.]



CHAPTER XXIV.

TO THE MINES OF ABOSU, OF THE 'GOLD COAST,' AND OF THE TAKWA ('AFRICAN GOLD COAST') COMPANIES.

On April 6 I reached the Mine d'Or d'Aboassu, this being my second visit. The first, on the previous Sunday, had been more interesting in the point of anthropological than of geological study. The day of rest had been devoted to a general jollification by most of the whites, and the blacks had ably followed suit. The best example was set by the doctor attached: he was said to have emptied sixty-two bottles of cognac during his twenty-three days of steamer-passage. But, brandy proving insufficient, he had recourse to opium, chloral, and bromide of potassium, a pint and a half of laudanum barely sufficing for the week. I need hardly say where the abuse of stimulants and opiates lands a man, either in Western Africa or in England.

From the Abosu village and its abominations I turned sharp to the north-west, and ascended the steep western flank of Abo Yao, whose highest point is 312 feet above sea-level. The distance from Crockerville is a mile and three-quarters, or a mile in a straight line, and from Takwa, about six. M. Dahse increases the latter to nine miles, the difference of latitude being three and a quarter miles, and of longitude four. My map will be the first to correct these distances, which are exaggerated by the native carriers to get more pay.

The summit of Abo Yao commands an extensive view to the north. Here the range of vision is about sixteen miles over the greenest of second growths; and the whole is dotted with buttes of red clay, somewhat lower than 'On the Stone' (Abosu). It is easy to see that here again we have an ancient archipelago, like that which formerly fringed the shore of Axim, but of older formation. In fact, I should not expect to find a true coast before entering the grassy zone north of the great belt of forest. Each hill must carry at least one core of auriferous reef. The intervening valleys, gullies, and gulches, seldom more than a hundred feet above ocean-level, have been warped up by gradual deposition from the north, and are doubtless full of rich alluvium. This might be worked by steam-navvies, and washed upon the largest possible scale; the result would be excellent ground for plantations.

I look upon Abosu as an eastern outlier of the greater Takwa ridge. But although the hill preserves the normal direction the reef lies almost at right angles to it, crossing the upper end and striking from north 40 west to south 40 east. I am unable to divine what caused this curious dislocation. The gold matrix is still the Takwa gneiss, rarely showing visible metal. Possibly the present diggings have struck only a large branch or a break.

Here mining-operations have been extensive, and about 1,800 tons of rich stuff have already been brought to bank. The diggings begin with an open cut of 110 feet; this leads to a tunnel in the rock partly timbered, by which the lode with a dip of 41 is bisected. Eastward from the tunnel a gallery has been driven 147 feet along the vein, and westwards there is a similar passage of 202 feet. About 140 feet on either side of the tunnel two rises, one 16, the other 12 feet long, are being driven up the slope of the reef. On the hill-side above the tunnel a shaft 80 feet deep has been sunk, but it has not struck the vein: for some peculiar reason the bottom is made broader than the top; and the mining-captain has a shrewd idea that, like the native pits of similar form, it may end by 'caving in.' Again, a second tunnel has just been opened in the southern end of the butte, the engineer hoping to find the main lode lying conformably, or north with easting.

A little above the northern foot of the Abo Yao the native workmen are employed in making a large platform, or terrace, for stamps and other machinery; now it is about 150 x 40 yards. As yet there is no power. A large open shed of timber-posts, with a roofing of corrugated iron, stands ready to receive the expected saw-mill. The only actual industry is digging.

At Abosu the personnel is lodged in bamboo-houses scattered over the hill-side, and the settlement contrasts dismally with the orderly comfort of Crockerville. M. Haillot, acting manager of Abosu and Takwa, leads a caravan-life between the two. Fortunately for him the distance is inconsiderable. I here met Mr. Symonds, a Cornish miner, who has worked in Mexico, and who speaks Spanish fluently, enabling him to converse with M. Plisson. He was one of our fellow-passengers, and he rejoiced exceedingly to see me. He and his youngster, Mr. Mitchell, who suffers from chest-complaint, praised the prospects of the mine, but did not enjoy their pay being cut for passage and the system of ration-money. Another unwise plan adopted by the French Company is to stipulate upon twenty working-days, each of ten hours per mensem, in default of which salaries undergo proportional deduction. This makes the miner work even when he is unfit for exertion. White labour, however, is confined to superintendence and to laying out and building tunnels. A Swiss, M. Schneuvelly, acts as general superintendent, and he is assisted by two French ouvriers. The hands are chiefly Krumen. The style of working is decidedly 'loafy,' and the pipe is touched at all hours and in all places.

North of Abosu lies the Dahse concession, a square of 1,000 fathoms, to be worked by an Anglo-German company. I know it only by hearsay and by seeing it upon the owner's map.

M. Haillot invited me to be his guest, and I spent my day in the mine. Next morning (April 8) we retraced our steps towards Takwa, halting by the way at the northernmost establishment on the ridge, the 'Gold Coast Mining Company (Limited).' This concession, an area of 1000 x 500 fathoms, on the west of the hill-height, does not as yet show much progress; and the works seem to have increased but little since last year. There are two shafts and two tunnels to strike the lode. The ore brought to grass was not in large quantities, although I had heard to the contrary. The stone is said to be abnormally rich, yielding seven ounces of gold to the ton; but I did not think it richer than its neighbours, and I suspect that it will have to be rated at one-seventh. The manager's house, also on the west of the hill, consists of one large room of plankage, raised on posts and thatched. The brothers Gowan, who are working exceedingly hard, and Mr. Kenyon, who is leaving for England, were the only white men I saw. The hands are chiefly Kruboys and the artificers Sierra Leonites. Since Mr. Creswick's departure for Europe some changes have been made. Mr. Growan, the acting manager, has transferred the future works to a higher level, and has fitted up a reduction-office where there is, at present, nothing to reduce. Crucibles and chemicals are ranged round a long room with an iron roof. The tenant has borrowed a mortar-box, two stamp-heads, shoes, and dies, and has fitted them with wooden stems and cam-shafts. He proposes to drive them by two-man power, in order to crush three tons of ore per diem and to test a new patent amalgamator.

I breakfasted with the scanty staff and then walked down the western valley to the Takwa establishment, the oldest of the new mining-industries in the Protectorate. I place the African Gold Coast Company, by calculation, in N. lat. 18 20' and W. long. (Gr.) 1 57' 40". It is therefore fifteen direct geographical miles from Tumento instead of thirty; twenty-seven (not sixty) from Axim, and thirty-five from Dixcove, formerly supposed to be the nearest port. This position will make an important difference in sundry plans and projects which were made under old and erroneous ideas of its topography. At present the cost of transport from Tumento to Effuenta is 6d. for 10 lbs., 8d. to Takwa, and 10 d. to Abosu.

