The Kruboys in the north and the Kabinda boys in the south have been described as the Irishmen of West Africa: they certainly do the most work; and trading-ships would find it almost impossible to trade without them. During the last twenty years they have not improved in efficiency even on board men-of-war. In 1861-65 the gangs with their headmen willingly engaged for three years. Now they enlist only for a year; they carefully keep tallies, and after the tenth monthly cut they begin to apply for leave. Thus the men's services are lost just as they are becoming valuable. It is the same with the Accra-men. When the mines learn the simple lesson l'union fait la force they will combine not to engage Krumen for less than two years.

There are two great centres at which Kruboys are hired. The first is Sierra Leone, where they demand from all employers what the mail-steamers pay—the headmen half-a-crown and the hands a shilling a day besides rations. The second is the Kru coast. In 1850 the 'boys' received 5s. per mensem in goods, which reduced it to 3s. They had also daily rice-rations, 'Sunday beef,' and, at times, a dash of tobacco, a cap, a blanket or a waist-cloth. In 1860 the hire rose to 9s. in kind, or 4s. 6d. in coin. About this time cruisers began to pay them the monthly wages of ordinary seamen, 1l. 10s., with white man's rations or compensation-money, amounting to another 12l. a year. In 1882 headmen engage for the Oil Rivers at 1l., and 'boys' for 10s. to 12s. For the gold-mines of Wasa they have learned to demand 1s. 3d. per diem, and at the cheapest 1l. a month, the headmen receiving double.

The Kru-market does not supply more than 4,000 hands, and yet it is already becoming 'tight.' In a few years demand will be excessive.

[Footnote: The usual estimate of the Kru-hands employed out of their own country is as follows:— For the Oil Rivers: 150 each for Brass and Bonny, New Calabar and Camarones; 150-200 for the Niger, and 150 for Fernando Po and the Portuguese Islands 1200-1500 At Lagos 1000 On board the 25 Bristol ships, at 20 each 500 For nine to ten ships of war 200 For ten mail-steamers 200 In the mines: (May, 1882) Izrah 7, Akankon 14, Effuenta 120, the two French companies 200, the Gold Coast 100, and Crockerville 20 461 —— Total 3861; say 4000]

The following notes were given to me by the managers of mines, whom I consulted upon the subject.

Mr. Crocker prefers Fantis, Elminas, and others; and he can hire as many as he wants; at Cape Coast Castle alone there are some eighty hands now unemployed. He pays 36s., without rations, per month of four weeks. He has about a score of Kruboys, picked up 'on the beach;' these are fellows who have lost all their money, and who dare not go home penniless. Their headman receives per mens. $3.50, and in exceptional cases $4. The better class of 'boys' get from $2.50 to $3; and lesser sums are given to the 'small boys,' whose principal work is stealing, skulking.

Mr. Creswick has a high opinion of Krumen working in the mines, and has found sundry of them to develop into excellent mechanics. The men want only good management. Under six Europeans, himself included, he employs a hundred hands, and from eight to ten mechanics. The first headman draws 37s. 6d., the second 22s., full-grown labourers 18s., and 'small boys' from 4s. to 6s. and 9s.

Mechanics' wages range between 1l. 5s. and 4l. All have rations or 'subsistence,' which here means 3d. a day.

Mr. MacLennan has a few Fanti miners, whom he pays at the rate of 6d. per half-day. His full muster of Krumen is 120; the headmen receive 27s. 6d., rising, after six months, to 35s. The first class of common boys get 20s.; the second from 13s. 6d. to 15s.; and the third, mostly 'small boys,' between 5s. and 10s. His carpenters and blacksmiths, who are Gold Coasters and Sierra Leonites, draw from 2l. 10s. to 3l. The rations are, as usual, 1-1/2 lb. of rice per day, with 1 lb. of 'Sunday beef,' whose brine is converted into salt.

Mr. A. Bowden, manager of the Takwa and Abosu Mines, also employs a 'mixed multitude.' His Sierra Leone carpenters and blacksmiths draw 3l. 10s. to 4l. 10s. per month without rations, and his native mechanics 3l. to 3l. 10s. The Fanti labourers are paid, as usual, a shilling per diem and find themselves. The Kruboys, besides being lodged and fed (1-1/2 lb. rice per day and 1 lb. beef or fish per week), draw in money as follows: headman, 2l.; second ditto, 1l. 7s. to 1l. 12s.; miners, 18s. to 20s. and labourers 9s. to 16s.

This state of the labour-market is, I have said, purely provisional. It will not outlast the time when the present concessions are in full exploitation; and this condition of things I hope soon to see. We can then draw from the neighbouring countries, from Yoruba to the north-east, and perhaps, but this is doubtful, from the Baasas [Footnote: A manly and powerful race, who call themselves Americans and will have nothing to do with the English.] and the Drewins to the west. But we must come, sooner or later, and the sooner the better, to a regular coolie-immigration, East African, Indian, and Chinese.

The benefit of such an influx must not be measured merely by the additional work of a few thousand hands. It will at once create jealousy, competition, rivalry. It will teach by example—the only way of teaching Africans—that work is not ignoble, but that it is ignoble to earn a shilling and to live idle on three-pence a day till the pence are exhausted. Its advantages will presently be felt along the whole western coast, and men will wonder why it was not thought of before. The French, as they are wont to do in these days, have set us an example. Already in early 1882 the papers announced that a first cargo of 178 Chinese—probably from Cochin-China—had been landed at Saint-Louis de Senegal for the proposed Senegambian railway.