The head of the valley shows a single stream, the Babeabarbawo or Takwa rivulet, rising close to the works of the Gold Coast Company. It is swollen by small tributaries from either side; and, just below the settlement, an eastern dam with a small sluice has been thrown across the valley of the Franco-English company. As there is plenty of water in and near the mine, they should cut at once this abominable dam, which forms a pestilential swamp, the cess-pool of the neighbourhood. The Takwa settlement, a line of bamboo and swish huts well built enough, lies, like a hamlet in Congo-land, along the winding road. It is bare of trees, but here and there a shaft yawns before the doors. M. Dahse makes the population before 1879 to have been 6,000 souls, and in 1881 about 3,000. I should reduce the latter figure to 600, and propose for 1882, before the May emigration, 1,500 to 1,600. The people are Coast-men and islanders of every tribe, with a fair sprinkling of dissolute ruffians, 'white blackmen,' from Sierra Leone and Akra, drunken Fanti policemen, and plundering Haussa soldiers. The ex-manager of the Effuenta mine says, in allusion to his early residence there, 'So wird Einem das Leben daselbst zu einer wahren Hoelle;' and he rightly describes the peculiar industries of these true infernal regions as 'Schnappskneipen, Spielhoellen und Schlimmeres.' Almost every house combines the pub. and the agapemone: all the chief luxuries of the Coast-'factories' are there, and the 'blay' (basket) of Sierra Leone comes out strong. Brilliant cottons and kerchiefs hang from the normal line; there is pomatum for the lucky dandy and tallow for the miner down in his luck; whilst gold-dust is conjured from pouch or pocket by pipes and tobacco, needles and thread, beads, knives, and other notions.

The northern part of this veritable 'Nigger Digger's Delight' is now comparatively deserted: some chief died there, and the people have crowded into the main body of the settlement. The village of Kwabina Angu, King of Eastern Apinto, is now joined to Takwa. I could not distinguish the 'Palast' of King Kwami Enimill, who rules western Wasa, and whose capital is Akropong.

M. Haillot had preceded me in a hammock, and welcomed me to his quarters. He occupied one of the three or four raised plank-houses; another lodged Dr. Burke, and a third M. Voltaire, Mr. Carlyon, another young Cornishman, who came out with us, and sundry French ouvriers. A large bamboo-house had been built for a general restaurant: it became a barrack during the 'Ashanti scare,' and now it is quite unused. Standing farther back are the very respectable tenements of the same material, with broad verandahs, occupied at times by Mr. Ex-missionary Dawson and family. The negro quarters are mostly in the Takwa village.

The 'Father of the African Mines,' dating from 1878, lies on the northern third of the celebrated Takwa ridge, and its concession embraces an area of 1000 x 2000 fathoms. The rich auriferous reef is the backbone of a long narrow line of hill whose diameter ranges between 1,000 feet to 600 where it is pinched. The lode strikes to the north-north-east with a dip of 47 west. The angle of underlay, I may remark, greatly varies in these Gold Coast reefs; some are nearly vertical (82), others are moderately inclined (20 to 50), and others run almost flat. The richest part, not including the broken-off ore, is from eighteen inches to two feet broad. It is decidedly more than 'one to two hundred years old,' as reported home by a scientific official on the spot. The 'coffins,' or abandoned native diggings, must date from at least two centuries ago. The natives scraped off the gold-bearing stone till the water drove them out. The formation is upper Silurian or lower Devonian, a transition to gneiss, but not highly metamorphic. No fossils have yet been found: if any exist they would be microscopic. Where talcose it is bluish, and shows streaks of 'black sand,' titaniferous iron. The grey sand washes to white. There are pot-holes which have been filled with either a pudding or a breccia of quartz. In places the gneiss has been so little changed by heat and pressure that it forms arenaceous flags and shales. It suggests a deposit in some ancient lagoon, alternately fresh and salt. A hard fissile slate of purple colour is based upon the ground-rock of grey granite; there is also a modern clay-slate, which lies unconformably to the older, and through it the great veins of gneiss and quartz seem to pass. The alluvial detritus, which fills up the valleys to their present level, is formed by the diluvium of the hills: in parts these bottoms show strata, from one to three feet thick, of water-rolled pebbles bedded in clay. Here and there the couch must be a hundred feet deep, and the whole should be raised for washing by machinery. These strata were apparently deposited in a lagoon of more modern date.

The gold is sometimes visible in the gneiss; and I have seen pieces whose surface is dotted with yellow spots resembling pyrites. It is often in the form of spangles called float-gold and flour-gold. Select specimens have yielded upwards of eight ounces to the ton. If the blanketings and first tailings be properly treated, it should afford an average of at least an ounce and a half per ton. Treating a hundred tons a day gives a sum of 30,000 per annum; and, assuming 6l. of gold to the ton, we have a total of 180,000l. The working of this section of the mine should not exceed 30,000l. a year, which leaves a net gain of 150,000l.

The Bergwerke consist of four tunnels driven into the lower part of the western hill-side, further down than the bottom of the abandoned native workings. They are eccentrically disposed in curves and other queer figures. All abut upon galleries running in sections along the lode-line, and intended ultimately to connect. The total length may be a thousand feet. Being cut in the gneiss, they require no timbering; but the floors are little raised above the level of the rivulet, and water percolates through roofs and walls. The latest tunnel has been driven past the new gallery, and has struck a second lode; this has never been worked by the natives, and stoping to above the springs may be found advisable. Ventilation is managed by means of the old abandoned native shafts. A very large quantity of ore is brought to bank. I found it hard to form an estimate, because it was in scattered heaps overgrown with vegetation; but I should not be surprised if it amounted to 5,000 tons. This means that want of proper machinery has resulted in a dead capital of from 20,000l. to 30,000l.

A space has been cleared on the level of the trams uniting the mouths of the tunnel, and here will be placed the 'elephant-stamps' actually on their way out. They have now two batteries, each of six head, worked by the same shaft: the steam-engine, as usual, is the Belleville. The material is bad; the gratings, on the levels of the dies, have been smashed by the stones bombarding them, and the ill-constructed foundations of native wood are eaten by white ants. Yet they have done duty for only eighteen months. The sludge was treated in fancy amalgamators, especially in one with a pan and revolving arms, probably evolved out of the inner consciousness of some gentleman in Paris. The result was discharging upwards of 1,500 lbs. of mercury into the valley below. A little amalgam was obtained, and proved that the rock does contain gold—a fact perfectly well known for centuries to the natives.

The history of the 'African Gold Coast' Mine in the hands of Franco-English shareholders has already been noticed. M. Bonnat preferred reworking the old native diggings to the virgin reefs lying north and south of them. Some of the latter can be worked for years without pumping; on the others the plant will be expensive. But the Company, instead of mining, has gone deeply into concession-mongering, and their grants are scattered broadcast over the country. One of them, the 'Mankuma,' near Aodua, the capital of Eastern Apinto, extends twenty-six miles, with a depth of 500 yards on either bank of the Ancobra River above the mouth of the Abonsa influent. These gigantic areas will give rise to many lawsuits, and no man in the country has power to make such a grant. The ownership of the land is vested in a 'squirearchy,' so to speak, and only the proprietors have a right to sell or lease. When gold is worked the 'squire' takes his royalty from the miner, and he or his chiefs must in turn pay tribute to the 'king.' Hence the money may pass through three or four hands before reaching its final destination.

These indiscriminate concessions will be very injurious to the future of the Protectorate, and should be limited by law. At present the only use is to sell them to syndicates and companies, and so to pay a fictitious dividend to the actionnaires. Evidently such a process is rather on the 'bear and bull' system of the stock-market than legitimate mining.

I was well acquainted with the late M. Bonnat, a bright, cheery little Frenchman of great energy, some knowledge of the Fanti, or rather the Ashanti, language, and perfect experience of the native character. Born at a village near Macon, he began life as a cook on board a merchant ship; he soon became agent to some small French trading firm, and then pushed his way high up the unexplored Volta River. Here the Ashantis barred his passage, and eventually took him prisoner as he attempted to cross their limits; he was carried to Kumasi, where he remained in confinement for three years. When the war of 1873-1874 set him at liberty he passed through Wasa to Europe, and by his local information, and that gathered in captivity, he secured the public ear for the gold-mines. His later proceedings are well known, and some of their unfortunate results are best unrelated.

I met M. Bonnat last in June 1881; he was then going up to Takwa in company with Messieurs Bowden and Macarthy, and I was canoeing down the Ancobra on my way home. He was suffering severely from a carbuncular boil on the thigh, which he refused to have properly opened. His death, which occurred within a fortnight, is usually attributed to pleuro-pneumonia, but I rather think it was due to blood-poisoning. He had been exposing himself recklessly for some months, and two drenchings in the rain brought him to his end; yet there are people who remember his visit to the forbidden fetish-valley of Apatim. The father of the modern gold-mines, the Frenchman who taught Englishmen how to work their own wealth, lies buried at Takwa; I did not see his tomb.

The two French mines, Takwa and Abosu, have at last agreed to join hands and to become one. The capital has been fixed at 250,000l., and Paris will be the head-quarters. Mr. Arthur Bowden, the manager, has been sent for to, and has now returned from France: it is to be hoped that his extensive experience will instil some practical spirit into the new Directory.



CHAPTER XXV.

RETURN TO AXIM AND DEPARTURE FOR EUROPE.

I awoke on Saturday, April 9, in bad condition, and during the afternoon had my third attack of fever, the effect of the dam and its miasma. Wanting change of air, and looking forward to Effuenta, I set off in my hammock and found my friends. The tertian lasted me till Monday, Sunday being an 'off-day;' and, as the Tuesday was wet and uncomfortable, I delayed departure till Wednesday morning. My 'Warburg' had unfortunately leaked out: the paper cover of the phial was perfect, but of the contents only a little sediment remained. Treatment, therefore, was confined to sulphate of quinine and a strychnine and arsenic pill; arseniate of quinine would have been far better, but the excellent preparation is too economical for the home-pharmist, and has failed to secure the favour of the Coast-doctors. One of my friends has made himself almost fever-proof by the liberal use of arsenic; but I can hardly recommend it, as the result must be corrected by an equally liberal use of Allan's anti-fat. Burton, who has studied its use amongst the Styrian arsenic-eaters, denies that this is the common effect: he found that it makes the mountaineer preserve his condition, wind and complexion, arms him against ague, and adds generally to his health. He is still doubtful, however, whether it shortens or prolongs life.

On Wednesday, April 12, I left Effuenta after morning tea. My hospitable host had nearly seen the last of his stores, to which he had made me so cordially welcome; and there were no signs of fresh supplies, although they had long been due. This is hardly fair treatment for the hard-working employe: let the Company look to it. With a certain tightening of the heart I made over my canine friend, Nero, to Dr. Roulston. He had lost all those bad habits which neglected education had engrafted upon the heat of youth. He now began to show more fondness for sport than for sheep-worrying; and he retrieved one bird, carrying it with the utmost delicacy of mouth.

I set out on foot for Vinegar Hill, and found that the steep eastern ascent from the Takwa ridge had been provided with a series of cut steps by Mr. Commissioner: in these lands, as elsewhere, new brooms sweep clean; but they are very easily worn out. This place has been for years the 'black beast' of travellers, especially in rainy weather, when the rapid incline becomes so slippery that even the most sure-footed slither and slide.

After crossing the Abonsa Hill I took to my hammock and was carried through rain, and a very devilry of weather, into the Abonsa village. The whole path was shockingly bad and muddy. Once more I became a lodger of Mr. Crocker's; his house, being as usual far the best, gave us good shelter for the night.

Next morning (7.30) we set out down the Abonsa stream in a small canoe belonging to Mr. MacLennan. The natives made the usual difficulties; the craft (which was quite sound) could not float, and amongst other things she had no paddles: for this, however, I had provided by making my men cut them last evening. Almost immediately after leaving this head of navigation, barred above by a reef and a fall, we saw that eternal mangrove. Presently the Aunabe creek broke the line of the right bank. Our course was as usual exceedingly tortuous, turning to every quadrant of the compass; and, during the last fortnight, the water-level had risen four feet. The formation of the trough is that of the Ancobra, and the bed bristles with rocks. In a distance of seven miles and a half by course there were four small breaks, and one serious rapid about a hundred yards long, where the decline exceeded five feet. Here the men had to get overboard and to ease the canoe down the swirling waters, which dashed heavily on the rocks. The snags were even thicker than on the upper Ancobra, and were far more dangerous than on the St. John's. In places the mangrove fallen from the banks had taken root in the river-bed. In fact, unless some exertion be soon made, even the present insufficient channel will be blocked up.

At the Abonsa embouchure Mr. Wyatt's map, copied from M. Dahse, shows an island backed by a ridge running nearly east-west. I found no river-holm, and only a small broadening of the Ancobra to about double its usual breadth. The banks at the sharp angle of junction are, however, low; and, perhaps, my predecessor saw them when flooded. The Mankuma Hill, on the right bank, belonging to the Franco-English Company, is somewhat taller than its neighbours: as usual in this silted-up archipelago, it trends from the north-east to the south-west.

I had already shot the Ancobra River when paddling up, and was not over lucky when coming down. The big kingfisher did not put in an appearance, and the sun-birds equally failed me: the smallest item of my collection measures two and a quarter inches, and is robed in blue, crimson, and sulphur. I was fortunate enough to bring home four specimens of a rare spur-plover (Lobivanellus albiceps): they are now in Mr. Sharp's department of the British Museum. I killed a few little snakes and one large green tree-snake; two crocodiles, both lost in the river, and an iguana, which found its way into the spirit-cask. A tzetze-fly (Glossina morsitans) was captured in Effuenta House, curiously deserting its usual habit of jungle-life in preference to a home on clear ground: its dagger-like proboscis, in the grooved sheath with a ganglion of muscles at the base, assimilated it to the dreaded and ferocious cattle-scourge which extends from Zanzibar to the Tanganyika Lake and from Kilwa (Quiloa) to the Transvaal. My kind friend and hospitable host Dr. (now Sir) John Kirk, who did the geography and natural history for the lamentable Zambeze expedition, met it close to the Victoria Falls. Burton also sent home a specimen from the Gold Coast east of Accra.

Mr. MacLennan gave me sundry beetles, but insisted on retaining one which is the largest I ever saw. The hunting-dog must scour the bush in packs, for the voice is exactly that of hounds. The laugh of the hyaena and the scream of the buzzard are commonly heard. The track of a 'bush-cow' once crossed my path: the halves of the spoor were some five inches long by three wide, and the hoofs knuckled backwards so as to show false hoofs of almost equal size. I was unable to procure for Dr. Guenther a specimen of the 'bush-dog,' as the Kruboys call it: last year I was bringing home a live one in the s.s. Nubia; but one day the fellow in charge reported that it was dead and had been thrown overboard. I hold it to be a tailless lemur, the galago of the East Coast. The French name is orson, the popular idea being that it is an ursine. The Fanti peoples, whose 'folk-lore' is extensive, and who have some tale about every bird, beast, and fish, thus account for the loud cries which we heard at night in every 'bush.' King Leo, having lost his mother, commanded by proclamation all his subjects to attend her funeral, and none failed save Orson. One evening his Feline Majesty, when going his rounds, found the delinquent upon the ground, and roughly demanded the reason why. Orson, shuffling towards the nearest tree, pleaded in all humility, 'O King, is thy beloved parent really deceased? I never heard of it. I am so sorry; I would never have failed to show the respect due to the royal house.' When he had climbed the foot of the tree his tone began to alter. 'But, Sire, if thy Majesty hath lost a mother, I see no cause compelling me to attend her funeral.' And when quite safe the change was notable. 'Bother the old woman! very glad she is dead, and may her grave be defiled!' These people know the stuff of which courtiers are made.