The details of such an immigration and the measures which it will require do not belong to this place. Suffice it to say that we can draw freely upon the labour-banks of Macao, Bombay, and Zanzibar. The intelligent, thrifty, and industrious Chinese will learn mining here, as they have learnt it elsewhere, with the utmost readiness. The 'East Indian' will be well adapted for lighter work of the garden and the mines. Finally, the sturdy Wasawahili of the East African coast will do, as carriers and labourers, three times the work of Pantis and Apollonians.

I need hardly say that Captain Cameron and I would like nothing better than to organise a movement of this kind; we would willingly do more good to the West African coast than the whole tribe of its so-called benefactors.



Sec.3. GOLD-DIGGING IN NORTH-WESTERN AFRICA.

a. Sketch of its Origin.

The mineral wealth of Central Africa has still to be studied; at present we are almost wholly ignorant of it. We know, however, that the outlying portions of the Continent contain three distinct and grand centres of mining-industry. The first worked is the north-eastern corner—in fact, the Nile-valley and its adjacencies, where Fayzoghlu still supplies the noble metal. The second, also dating from immense antiquity, is the whole West African coast from Morocco to the Guinea Gulf, both included. The third and last, the south-eastern gold-fields, have been discovered by the Portuguese in comparatively modern days.

In this paper I propose to treat only of the western field. Its exploitation began early enough to be noticed by Herodotus, the oldest of Greek prose-writers. He tells us (lib. iv. 196, &c.) that the Carthaginians received gold from a black people, whose caravans crossed the Sahara, or Great Desert, and that they traded for it with the wild tribes of the West Coast. His words are as follows:—'There is a land in Libya, and a nation beyond the Pillars of Hercules [the Straits of 'Gib.'], which they [the Carthaginians] are wont to visit, where they no sooner arrive but forthwith they break cargo; and, having disposed their wares in an orderly way along the beach, leave them, and, returning aboard their ships, raise a great smoke.

'The natives, when they see the smoke, come down to the shore, and, laying out to view so much gold as they think the worth of the wares, withdraw themselves afar. The Carthaginians upon this come ashore and look. If they deem the gold sufficient they take it and wend their way; but if it does not seem to them sufficient, they go aboard once more and wait patiently. Then the others draw near and add to their gold till the Carthaginians are content. Neither party deals unfairly by the other; for they themselves never touch the gold till it comes up to the worth of their goods, nor do the natives ever carry off the goods till the gold is taken away.'

Plato ('Critias' [Footnote: The celebrated Dialogue which treats of Altantis and describes cocoas as the 'fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and meats and ointments.']) may refer to this dumb trade when he tells us, 'Never was prince more wealthy than Atlas [eldest son of Poseidon by Cleito]. His land was fertile, healthy, beautiful, marvellous; it was terminated by a range of gold-yielding mountains.' Lyon, speaking of the western Sudan, uses almost the very words of Herodotus. 'An invisible nation, according to our informant, inhabit near this place, and are said to trade by night. Those who come to traffic for their gold lay their merchandise in heaps and retire. In the morning they find a certain quantity of gold-dust placed against every heap, which if they think sufficient they leave the goods; if not, they let both remain till more of the precious ore is added' (p. 149). [Footnote: Shaw gives a similar account (Travels, p. 302).]

The classical trade in gold and slaves was diligently prosecuted by the Arabs or Saracens after Mohammed's day. Their caravans traversed the great wilderness which lies behind the fertile Mediterranean shore, and founded negroid empires in the western Sudan, or Blackland. Ghana, whence, perhaps, the Portuguese Guine and our Guinea of 'the dreadful mortal name,' became the great gold-mart of the day. Famous in history is its throne, a worked nugget of solid gold, weighing 30 lbs. It has been rivalled in modern times by the 'stool' of Bontuko (Gyaman), and by the 'Hundredweight of gold' produced by New South Wales. Most of the wealth came from a district to the south-west, Wangara, Ungura, or Unguru, bordering on the Niger, and supposed to correspond with modern Mandenga-land. In the lowlands, after the annual floods, the natives dug and washed the diluvial deposits for the precious metal exactly as is now done upon the Gold Coast; and they burrowed into the highlands which surround in crescent-form the head-waters of the great River Joliba. Presently Tinbukhtu succeeded, according to Leo Africanus (1500), Ghana as the converging point of the trade, and made the name for wealth which endures even to the present day. Its princes and nobles lavishly employed the precious ore in ornaments, some weighing 1,300 ounces.

In due time the Moroccan Arabs were succeeded by their doughty rivals, the Portuguese of the heroic ages of D. D. Joao II. and Manoel. I here pass over the disputed claim of the French, who declare that they imported the metal from 'Elmina' as early as 1382. [Footnote: See Chapter II.] The first gold was discovered on his second voyage by Goncalo Baldeza (1442) at the Rio de Ouro, the classical Lixus and the modern El-Kus, famed for the defeat and death of Dom Sebastiam. [Footnote: I have noticed it in Camoens, his Life and his Lusiads, vol ii. chapter iii. The identification with the Rio de Onro is that of Bowdich (p. 505). Another Rio de Ouro was visited in 1860 by Captain George Peacock (before alluded to), 'having a French frigate under his orders.' The 'River of Gold' of course would become a favourite and a banal name.]