My collection of specimens from the mines and the river-beds filled a dozen cases. The butterflies, of which we collected a large number, were all spoilt by the moth for want of camphor. 'Insect-powder' had been our only preservative. I had also a thirty-gallon cask of plants preserved in spirits, two boxes well stuffed, a large case of orchids, and a raceme of the bamboo-palm (Raphia vinifera), whose use has still to be found. The animals, including insects in tubes, filled nearly two kegs and three bottles, and I had two small cases of stuffed birds, the handiwork of Mr. Dawson.

Of stone-implements I was lucky enough to secure thirty-six, and made over four of them to my friend Professor Prestwich. They are found everywhere throughout the country, but I saw no place of manufacture except those noted near Axim. Mr. Sam, of Tumento, promised to forward many others to England. The native women search for and find them not only near the beds of streams, but also about the alluvial diggings. Nearly all are shaped like the iron axe or adze of Urua, in Central Africa, a long narrow blade with rounded top and wedge-shaped edge. This tool is either used in the hand like a chisel, or inserted into a conical hole burnt through a tree-branch, and the shape of the aperture makes every blow tighten the hold. The people mount it in two ways, either as an axe in line with, or as an adze at a right angle to, the helve.

At Akankon I obtained from Mr. Amondsen a stone-implement of novel shape, not seen by me elsewhere. A bit of the usual close-grained trap had been cut into a parallelopiped seven and a half inches long with a flat head one inch and a half in diameter and a bevel-edge of two inches and one-third along the slope. This part had been chipped ready for grinding, and the article was evidently unfinished; one side still wanted polishing, and the part opposite the bevel showed signs of tapering, as if a point instead of an edge had been intended. At Axim I split off by gads and wedges a large slice of the grooved rocks described by Burton; it came home with me, and is now lodged in the British Museum.

The rest of my story is told in a few words. I canoed safely down the Ancobra River, and reached Axim on April 14. This return was made sad and solitary by the absence of my canine friend, Nero.

A week soon passed away at the port of the Gold-region. Mr. Grant presently returned from his excursion to the west. He showed me fine specimens of gold collected at Newtown, the English frontier-settlement immediately east of French Assini. I had also warned him to look out for, and he succeeded in finding, beds of bitumen permeated with petroleum: this material will prove valuable for fuel and for asphalting, if not for sale. My time was wholly taken up with papering and repacking my collection, which had now assumed formidable proportions, and time fled the faster as the days were occupied in also fighting an impertinent attack of ague and fever.

On April 24 the B. and A. s.s. Loanda (Captain Brown) anchored in the roads. Mr. Grant accompanied me on board, and showed himself useful and energetic as usual. At Cape Palmas we shipped the Honourable Doctor and Professor Blyden. He pointed out to me certain hillocks on the coast about Grand Bassa, where he said gold had lately been found. The lay of the land and the strike and shape of the eminences reminded me strongly of those I had left behind me. The 'Secretary of the Interior,' who had been compelled to leave his college, assured me that if wiser counsels prevail Liberia will abandon her old Japanese policy of exclusion, and will open her ports to European capital and enterprise. At Sierra Leone I called upon Governor Havelock, who was recovering from the accident of a dislocated shoulder. Both he and the 'Governess' were in the best of health. At Madeira, on May 12, my companion Burton joined us, and we had a week of dull passage to Liverpool. As we left on Friday and carried a reverend gentleman on board, the cranky old craft was sorely tossed about for two successive days, and we were delayed off the Liverpool bar, arriving on the 20th instead of the 18th of May, 1882.



CONCLUSION.

The journey and the voyage ended, as such things should do, with a dinner of welcome at the Adelphi, given to us by our hospitable friend Mr. James Irvine. And here we had the first opportunity of delivering the message which we had brought home from the Golden Land.



APPENDIX I

Sec.1. THE ASHANTI SCARE.

That fears of an Ashanti attack upon the mines of the Gold Coast Protectorate are rather fanciful than factual we may learn from the details of the Blue Book 'Gold Coast, 1881.' The 'threatened Ashanti invasion,' popularly termed the 'Ashanti scare,' did abundant good by showing up the weakness of that once powerful despotism, and the superiority in numbers and in equipment of the coastlanders over the inlanders. It is true that there are tribes, like the Awunahs of the Volta, and villages, like Bein in Apollonia, which still sympathise with our old enemy. But only the grossest political mismanagement, like that which in 1876 abandoned our ally, the King of Juabin, to the tender mercies of his Ashanti foeman, aided by the unwisest economy, which starves everything to death save the treasure-chest, will ever bring about a general movement against us.

On December 1, 1880, died, to the general regret of native and stranger, Mr. Ussher, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast; a veteran in the tropics and an ex-commissariat officer, whose political service dated from 1861. In British India a change of rulers is always supposed to offer a favourable opportunity for 'doing something,' often in the shape of a revolt or a campaign. The same proved to be the case in West Africa, where the Ashanti is officially described as 'crafty, persistent, mendacious, and treacherous.'

It may easily be imagined that after the English victories at Amoaful and Ordusu in 1873-74 the African despotism sighed for la revanche. The Treaty of Fomana, concluded (February 13), after the capture (February 4) and the firing (February 6) of Kumasi, between Sir Garnet Wolseley and the representative of the King, Kofi Kalkali, or Kerrikerri, subsequently dethroned, stripped her of her principal dependencies—lopped off, in fact, her four limbs. These were the ever-hostile province of Denkira, auriferous Akim, Adansi, and lastly Assin, now part of our Protectorate. The measure only renewed the tripartite treaty of April 27, 1831, when King Kwako Dua, in consideration of free access to the seaboard, and in friendship with the unfortunate and ill-treated Governor (George) Maclean, 'renounced all right or title to any tribute, or homage, from the Kings of Denkira, Assin, and others formerly his subjects.' But nulla fronti fides is the rule of the hideous little negro despotism, which, in 1853, again invaded the coveted lands on its southern frontier, Assin.

The treaty of 1874, moreover, compelled Ashanti formally to renounce all pretensions to sovereignty over Elmina and the tribes formerly in connection with the Dutch Government. It vetoed her raids and forays upon neighbouring peoples; like Dahome she had her annual slave-hunts and the captives were sold for gold-dust to the inner tribes. The young officers who replaced the veterans of the war would naturally desire, in Kafir parlance, to 'wash their spears.' Nor are they satisfied with the defeats sustained by their sires. 'I believe,' wrote Winwood Reade, 'that Sir Garnet Wolseley attained the main object of the expedition, namely, the securing of the Protectorate from periodical invasion. Yet still I wish that the success had been more definite and complete.' The wish is echoed by most people on the coast; and the natives still say, 'White man he go up Kumasi, he whip black boy, and then he run away.'