In 1470 Joao de Santarem and Pero d'Escobar, knights of the King, sailed past Cape Falmas, discovered the islands of Sao Thome and Annobom (January 1, 1471); and, on their return homewards, found a trade in gold-dust at the village of Sama (Chamah) and on the site which we miscall 'Elmina.' [Footnote: This form of the word, a masculine article with a feminine noun, cannot exist in any of the neo-Latin languages. In Italian and Spanish it would be La Mina, in Portuguese A Mina. The native name is Dina or Edina.] During the same year Fernan' Gomez, a worthy of Lisbon, bought a five years' monopoly of the gold-trade from the King, paying 44l. 9s. par annum, and binding himself to explore, every year, 300 miles down coast from Sierra Leone. One of these expeditions landed at 'Elmina' and discovered Cape Catherine in south latitude 1 50' and west longitude (Gr.) 9 2'. The rich mines opened at Little Kommenda, or Aprobi, led to the building of the Fort Sao Jorje da Mina, by Diego d'Azembuja, sent out (A.D. 1481) to superintend the construction. But about 1622 the falling in of some unbraced and untimbered shafts and the deaths of many miners induced Gweffa, the King, to 'put gold in Fetish,' making it an accursed thing; and it has not been worked since that time.

Thus Portugal secured to herself the treasures which made her the wealthiest of European kingdoms. But when she became a province of Spain, under D. Philip II., her Eastern conquests were systematically neglected in favour of the Castilian colonies that studded the New World. The weak Lusitanian garrisons were massacred on the Gold Coast, as in other parts of Africa; and the Hollanders, the 'Water-beggars,' who had conquered their independence from Spain, proceeded to absorb the richest possessions of their quondam rivals. 'Elmina,' the capital, fell into Dutch hands (1637), and till 1868 Holland retained her forts and factories on the Gold Coast.

In their turn the English and the French, who had heard of the fabulous treasures of the Joliba valley and the Tinbukhtu mart, began to claim their share. As early as 1551 Captain Thomas Wyndham touched at the Gold Coast and brought home 150 lbs. of the precious dust. The first English company for exploring the Gambia River sent out (1618) their agent, Richard Thompson. This brave and unfortunate explorer was rancorously opposed by the Portuguese and eventually murdered by his own men. He was followed (1620) by Richard Jobson, to whom we owe the first account of the Gambia River. He landed at various points, armed with mercury, aqua regia (nitric acid), large crucibles, and a 'dowsing' or divining rod; [Footnote: A form of this old and almost universal magical instrument, worked by electricity, has, I am told, been lately invented and patented in the United States.] washed the sands and examined the rocks even beyond the Falls of Barraconda. After having often been deceived, as has occurred to many prospectors since his day, he determined that gold never occurs in low fertile wooded lands, but in naked and barren hills, which embed it in their reddish ferruginous soil. Hence it was long and erroneously determined that bare rocks in the neighbourhood of shallow alluvia characterise rich placers, and that the wealthiest mining-regions are poor and stunted in vegetation. California and Australia, the Gold Coast and South Africa, are instances of the contrary. Wasa, however, confirms the old opinion that the strata traversed by lodes determine the predominating metal; as quartz produces gold; hard blue slate, lead; limestone, green-stone and porphyry, copper; and granite, tin. [Footnote: Page 17, A Treatise on Metalliferous Minerals and Mining, by D. C. Davies. London, Crosby and Co., 1881. The volume is handy and useful to explorers.]

After twenty days' labour Jobson succeeded in extracting 12 lbs. from a single site. He declares that at length he 'arrived at the mouth of the mine itself, and found gold in such abundance as surprised him with joy and admiration.' Unfortunately he leaves us no notice of its position; it is probably lost, like many of the old Brazilian diggings. The Gambia River still exports small quantities of dust supposed to have been washed in the Ghauts, or sea-subtending ridges, of the interior. Most of it, however, finds its way to the wealthier and more prosperous French colony.

Whilst the English chose the Gambia the French preferred Senegal, where they founded (1626) 'St. Louis,' called after Louis XIV. The Sieur Brue, Director-General of the Senegal Company, made a second journey of discovery in 1698, and reached with great difficulty the gold-mines of desert and dreary Bambuk. There he visited the principal districts, and secured specimens of what he calls the ghingan, or golden earth. He proposed a third incursion, but the absolute apathy of his countrymen proved an insuperable obstacle.

M. Golberry describes Bambuk in gloomy and sombre colours. Its gold is distributed amongst low ranges of peeled and sterile hills. Probably this results from fires and disforesting. It occurs in the shape of spangles, grains, and pepites (nuggets), whose size increases with the depth of the digging. In the Matakon mine the dust adhered to fragments of iron, emery, and lapis lazuli, from which it was easily detached and washed. The less valuable Semayla placer produced dust in a hard reddish loam, mixed with still more refractory materials; it was crushed in mortars with rude wooden dollies or with grain-pestles. The pits, six feet in diameter, reached a depth of from ten to twelve yards, where they were stopped by a bed of hard reddish marle; this the Frenchman held to be the hanging wall of a much richer lode. The people used ladders, but they neglected to collar or brace the mouth, and the untimbered pit-sides often fell in; hence fatal accidents, attributed to the 'earth-spirits.' They held gold to be a capricious elf, and when a rich vein suddenly ran barren they cried out, 'There! he is off!'

In later days Mungo Park drew attention by his famous first journey (1795-97) to the highlands of the Mandingoes (Mandenga-land), and revived interest in the provinces of Shronda, Konkodu, Dindiko, Bambuk, and Bambarra. Here the natives collect dust by laborious washings of detrital sand. His fatal second expedition (1805) produced an unfinished journal, which, however, gives the amplest and most interesting notices concerning the gold-production of the region he traversed. My space compels me to refer readers to the original. [Footnote: Murray's edition of 1816, vol. i, p. 40, and vol. ii. p. 751.]