It is regretable that the Commander-in-Chief, if he could not occupy Kumasi himself, did not leave Sir John H. Glover in charge, and especially that he did not destroy the Bantama (royal place of human sacrifice), [Footnote: Sir Garnet Wolseley's admirable conduct of the Egyptian campaign, where he showed all the qualities which make up the sum of 'generalship,' have wiped out the memory of his failures in Ashanti and Kafir-land. Better still, he has proved that the British soldier can still fight, a fact upon which the disgraceful Zulu campaign had cast considerable doubt. But the public ignores a truth known to every professional. Under an incompetent or unlucky commander all but the best men will run: the worst will allow themselves to be led or driven to victory by one they trust. Compare the Egyptian troops under old Ibrahim Pasta, and under Arabi, the Fe-lah-Pasha.] or at least remove from it the skull of Sir Charles Macarthy. [Footnote: Captain Brackenbury throws doubt upon the skull being preserved in the Bantama; but his book is mainly apologetic, and we may ask, If the cherished relic be not there, where is it? The native legend runs thus: 'And they took him (i.e. Macarthy) and cut off his head, and brought it to their camp and removed the brains; but the skull, which was left, they filled it with gold, and they roasted the whole body and they carried it to Ashanti.... And the head, which they bore to Ashanti, has become their "fetish," which they worship till this day.'—Native account of Macarthy's death, Zimmermann's Grammar of the Accra or Ga Language, Stuttgart, 1858.] And yet we now learn that the campaign did good work. Captain Lonsdale, who has spent some time in Kumasi, reports that the Caboceers have built huts instead of repairing their 'palaces.' Moreover, he declares that the story of sacrificing girls to mix their blood with house-swish is a pure fabrication; the Ashantis would no longer dare to do anything so offensive to the conqueror.

Last on the list of solid Ashanti grievances is her exclusion from the seaboard. Unknown to history before A.D. 1700, the Despotism first invaded the Coast in 1807, when King Osai Tutu Kwamina pretended a wish to recover the fugitive chiefs Chibbu and Aputai. These attacks succeeded one another at intervals of ten years, say the Fantis. The main object was to secure a port on the coast, where the inlanders could deal directly with the white man, and could thus escape the unconscionable pillaging, often fifty per cent. and more, of the Fanti middleman. This feeling is not, indeed, unknown to Europe: witness Montenegro. I see no reason why the people should not have an 'Ashantimile' at the Volta mouth; and I shall presently return to this subject.

Hardly was Governor Ussher buried than troubles began. Mr. Edmund Watt, a young District-commissioner at Cape Coast Castle, officially reported to Lieutenant-Governor W. B. Griffith, subsequently Administrator of Lagos, that Opoku, 'King' of Bekwa (Becquah), had used language tending to a breach of the peace. This commander-in-Chief of the Ashanti forces in 1873-74 had publicly sworn in his sober senses at Kumasi, and in presence of the new king, Kwamina Osai Mensah, that he would perforce reduce Adansi, the hill-country held to be the southern boundary of Ashanti-land. Such a campaign would have been an infraction of treaty, or at least a breach of faith: although the province is not under the protection of the Colonial Government, King Kofi Kalkali [Footnote: This ruler succeeded his father, King Kwako Dua, in 1868; and his compulsory abdication is considered to have been an ill-advised measure.] had promised to respect its independence and to leave it unmolested.

Lieutenant-Governor Griffith lost no time in forwarding the report to the Colonial Office, adding sundry disquieting rumours which supported his suspicions. Missionaries and merchants had observed that certain 'messengers,' or envoys, sent from Kumasi to acknowledge the presents of the late Governor Ussher, were lingering without apparent reason about Cape Coast Castle, after being formally dismissed. Moreover, their residing in the house of 'Prince Ansah,' a personage not famous for plain dealing, boded no good.

A new complication presently arose. Prince Owusu, nephew of the King and heir to the doughty Gyaman kingdom, fled from Kumasi to the Protectorate, and reached Elmina on January 18. He appeared in great fear, and declared that a son of the chief Amankwa Kwoma and three 'court-criers,' or official heralds, were coming down to the coast on a solemn mission to demand his extradition. They carried, he said, not the peaceful cane with the gold or silver head, but the mysterious 'Gold Axe.' Opinions at once differed as to the import and object of this absurd implement. According to some its mission portended war, and it had preceded the campaigns of 1863 and 1873. Others declared that it signified a serious 'palaver,' being a strong hint that the King would cut through and down every obstacle. Strange to say, the first Ashanti messengers were never called upon to explain before the public what the 'Gold Axe' really did mean.

The Colonial Office acted with spirit and wholesome vigour. It was urged on by Mr. Griffith, whose energetic reports certainly saved the Protectorate grave troubles. He has thereby incurred much blame, ridicule, and obloquy; nor has he received due credit from those under whom he served.

The newly-appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast, Sir Samuel Rowe, at once ordered out to relieve Mr. Griffith, left England in mid-February. He was accompanied by a staff of seven officers temporarily employed. Reinforcements were hurried from Sierra Leone and the West Indies. The Admiralty was applied to for the reunion of cruisers upon the Gold Coast waters. Estimates of native allies were drawn up, showing that 20,000 half-armed men could be brought into the field against the 30,000 of Ashanti. The loyal and powerful chief Kwamina Blay, of Atabo, in Amrehia, or Western Apollonia, offered 6,000 muskets, and an additional 1,000 hands if the Government would supply arms and ammunition.

On January 19 the ambassador with the 'Gold Axe' presented himself at Elmina. He was accompanied by Saibi Enkwia, who had signed the treaty at Fomana, a village in Assin, between Kumasi and the Bosom Prah River. The envoy formally demanded possession of Prince Owusu and of one Amangkra, an Ashanti trader who had aided him to escape. Saibi Enkwia added by way of threat, 'The King said, if the Governor would not order the return of Owusu to Kumasi, he would attack the Assins.' He further explained that these Assins were the people who always caused 'palavers' between the Ashantis and the Protectorate, to which they belonged.

Naturally the ignominious demand was refused. The messengers left for Kumasi, and Lieutenant-Governor Griffith telegraphed from Madeira to England (January 25), 'War imminent with Ashanti.' It was considered suspicious that all the inlanders were disappearing from the coast. This was afterwards explained: they were flocking north for the 'native Christmas,' the Yam-custom, or great festival of the year.

Our preparations were pushed forward the more energetically as time appeared to be tight. The Ashantis were buying up all the weapons they could find when the sale of arms, ammunition, and salt was prohibited. Detachments were despatched to the Mansu and Prahsu stations; the latter is upon the Bosom (Abosom, or Sacred) Prah, the frontier between Ashanti and the Protectorate, to cross which is to 'pass the Rubicon.' Here, as at other main fords and ferries, defensive works were laid out. Arrangements were made for holding nine out of the eighteen forts, abandoning the rest; and Accra was strengthened as the central place. The 'companies,' or 'native levies,' who, with a suspicious unanimity, applied for guns and gunpowder, lead and flints, were urged to the 'duty of defence.' Five cruisers, under Commander (now Captain, R.N.) J. W. Brackenbury, were stationed off the three chief castles, Elmina, Cape Coast, and Anamabo, and the naval contingent was drilled daily on shore. The Haussa constabulary was reinforced. The First West India Regiment sent down men from Sierra Leone, and the Second 500 rank and file from Barbadoes. In fact, such ardour was shown that the Ashantis, scared out of their intentions of scaring, began to fear another English invasion. 'The white men intend to take Kumasi again!' they said; and perhaps the reflection that 48,000 ounces of gold were still due to us suggested a motive. They had been making ready for offence; now they prepared for defence.