The traveller Caillie (1827), after crossing the Niger en route to Tinbukhtu, passed south of the Boure province, in the valley of the Great River; and here he reports an abundance of gold. As in the districts visited by Park, it is all alluvial and washed out of the soil. The dust, together with native cloth, wax, honey, cotton and cattle, finds its way to the coast, where it is bartered for beads, amber and coral, calicoes and firearms. The gold-mines of Boure were first visited and described by Winwood Reade. [Footnote: Coomassie, &c., p. 126.]

The peninsula of Sierra Leone is not yet proved to be auriferous. Here stray Moslems, mostly Mandengas, occasionally bring down the Melakori River ring-gold and dust from the interior. The colonists of Liberia assert that at times they have come upon a pocket which produced fifty dollars; the country-people also occasionally offer gold for sale. From the Bassam coast middle-men travel far inland and buy the metal from the bushmen. Near Grand Bassam free gold in quartz-reefs near the shore has been reported.

We now reach the Gold Coast proper, which amply deserves its glorious golden name. I have shown that the whole seaboard of West Africa, between it and Morocco, produces more or less gold; here, however, the precious metal comes down to the very shore and is washed upon the sands. Its length from the Assini boundary-line to the Volta [Footnote: Chapter XIV. I would not assert that gold is not found east of the Volta River. M. Colonna, of Lagos, told me that he had good reason to suspect its presence on the seaboard of Dahome, and promised me to make further enquiries.] has been laid down at 220 direct geographical miles by a depth of about 100. The area of the Protectorate, which has been a British colony since 1874, is assumed to be 16,620 instead of 24,500 square miles, and the population may exceed half a million. Its surface is divided into twelve petty kingdoms; and its strand is studded with forts and ruins of forts, a total of twenty-five, or one to every eight miles. This small section of West Africa poured a flood of gold into Europe; and, until the mineral discoveries of California and Australia, it continued to be the principal source of supply to the civilised world.

The older writers give us ample details about gold-digging and trading two centuries ago. Bosnian (Letter VI.) shows that the people prospected for the illustrious metal in three forms of ground. The first was in, or between, particular hills, where they sank pits; the second was about the rivers and waterfalls; and the third was on the seashore near the mouths of rivulets after violent night-rains. He ends his letter with these sensible words: 'I would refer to any intelligent metallist whether a vast deal of ore must not of necessity be lost here, from which a great deal of gold might be separated, from want of skill in the metallic art; and not only so, but I firmly believe that vast quantities of pure gold are left behind; for the negroes only ignorantly dig at random, without the least knowledge of the veins of the mine. [Footnote: The origin of these mineral veins is still disputed, science being as yet too young for the task of solving the mystery. Probably, as Mr. Davies remarks, 'the mode of the origin and means of the deposition are not one only but many,' and we have the Huttonian (igneous) and Wernerian (aqueous) theories, the sublimation of Necker, the electricity of Mr. R. W. Fox, the infiltration and gravitation of fluid metals towards cracks, vughs (cavities), and shrinkages, and the law of replacement. 'If a steel plate be removed atom by atom,' says Mr. R. Brough Smyth (Gold Fields of Victoria, Melbourne, 1869), 'and each atom be replaced by a corresponding atom of silver—a fact established by direct experiment—it will be readily seen that a mineral vein may be formed in the same way.'] And I doubt not that if the land belonged to Europeans they would soon find it to produce much richer treasures than the negroes obtain from it. But it is not probable that we shall ever possess that liberty here, wherefore we must be content with being so far masters of it as we are at present, which, if well and prudently managed, would turn to a very great account.'

Times, however, are changed. England is now mistress of the field, and it will be her fault if she leaves it untilled.

The good old Hollander first mentions amongst his six gold-sites the kingdom of Denkira; it then included the conquests of Wasa (Wassaw), of Encasse, [Footnote: The Inkassa of D'Anville, 1729.] and of Juffer or Quiforo. The gold of that region is good, but much alloyed for the trade with 'fetish'-figures. These are composed sometimes of pure mountain-gold; more often the ore is mixed with one-third, or even a half, of silver and copper, and stuffed with half-weight of the black earth used for moulding. The second was Acanny (D'Anville's Akanni), with gold so pure and fine that 'Acanny sika' meant the best ley. Then came the kingdom of Akim, which 'furnishes as large quantities of gold as any land that I know, and that also the most valuable and pure of any that is carried away from the coast.' It was easily distinguished by its deep colour. The fourth and fifth were Ashanti and Ananse, a small tract between the ex-great despotism and Denkira. The sixth and last was Awine, our Aowin, the region to the east of the Tando, then and now included in the British Protectorate. The Dutch 'traded here with a great deal of pleasure,' the people 'being the civilest and fairest dealers of all the negroes.'

The Ashanti war of 1873-74 had the effect of opening to transit a large area of workable ground. English officers traversed the interior in all directions, and their reports throw vivid light upon the position, the extent, and the value of the auriferous grounds which subtend the Gold Coast and which supply it with the precious metal.

The gold-provinces best known to us are now three—Wasa, of which these pages treat; Akim, the hill-land, an easy journey of a week north with westing from Akra; and Gyaman, the rival of Ashanti.

Akim is divided into eastern and western. Mr. H. Ponsonby, when travelling through both regions, found the natives getting quantities of gold by digging holes eight to ten feet deep on either side of the forest-paths. He saw as much as three ounces taken up in less than half an hour. Around the capital of eastern Akim, Kyebi, or Chyebi, the land is also honeycombed with man-holes, making night-travel dangerous to the stranger. It requires a sharp eye to detect the deserted pits, two feet in diameter and 'sunk straight, as if they had been bored with huge augurs.' I have seen something of the kind in the water-meadows near Shoreham. The workman descends by foot-holes, and works with a hoe four to six inches long by two broad: when his calabash is filled it is drawn up by his companions. The earthquakes of April and July 1862 [Footnote: I happened to be at Akra during the convulsion of July 10. The commandant, Major (now Colonel) de Buvignes, and I set out for a stroll along the sands to the west. The morning was close and cloudy: what little breeze there was came from the south-west, under a leaden sky and over a leaden sea. At 8.10 A.M., as we were returning from the rocks about three-quarters of a mile off, there was a sudden rambling like a distant thunder-clap; the sands seemed to wave up and down as a shaken carpet, and we both staggered forwards. Others described the movement as rising and falling like the waters of a lagoon. I looked with apprehension at the sea; but the direction of the shock was apparently from west-north-west; and the line was too oblique to produce one of those awful earthquake-waves, seventy feet high, which have swept tall ships over the roofs of cities. We ran as fast as we could to the town, where everything was in the wildest confusion. The 'Big House' and Mr. John Hansen's were mere ruins; the Court-house had come to pieces, and the prison-cells yawned open. I distinctly saw that the rock-ledge under Akra, between Fort James and Crevecoeur, had been upraised: canoes passed over what was now dry. A second shock at 8.20 A.M., and a third about 10.45, completed the destruction, split every standing wall, and shook down the three forts into ruinous heaps. Nor did the seismic movements cease till July 15, when I made my escape.

Men who remembered as far back as March 1858, when Colonel Bird ruled the land, declared that Akra had never felt an earthquake; but on the morning of April 14, 1862, there had been a sharp shock followed by sundry lighter movements, and lastly by the most severe. The direction was said to be north-south, and it was supposed to be the tail of a great earthquake, whose focus was behind Sierra Leone. A rumbling, like the rolling of guns, had been heard under the main square of Akra; the shocks were felt by the ships in the roads, and the disturbance was reported to have been even more severe up-country. When the wave reached Agbome, Gelele, King of Dahome, with characteristic filial piety, exclaimed, 'Don't you see that my father is calling for blood, and is angry because we are not sending him more men?' Whereupon he at once ordered three prisoners from Ishagga to take the road to Ku-to-men, Hades or Dead-land.] so tossed and broke up the hill-strata of Akim that all the people flocked to the diggings and dispensed with the chimney-holes generally sunk. The frontier-village of Adadentum, on the Prah, was nearly buried by a landslip from a spur of the 'Queeshoh Range.' Huge nuggets were uncovered, and the people filled their calabashes daily, thankful to their great fetish, the Kataguri. [Footnote: This is a huge brass pan which fell from heaven: it is or was surrounded by drawn swords and gold-handled axes in its sanctuary, the fetish-house.] The provinces of Gyaman, especially Ponin, Safwi, and Showy, are famed for wealth of gold. In African phrase, while 'the metallic veins of Ashanti, Denkira, and Wasa lie twelve cubits deep, those of Gyaman are only five.' The ore dug from pits is of deep colour, and occurs mixed with red gravel and pieces of white granite (quartz). It is held to be rock-gold (nuggets), and more valuable than that of Ashanti, although the latter, passing for current, is mostly pure. This pit-gold appears in lumps embedded in loam and rock, of which 14 to 15 lbs. would yield 1 to 1 1/2 lb. pure metal. Nuggets are also produced, and chiefs wear them slung to hair and wrists; some may weigh 4 lbs. The dust washed from the torrent-beds is higher-coloured, cleaner, and better than what is produced elsewhere. It found its way to the Nigerian basin as well as to the Gold Coast, and was converted into ducats (miskals) and trinkets, chains, bracelets, anklets, and adornments for weapons. The King of Gyaman became immensely rich by the produce of his mines; and, according to Bowdich, his bed had steps of solid gold.

The reader will have gathered from the preceding pages that the negroes have worked their gold-fields for centuries but to very little purpose. Their want of pumps, of quartz-crushers, and of scientific appliances generally, has limited their labour to scratching the top-soil and nibbling at the reef-walls. A large proportion of the country is practically virgin-ground, and a rich harvest has been left for European science, energy, and enterprise.

The Fantis have many curious usages and superstitions which limit production. As a rule nuggets are the royalty of kings and chiefs; but in many places these 'mothers of gold' are re-buried, in order that gold may grow from them. [Footnote: It was long supposed in Europe that alluvial gold grew by a succession of layers imposed upon a solid nucleus, and by the coalescence of grains as a snow-ball is constructed. Mr. Sellwyn still holds that 'nuggets and particles of alluvial gold may gradually increase by the deposition of metallic gold (analogous to the electroplating process), from the meteoric waters that circulate through the drifts.'—Gold Fields of Victoria, p. 357.] I have noted that a smoke, or thin vapour, guides to the unknown placer, and that white gold causes a mine to be abandoned. Rich ground is denoted by a peculiar vegetation, especially of ferns. Gold is guarded here not by a dragon, but by a monstrous baboon; and when golden dogs are found the finder dies. In 1862 I visited with Major de Ruvignes Great Sankanya, a village west of the Volta, where a large gold-field was reported. As we drew near the spot we were told that the precious metal appears during the 'yam-customs,' and that only prayers, sacrifices, and presents to the fetish will make it visible. Presently we saw a white rag on a pole, which the dark youth, our guide, called a 'sign,' and groaned out that it would surely slay us. A woman, whose white and black beads showed a 'religious,' pointed to a place where gold is 'common as ashes after a fire'—the priest being first paid. The report of this excursion spread to Akra; Major de Ruvignes had taken up in his arms a golden dog, and at once fell dead. I can hardly connect the superstition with old Anubis.