About mid-February the 'situation' notably changed. Messieurs Buck and Huppenbauer, two German missionaries who were making a 'preaching-tour,' reported from Kumasi that King Mensah was afraid of war, and that his kingdom was 'on the point to go asunder.' The despot, with African wiliness, at once threw the blame of threatening Assin upon his confidant, Saibi Enkwia. No one believed that an Ashantiman would thus expose himself to certain death; but the explanation served for an excuse. The King also asserted that his 'Gold Axe' meant simply nothing. Thereupon the officials of the Protectorate began looking forward to an ample apology, and to a fine of gold-dust for the disturbing of their quiet days. In fact, they foresaw 'peace with honour.'

Governor Sir Samuel Rowe, with his usual good fortune, landed at Elmina on March 9, exactly the right time. The attempt to intimidate had ignobly failed, and had recoiled upon the attempter. King Mensah, in order to remove all suspicions of intending a campaign, had resolved to send coastwards the most important and ceremonious mission of the age. It was to conclude a kind of Paix des Dames. Queen Kokofu had threatened that in case of hostilities she would go over to the British. The Queen-mother, a power in the country, which has often kept the peace for it and plunged it into war, threatened to take her own life—and here such threats are always followed by action. In fact, the peace-party had utterly overthrown the war-party.

The mission left Kumasi in May. It was headed by Prince Bwaki, step-father to the two royal brothers, Kofi Kalkali and Kwabina Osai Mensah, and the number as well as the high rank of the retinue made it remarkable. At Prahsu, where the envoys were met by Governor Rowe, a preliminary conversation took place. Despite the usual African and barbarian fencing and foiling, the Englishman carried the day; the message must be delivered with all publicity and proper ceremony in the old 'palaver-hall' of historic Elmina Castle.

A conclusive interview took place on May 30. Prince Bwaki explained that 'mistakes had been made, but that the mistakes had not been alone those of his king and son-in-law.' He declared that the messenger, Saibi Enkwia, had exceeded his powers in threatening Assin. The King, he said, had sworn by 'God and earth,' that is, by the 'spirits' above and by the ghosts below, that he had sent no such message. At the same time the King confessed being partly to blame, as the message had been delivered by his own servant. In the matter of the 'Gold Axe,' however, the mistake was the mistake of the Lieutenant-Governor (Griffith).

The Prince further explained that Ashanti has two symbols of war, a peculiar sword and a certain cap; whereas the 'Gold Axe' being 'fetish' and endowed with some magical and mysterious power, is never sent on a hostile errand. He offered, in the King's name, as further evidence of friendly feeling, to surrender the 'so-called Golden Axe,' which important symbol of Ashanti power had been forwarded from head-quarters with an especial mission. It was delivered on the express understanding that it should be despatched to England for the acceptance of H.B. Majesty, and not be kept upon the coast, exposed to the ribaldry of the hostile Fantis. The weapon, said Prince Bwaki, is so old that no one knows its origin, and it is held so precious that in processions it precedes the Great Royal Stool, or throne, of Ashanti. The leopard-skin, bound with gold upon the handle, symbolises courage in the field; the gold is wealth, and the iron is strength.

Finally, the unhappy 'Gold Axe,' after being publicly paraded upon a velvet cushion through the streets of Elmina, was entrusted to Captain Knapp Barrow, who returned to England by the next steamer. It was duly presented, and found its way to the South Kensington Museum, after faring very badly at the hands of the 'society journals' and other members of the fourth estate. [Footnote: For instance: 'The gold axe of King Koffee of Ashantee, lately sent, for an unexplained reason, to the Queen, is described as a triangular blade of iron, apparently out from a piece of boiler-plate, roughly stuck into a clumsy handle of African oak. The handle is covered with leopard-skin, part of which, immediately above the blade, is deeply soiled, apparently with blood. Bands of thin gold, enriched with uncouth chevrons and lunettes en repousse, are placed round the handle. The sheath of the blade, which is of tiger (leopard) skin, accompanies this hideous implement, and attached to it is the sole element which has anything like artistic merit. This is a nondescript object of beaten gold, in shape something like a large cockle-shell with curved horns extending from the hinge, and not inelegantly decorated with lines and punctures, en repousse and open work of quasi-scrolls.'] Needless to say it was an utter impostor. The real Golden Axe is great 'fetish,' and never leaves either Kumasi or, indeed, the presence of the King.

The ceremony of delivering the message in the palaver-hall was satisfactory. Prince Bwaki grasped the knees of Governor Rowe, the official sign of kneeling. He expressed the devotion of his liege lord to the Majesty of England; and finally he offered to pay down at once two thousand ounces of gold in proof of Ashantian sincerity. All these transactions were duly recorded; the promises in the form of a bond.

The play was now played out; cruisers and troops dispersed, and golden Peace reigned once more supreme. Prince Owusu, a drunken, dissolute Eupatrid, who had caused the flutter, when ordered on board a man-of-war for transportation to a place of safety, relieved the Gold Coast from further trouble. He was found hanging in the 'bush' behind Elmina Castle. Most men supposed it to be a case of suicide; a few of course surmised that he had been kidnapped and murdered by orders from Kumasi.

Since that time to the present day our Protectorate has been free from 'scare.' The affair, as it happened, did abundant good by banishing all fear for the safety of the Wasa (Wassaw) diggings. During the worst times not a single English employe of the mines had left his post to take refuge in the Axim fort. This does them honour, as some of the establishments lay within handy distance of the ferocious black barbarians.

The native chiefs, especially 'King Blay,' proved themselves able and willing to aid us in whatever difficulties might occur. The kingdom of Gyaman further showed that it can hold its own against shorn Ashanti, or rather that it is becoming the more powerful of the two. The utter failure of the scare is an earnest that, under normal circumstances, while King Mensah, a middle-aged man, occupies the 'stool,' we shall hear no more of 'threatened Ashanti invasions.'

But the true way to pacify the despotism is to allow Ashanti to 'make a beach'—in other words, to establish a port. This measure I have supported for the last score of years, but to very little purpose. The lines of objection are two. The first is in the mercantile. As all the world knows, commercial interests are sure to be supported against almost any other in a reformed House of Commons; and, in the long run, they gain the day. The Coast-tribes under our protection are mere brokers and go-betweens, backed up and supported by the wholesale merchant, because he prefers quieta non movere, and he fears lest the change be from good to bad. I, on the other hand, contend that both our commerce and customs would gain, in quantity as well as in quality, by direct dealings with the peoples of the interior. The second, or sentimental, line belongs to certain newspapers; and even their intelligence can hardly believe the ad captandum farrago which they indite. The favourite 'bunkum' is about 'baring the Christian negro's throat to the Ashanti knife.' But the Fantis and other Coast-tribes were originally as murderous and bloodthirsty in their battles and religious rites as their northern neighbours: if there be any improvement it is wholly due to the presence and the pressure, physical as well as moral, of Europeans—of Christians, if you like. Even Whydah is not blood-stained like Agbome, because it has been occupied by a few slavers, white and brown. Why, then, should the Ashantis be refused the opportunity and the means of amendment? Ten years' experience in Africa teaches me that they would be as easily reformed as the maritime peoples; and it is evident that the sentimentalist, if he added honesty and common sense to the higher quality, should be the first to advocate the trial.

But I would not allow the Ashantis to hold a harbour anywhere near Elmina. They should have their 'mile' and beach east of the Volta River, where they would soon effect a lodgment, despite all the opposition of their sanguinary friends and our ferocious enemies the Awunah and the Krepi (Crepee) savages.