Whenever the unshored pit caves in the accident has been caused by evil-minded ghosts, the kobolds of Germany, in which Cornwall till lately believed. Fetish then steps forward and forbids further search. Thus many of the richest placers have been closed. Such, for instance, is the Monte do Diabo (Devil's Hill), the native Mankwadi, [Footnote: Again, I cannot connect Mankwadi (or even Manquada) with 'Maquida or Azeb, Queen of Sheba'—the latter country probably lying in South Arabian Yemen.] near Winnebah, fifteen leagues east from Elmina. The miners were killed by the heat of the shafts, and the mine was at once placed 'in fetish.' But 'fetish' has now lost much of its authority; the Satanic hill will soon be exploited, and its only difficulty is its disputed ownership by 'Ghartey, King of Winnebah,' and 'Okill Ensah, King of Ejemakun.' These dignitaries condescend to advertise against each other in the local papers.

At Ada (Addah), west of the Volta and in its neighbourhood, the Krobo Hills included, a beggar would be grossly insulted by the offer of a sovereign; he dashes it to earth, spitting upon it with wrath. The Ashantis, as the story runs, once dug treasure near Sakanya; and, as the chiefs and people were becoming too independent of them, the high priests put the precious metal 'in fetish,' with the penalty of blindness to all who worked it. A Danish governor once filled his pockets, and recovered sight only by throwing away the plunder. A brother of the Ada chief offered to show this magic-fenced placer to the late Mr. Nicol Irvine, moyennant the trifle of 50l. The transaction reminded me of the Hindu alchemist who asks you ten rupees to make a ton of gold.

As regards the gold-supply of this El Dorado, the Gold Coast, it has been estimated that the total since A.D. 1471 amounted to six or seven hundred millions of pounds sterling. Elmina alone, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, annually exported, according to Bosman, 3,000,000l. At a later period Mr. McQueen increased the figures to 3,400,000l. Then came the abolition of slavery, which caused the decline and fall of mining-industry amongst the natives. In 1816 the export was reduced to 400,000l. (100,000 ounces), a figure repeated in 1860 by Dr. Eobert Olarke; and in 1862 the amount was variously reported at 192,000l. ( 48,000 ounces) and half a million of money.

The following proportions were given to me by M. Dahse. Till 1870 the figures are computed by him; after that date the value is declared;—[Footnote: Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom. Eyre and Spottiswoode. London, 1881.]

1866 1867 1868 1869 120,333l. 146,182l 118,875l. 100,214l.

1870 1871 1872 116,142l. 137,328l. 108,869l.

Now began the notable falling-off, which reached its maximum next year:—

1873 1874 1875 1876 77,523l. 136,263l. 117,321l. 145,511l.

1877 1878 1879 1880 120,542l 122,497l. 115,167l. 125,980l.

M. Dahse assumes the annual average to be in round numbers, 126,000l.

The official returns of imported silver from the Coast show:—

1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 7,074l. 6,841l. 40,964l. 23,587l. 21,667l.

1877 1878 1879 1880 10,905l. 41,254l. 61,755l. 63,337l.

Totals of gold and silver:—

1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 115,943l. 84,364l. 177,227l. 140,908l. 167,178l.

1877 1878 1879 1880 131,447l. 163,751l. 176,922l. 189,317l.

I was lately asked by an illustrious geologist and man of science, how it came to pass that the Gold Coast, if so rich, has not been worked before this time. These notes will afford a sufficient reply.

b. The Kong Mountains.

This range, which has almost disappeared from the maps, may have taken its name either from the town of Kong on the southern versant, or it may be a contraction of the Kongkodu, the mountain-land described by Mungo Park. Messieurs J. Zweifel and M. Moustier, [Footnote: Expedition, C. A. Verminck, Voyage aux Sources du Niger. Marseille, 1880.] who did not reach the Niger sources in 1879, explain 'Kong' as the Kissi name of the line which trends from north-west to south-east, and which divides Koronko-land from Kono-land. When nearing their objective they sighted the Kong-apex, Mount Daro, measuring 1,240 metres. Older travellers make it a latitudinal chain running nearly east-west, with its centre about the meridian of Cape Coast Castle, and extending 500 to 600 miles on a parallel of north latitude 7-8. Westward it bends north behind Cape Palmas, and, like the Ghauts of Hindostan, follows the line of seaboard. I have before noticed the traditions of Mount Geddia, an occidental Kilima-njaro. About the parallel of Sierra Leone the feature splits into a network of ranges, curves, and zigzags, which show no general trend. The eastern faces here shed to the Niger, the western to the various streams between the Rokel-Seli, the Gambia, and the Senegal; and the last northern counterforts sink into the Sahara Desert. The western versant supplies the gold of Senegambia, the southern that of Ashanti and Wasa. The superficial dust is washed down by rains, floods, and rivers; and the dykes and veins of quartz, mostly running north-south, are apparently connected with those of the main range.

That such a chain must exist is proved by the conduct of the Gold Coast streams. The Ancobra, for instance, which often rises and falls from twenty to forty feet in twenty-four hours, suggests that its sources spring from an elevated plane at no great distance from the sea. The lands south of the Kong Mountains are grassy and hilly with extensive plains. This is known through the 'Donko slaves,' common on the coast. Many of them come from about Salagha, the newly-opened mart upon the Upper Volta; they declare that the land breeds ostriches and elephants, cattle and camels, horses and asses. Moreover, it is visited by the northern peoples who cross the Sahara. I have already noticed the grass-lands of Gyaman.

Captain Clapperton, on his second journey, setting out from Badagry to Busa (Boussa), crossed a hill-range which would correspond with the Kong. It is described as about eighty miles broad, and is said to extend from behind Ashanti to Benin. The traveller, who estimated the culminating point not to exceed 2,600 feet, found the rugged passes hemmed in by denticulated walls and tons of granite, 600 to 700 feet high, and sometimes overhanging the path. The valleys varied in breadth from a hundred yards to half a mile. A comparatively large population occupied the mountain-recesses, where they planted fine crops of yams, millet, and cotton. The strangers were made welcome at every settlement. Ascending hill after hill, they came to Chaki, a large town on the very summit of the ridge. The caboceer had a house and a stock of provisions ready for his guests, put many questions, and earnestly pressed them to rest for two or three days. When the whole chain was crossed they fell into the plains of 'Yaruba' (Yoruba).

The next eye-witness is Mr. John Duncan, who visited Dahome in 1845. King Gezo allowed him a guard of a hundred men, in order to explore with safety the 'Mahi, or Kong Mountains.' His son and successor was not so generous; he systematically and churlishly refused all travellers, myself included, permission to pass northwards of his capital. The Lifeguardsman found the chain, which is distant more than a hundred miles from Agbome, differing from his expectations in character, appearance, and even position. The grand, imposing line looked from afar like colossal piles of ruins; a nearer view showed immense blocks, some of them 200 feet long, egg-shaped and lying upon their sides. Nearly all the settlements had chosen the summits, doubtless for defence. Mr. Duncan crossed the whole breadth of these 'Kong Mountains,' and pushed 180 miles beyond them over a level land which must shed to the Niger.

These descriptions denote a range of granite, the rock which forms the ground-floor of the Sierra Leone peninsula and the Gold Coast, possibly varied by syenites and porphyries. It would probably contain, like the sea-subtending mountains of Midian, large veins of eminently metalliferous quartz, outcropping from the surface and forming extensions of the reefs below. From the coast-line the land gradually upslopes towards the spurs of the great dividing ridge; and thus we may fairly expect that the further north we go the richer will become the diggings.

The Kong Mountains are apparently cut through by the Niger south of Iddah, where the true coast begins. Travellers describe the features almost in the words of Clapperton and Denham—the towering masses of granite which contrast so strongly with the southern swamps; upstanding outcrops resembling cathedrals and castellations in ruins; boulders like footballs of enormous dimensions; pyramids a thousand feet high; and solitary cones which rise like giant ninepins. We know too little of the lands lying south-east of the confluence to determine the sequence of the chain, whose counterforts may give rise to the Eastern 'Oil Rivers.' It is not connected with the Peak of Camarones, round which Mr. Cumber, of the Baptist Mission, travelled; and which he determined to be an isolated block. Farther south the Ghauts of Western Africa reappeared as the Serra do Crystal, and fringe the mighty triangle below the Equator. They are suspected to be auriferous in places. An American merchant on the Gaboon River, Captain Lawlin, carried home in 1843-44 a quantity of granular gold brought to him by the country-traders. He returned to his station, prepared to work the metals of the interior; but the people took the alarm, and he failed to find the spot.

Cameron and I, prevented by the late season of our landing from attempting this interesting exploration, were careful to make all manner of enquiries concerning the best point de depart, and if fate prevent our attempting it we shall be happy to see some more favoured traveller succeed. The easiest way would be to march upon Crockerville, two days by the Ancobra River and three by land. The bush-paths, which would require widening for hammocks, lead north through Wasa. There are many villages on the way, and in places provisions can be procured; the people are peaceful and willing to show or to make the path. At Axim I consulted a native guide who knew the Kong village, but not the Kong Mountains. He made the distance six marches to Safwi, where the grass-lands begin; and here he ascended a hillock, seeing nothing but prairies to the north. Eight more stages, a total of fourteen, led him to Gyaman, where he found horses and horsemen. He also knew by hearsay the western route, via Apollonian Bein.

c. Native Modes of Working Gold.

In all places, and at all times, gold, probably the metal first used by man, has been worked in the same way. This is a fair evidence of that instinctive faculty which produces a general resemblance of rude stone-implements from England to Australia. There are six methods for 'getting' the precious metal—surfacing or washing; shallow-sinking; sluicing, or removing the earth through natural and artificial channels; deep sinking; tunnelling, and quartz-mining.

The preceding notes show that the natives of the Gold Coast, and of West Africa generally, are adepts at procuring their gold by 'surfacing,' washing with the calabash or wooden bowl the rich alluvial formations that underlie the top-soil. This is the rudest form of machinery, preceding in California the cradle, the torn, and the sluice. Westerns made their pans of brass or copper, about sixteen inches in diameter, and nearly two inches deep in the middle where the gold gravitates. Panning in Africa is women's work, and the process has been described in the preceding pages.