I will end this paper with a short notice of the kingdom of Gyaman, generally written Gaman and too often pronounced 'Gammon.' Its strength and vigour are clearly increasing; it is one of the richest of gold-fields, and it lies directly upon the route to the interior. Of late years it has almost faded from the map, but it is described at full length in the pages of Barbot (1700) and Bosman (1727), of Bowdich (1818), and of Dupuis (1824). They assign to it for limits Mandenga-land to the north and west; to the south, Aowin and Bassam, and the Tando or eastern fork of the Assini to the east. This Tando, which some moderns have represented as an independent stream, divides it from Ashanti-land, lying to the south and the south-east. Dupuis places the old capital, Bontuko, whence the Gyamans were formerly called 'Bontukos,' eight stages north-west of Kumasi; and the new capital, Huraboh, five marches beyond Bontuko. The country, level and grassy, begins the region north of the great forest-zone which subtends the maritime mangrove swamps. It breeds horses and can command Moslem allies, equestrian races feared by the Ashantis.

The Gyamans, according to their tradition, migrated, or rather were driven, southwards from their northern homes. This was also, as I have said, the case with the Fantis and Ashantis; the latter occupied their present habitat about 1640, and at once became the foes of all their neighbours. King Osai Tutu, 'the Great,' first of Ashanti despot-kings (1719), made Gyaman tributary. The conquest was completed by his brother-successor, Osai Apoko (1731), who fined Abo, the neighbour-king, in large sums of gold and fixed an annual subsidy. Gyaman, however, rebelled against Osai Kwajo (Cudjoe), the fourth of the dynasty (1752), and twice defeated him with prodigious slaughter. The Ashanti invader brought to his aid Moslem cavalry, and succeeded in again subjugating the insurgents. The conquered took no action against the fifth king, but they struck for independence under Osai Apoko II (1797). Aided by Moslem and other allies, they crossed the Tando and fought so sturdily that the enemy 'liberally bestowed upon them the titles of warlike and courageous.' The Ashantis at length compelled the Moslems of their country to join them, and ended by inflicting a crushing defeat upon the invaders.

Osai Tutu Kwamina, on coming to the throne (1800), engaged in the campaign against Gyaman called, for distinction, the 'first Bontuko war.' He demanded from King Adinkara his ancestral and royal stool, which was thickly studded and embossed with precious metal. The craven yielded it and purchased peace. His brave sister presently replaced it by a seat of solid gold: this the Ashanti again requisitioned, together with a large gold ornament in the shape of an elephant, said to have been dug from some ruins. The Amazon replied, with some detail and in the 'spade' language, that she and her brother should exchange sexes, and that she would fight a l'outrance; whereupon the Ashanti, with many compliments about her bravery, gave her twelve months to prepare for a campaign.

In 1818 Dupuis found Ashanti engaged in the 'second Bontuko war' with Adinkara, who had again thrown off his allegiance. But small-pox was raging in the capital, and this campaign ended (1819-20) with the defeat and death of the womanly monarch, with a massacre of 10,000 prisoners, and with the sale of 20,000 captives. Thus Gyaman was again annexed to Ashanti-land as a province, instead of enjoying the rank of a tributary kingdom; and the conqueror's dominions extended from Cape Lahou (W. long. 4 36') through Gyaman to the Volta River (E. long. 0 42' 18"), a coast-line of some 318 direct geographical miles.

Gyaman, however, seems to have had a passion for liberty. She fought again and again to recover what she had lost in 1820; and, on more occasions than one, she was successful in battle. During the 'Ashanti scare' the sturdy kingdom was preparing for serious hostilities; and a little war of six or seven months had already been waged between the neighbours. The late Prince Owusu, before mentioned, deposed before the authorities of our Protectorate as follows: 'At Kumasi I was ordered to eat the skull of the late King of Gyaman, which was kept there as a trophy from the conquest of Gyaman; but I did not do it.' He also asserted that, in 1879, a white man, Nielson, and his interpreter, Huydecooper, had been sent by an intriguer to Gyaman, bearing a pretended message from the British Government and the Fanti chiefs, enjoining the King to conclude peace with the Ashantis, and to restore their 3,700 captives. Neither of these men saw the ruler of Gyaman, and it is believed that Nielson, having begun a quarrel by firing upon the people, was killed in the fray.

At this moment Gyaman is battling with her old enemies, and threatens to be a dangerous rival, if not a conqueror. Here, then, we may raise a strong barrier against future threats of Ashanti invasion, and make security more secure. The political officers of the Protectorate will be the best judges of the steps to be taken; and, if they are active and prudent, we shall hear no more of the Kumasi bugbear.

* * * * *

Sec.2. THE LABOUR-QUESTION IN WESTERN AFRICA.

In their present condition our African colonies are colonies only because they are administered by the Colonial Office.

Most of these stations—for such they should be termed—were established, for slaving purposes, by the Portuguese, and were conquered by the Dutch. Thence they passed into the hands of England, who vigorously worked the black traite for the benefit of her West Indian possessions.

The 'colonies' in question, however, saw their occupation gone with negro emancipation, and they became mere trading-ports and posts for collecting ground-nuts, palm-oil, and gold-dust. Philanthropy and freedom expected from them great things; but instead of progressing they have gradually and surely declined. The public calls them 'pest-houses,' and the Government pronounces them a 'bore.' Travellers propose to make them over to Liberia or to any Power that will accept such white elephants.

Remains now the task of placing upon the path of progress these wretched West African 'colonies,' and of making them a credit and a profit to England, instead of a burden and an opprobrium.

Immigration, I find, is le mot de l'enigme.

Between 1860 and 1865 I studied the labour-question in West Africa, and my short visit in 1882 has convinced me that it is becoming a vital matter for our four unfortunate establishments, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Lagos.

A score of years ago many agreed with me that there was only one solution for our difficulties, a system of extensive coolie-importation. But in those days of excited passions and divided interests, when the export slave-trade and the emigration libre were still rampant on either coast, it was by no means easy to secure a fair hearing from the public. Not a small nor an uninfluential section, the philanthropic and the missionary, raised and maintained the cuckoo-cry, 'Africa for the Africans!'—worthy of its successor, 'Ireland for the Irish!' Others believed in imported labour, which has raised so many regions to the height of prosperity; but they did not see how to import it. And the general vis inertiae, peculiar to hepatic tropical settlements, together with the unwillingness, or rather the inability, to undertake anything not absolutely necessary, made many of the colonists look upon the proposal rather as a weariness to the flesh than a benefit. A chosen few steadily looked forward to it; but they contented themselves with a theoretical prospect, and, perhaps wisely, did not attempt action.

The condition of the Coast, however, has radically changed during the last two decades. The export slave-trade has died the death, never to 'resurrect.' The immense benefits of immigration are known to all men, theoretically and practically. India and China have thrown open their labour-markets. And, finally, the difficulty of finding hands, for agriculture especially, in Western Africa has now come to a crisis.

Here I must be allowed a few words of preliminary explanation. In this matter, the reverse of Europe, Africa, whose social system is built upon slavery, holds field-work, and indeed all manual labour, degrading to the free man. The idea of a 'bold peasantry, its country's pride,' is utterly alien to Nigritia. The husband hunts, fights, and trades—that is to say, peddles—he leaves sowing and reaping to his wives and his chattels. Even a slave will rather buy him a slave than buy his own liberty. 'I am free enough,' he says; 'all I want is a fellow to serve me.' The natives of the Dark Continent are perfectly prepared to acknowledge that work is a curse; and, so far scripturally, they deem

Labour the symbol of man's punishment.

No Spaniard of the old school would despise more than a negro those new-fangled notions glorifying work now familiar to stirring and bustling North Europe. Nor will these people exert themselves until, like the Barbadians, they must either sweat or starve. Example may do something to stir them, but the mere preaching of industry is hopeless. I repeat: their beau ideal of life is to do nothing for six days in the week and to rest on the seventh. They are quite prepared to keep, after their fashion, 365 sabbaths per annum.

In the depths of Central Africa, where a European shows a white face for the first time, the wildest tribes hold markets once or twice a week; these meetings on the hillside or the lake-bank are crowded, and the din and excitement are extreme. Armed men, women, and children may be seen dragging sheep and goats, or sitting under a mat-shade through the livelong days before their baskets and bits of native home-spun, the whole stock in trade consisting perhaps of a few peppers, a heap of palm-nuts, or strips of manioc, like pipe-clay. This savage scene is reflected in the comparatively civilised stations all down the West African coast, where the inexperienced and ardent philanthrope is apt to suppose that the lazy, feckless habits are not nature-implanted but contracted by contact with a more advanced stage of society.

Again, in many parts of Africa the richest lands, and those most favourably situated, are either uninhabited or thinly peopled, the result of intestine wars or of the export slave-trade. Mr. Administrator Goulsbury, of Bathurst, during his adventurous march from the Gambia to the Sierra Leone River, crossed league after league of luxuriant ground and found it all desert. He says, [Footnote: Blue Book of 1882, quoted in Chap. X.] 'I think the fact has never been sufficiently recognised that Africa, and especially the west coast of the continent, is but very sparsely populated.... It is not only very limited, but is, I believe, if not stationary, actually decreasing in numbers.... I commend this fact to the consideration of those who indulge in day-dreams as to the almost unlimited increase of commerce which they fondly imagine is to be the result and reward of opening up the interior of the country.'

In regions richer than the Upper Gambia the disappearance of man is ever followed by a springing of bush and forest so portentous that a few hands are helpless and hopeless. Such is the case with the great wooded belt north of the Gold Coast, where even the second-growth becomes impenetrable without the matchet, and where the swamps and muds, bred and fed by torrential rains, bar the transit of travellers. The Whydah and Gaboon countries are notable specimens of once populous regions now all but deserted.

Nothing more surprising, to men who visit Africa for the first time, than the over-wealth of labour in Madeira and its penury on the Western Coast. At Bathurst they find ships loading or unloading by the work of the Golah women, whose lazy husbands live upon the hardly-earned wage. They see the mail-steamers landing ton after ton of Chinese rice shipped via England. The whole country with its humid surface and its reeking, damp-hot climate is a natural rice-bed. The little grain produced by it is far better than the imported, but there are no hands to work the ground. It is the same with salt, which is cheaper when brought from England: no man has the energy to lay out a salina; and, if he did, its outlay, under 'Free Trade,' would be greater than its income.

Steaming along the picturesque face of the Sierra Leone peninsula, the stranger remarks with surprise that its most fertile ridges and slopes hardly show a field, much less a farm, and that agriculture is confined to raising a little garden-stuff for the town-market. The peasant, the hand, is at a discount. The Sierra Leonite is a peddler-born who aspires to be a trader, a merchant; or he looks to a learned profession, especially the law. The term 'gentleman-farmer' has no meaning for him. Of late years a forcing process has been tried, and a few plantations have been laid out, chiefly for the purpose, it would appear, of boasting and of vaunting the new-grown industry at home. Mr. Henry M. Stanley remarks [Footnote: Coomassie and Magdala, p. 8], 'In almost every street in Sierra Leone I heard the voice of praise and local prayer from the numerous aspirants to clerkships and civil service employ; but I am compelled to deny that I ever heard the sound of mallet and chisel, of mortar, pestle, and trowel, the ringing sound of hammer on anvil, or roar of forge, which, to my practical mind, would have had a far sweeter sound. There is virgin land in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone yet untilled; there are buildings in the town yet unfinished; there are roads for commerce yet to be made; the trade of the African interior yet waits to be admitted into the capacious harbour of Sierra Leone for the enrichment of the fond nursing-mother of races who sits dreamily teaching her children how to cackle instead of how to work.'

The same apathy to agriculture prevails in Liberia. For the last forty years large plantations have been laid out on the noble St. Paul River between Cape Mount and Mount Mesurado. The coffee-shrub, like the copal-tree, belts Africa from east to west—from Harar, where I saw it, through Karague, where it grows wild, the bean not being larger than a pin's head, to Manywema, in the Congo valley, and to the West Coast, especially about the Rio Nunez, north of Sierra Leone. It is of the finest quality, second only to the Mocha; but what hope is there of its development? The Vay tribe, which holds the land, is useless; the rare new comers from America will work, but the older settlers will not; and there is hardly money enough to pay Krumen.

On the Gold Coast there is no exceptional scarcity of population: under normal circumstances, the labour-market is sufficiently supplied, but a strain soon exhausts it. Sir Garnet Wolseley found his greatest difficulty in the want of workmen: he was obliged to apply for 500 British navvies; and, at one time, he thought of converting the first and second West India Regiments, with Wood's and Russell's men, into carriers. On the other hand, the conduct of the women was admirable; as the conqueror said in the Mansion House, he hardly wondered at the King of Dahome keeping up a corps of 'Amazons.' I shall presently return to the gold-mines.

At Lagos M. Colonna, Consular Agent for France, informs me that by his firm alone 600 hands are wanted for field-service, and that the number might rise to a thousand. He would also be glad to hire artisans, blacksmiths and carpenters, masons and market-gardeners. The Yorubas from the upper country, who will engage for three years, demand from a franc to a shilling per diem, rations not given. Labour ranges from sixteen to twenty-four francs per mensem; and coolies could not command more than twenty-five francs, including 'subsistence.' Here Kruboys are much used. M. Colonna pays his first-class per mensem $5 (each =5 francs 20 centimes), his second class $4, and his third $3. Returning to the Gold Coast, I find two classes of working men, the country-people and the Kruboys: the Sierra Leonites are too few to be taken into consideration. At present, when there are only five working mines, none of which are properly manned, labour is plentiful and cheap. It will be otherwise when the number increases, as it will soon do, to fifty and a hundred. Upwards of seventy concessions have already been granted, and I know one house which has, or soon will have, half a dozen ready for market. Then natives and Kruboys will strike for increased wages till even diamond-mines would not pay. The Gold Coast contains rich placers in abundance: if they fail it will be for want of hands, or because the cost of labour will swallow up profits.

The country-people, Fantis, Accra-men, Apollonians of Bein, and others, will work, and are well acquainted with gold-working. But they work in their own way; and, save under exceptional conditions, they are incapable of regular and continuous labour. It gives one the heart-ache to see their dawdling, idling, shuffling, shiftless style of spoiling time. They are now taking to tribute, piece and contract work. The French mines supply them with tools and powder, and, by way of pay and provisions, allow them to keep two-thirds of the produce. It is evident that such an arrangement will be highly profitable to the hands who will 'pick the eyes out of the mine,' and who will secrete all the richest stuff, leaving the poorest to their employers. No amount of European surveillance will suffice to prevent free gold in stone being stolen. Hence the question will arise whether, despite the price of transport, reduction in England will not pay better.