But the natives, as has been shown, can also work quartz, an art well known to the Ancient Egyptians. They either pick up detached pieces showing visible gold, or they sink pits and nibble at the walls of the reefs. But whereas the Nile-peoples pounded the stone in mortars and washed the dust on sloping boards, here the matrix must be laboriously levigated. A handful of broken quartz is placed upon the 'cankey-stone,' with which the gudewife grinds her 'mealies.' It is a slightly hollowed slab of granite or hard conglomerate, some two feet square, sloping away from the worker, and standing upon a rude tripod of tree-branches secured by a lashing of 'tie-tie.' The stuff is then rubbed with a hand-stone not unlike a baker's roll, and a slight deviation is given to it as it moves 'fore and aft.' The reduced stone is caught in a calabash placed at the lower end of the slab. This is usually night-work, and all the dark hours will be wasted in grinding down a cubic foot of stone.

The late M. Bonnat had probably read Mr. Andrew Swanzy's evidence before the House of Commons in 1816: 'Gold is procured in every part of the country; it appears more like an impregnation of the soil than a mine.' His long captivity at Kumasi, where to a certain extent he learned the Oji speech, familiarised him with the native processes; and thus a Frenchman taught Englishmen to work gold in a golden land where they have been domiciled—true faineants—for nearly three centuries. He came out in the Dries of 1877 with the intention of dredging the Ancobra River where the natives dive for the precious metal. He was working in western Apinto, a province of Wasa, under Kofi Blay, a vassal of King Kwabina Angu, when he was visited (January 1878) by Major-General Wray, B.A., Colonel Lightfoot, and Mr. Hervey, who were curious to see the work. They remained only till the return of the mail-steamer, or about five weeks. The General left with some first-rate sketches; the Colonel caught a fever, which killed him at Madeira; and the Esquire, who bears a name well known in Australia, returned to the Gold Coast for the purpose of writing not unprofitable reports. M. Bonnat was presently informed of the Takwa Ridge, mines well known for a century at least to Cape Coast Castle, and ever the principal source of the Axim currency. They were still worked in 1875 by the people who drew their stores from Axim. A five-weeks' residence convinced him that they were rich enough to attract capital; he went to Europe, and was successful in raising it. Thus began the Takwa mines, where, by a kind of irony of Fate, the beginner was buried.

M. Bonnat wisely intended to open operations with wet-working. At Axim I was shown a model flume, made to order after the plans of a M. Boisonnet, or, as he signs himself, 'boisonnet.' He was reported to be a large landed-proprietor who had made a fortune by mining in French Guiana. He proposed for M. Bonnat and himself to secure the monopoly of washing the Protectorate with this flume—a veritable French toy, uselessly complicated, and yet to be used only upon the smallest scale. We must go for our models to California and Australia, not to French Guiana.

The following will be the implements with which the natives of the future must do their work on the Gold Coast:—

The pan begat the cradle, a wooden box on rockers, shaped like the article which gave its name. It measures three feet and a half by eighteen inches, and is provided with a movable hopper and slides. Placed in a sloping position, it is worked to and fro by a perpendicular staff acting as handle, and the grain-gold, a metal seven times heavier than granite, collects where the baby should be. As some flour-gold is here found, the cradle-bottom should be cut with cross-grooves to hold mercury; and the latter must be tempered with sodium or other amalgam.

The cradle begat Long Tom and Broad Tom, the 'tom' proper being the upper box with a grating to keep out the pebbles. 'Long Tom's' body is a wooden trough, from twelve to fourteen feet long by a foot or a foot and a half broad, with ripples, riffles, or cross-bars. There is usually another grating at the lower end to intercept the smaller stones. The machine is fixed in a gently sloping position, at an angle determined by circumstances; the wash-dirt is lifted into the upper end by manual labour; when stiff it must be stirred or shovelled, and a stream of water does the rest. The greater gravity of the gold causes it to be arrested by the riffles. Instead of the bars grooves may be cut and filled with quicksilver. When the sludge is very rich, rough cloths rubbed with mercury, or even sheepskins, the lineal descendants of the Golden Fleece, may be used, 'Broad Tom,' alias the 'Victoria Jenny Lind,' is made about half the length of its long brother: the upper end is only a foot wide, broadening out to three below.

'Tom' begat the sluice, which is of two kinds, natural and artificial. The former is a ditch cut in the floor, with a talus of one to forty or fifty. The bottom, which would soon wear away, is revetted with rough planks and paved with hard stones, weighing ten to twenty pounds, the grain being placed vertically. With a full head of water 400 cubic yards a day can easily be washed. The gold, as usual, gravitates through the chinks to the bottom, and finally is cradled or panned out. It is most efficiently treated when the sluice is long; it demands six times more water than the artificial article, but it wants less manual labour. This last property should recommend it to the Gold Coast. Here, I repeat, machinery must be used as much and manual labour as little as possible.

The artificial or portable box-sluice is a series of troughs each about twelve feet long, like the upper compartment of 'Long Tom.' They are made of half-inch boards, rough from the saw, the lower end being smaller to fit into its prolongation. Each compartment is provided with a loose metal bottom pierced with holes to admit the dust; the true bottom below it has cross-riffles, and above it are bars or gratings to catch the coarser stones. These sluices are mounted on trestles, and the latter are disposed upon a slope determined by the quantity of water: the average fall or grade may be 1 to 50. In Australia four men filling a 'Long Tom,' or raised box-sluice, will remove and wash twenty-four cubic yards of ground per day. When the ore is fine, mercury may be dropped into the upper end of the sluice; and it picks up the particles, 'tailing,' as it goes, before the two metals have run far down. Both stop at the first riffle or resting-place.

The auriferous clays of the Gold Coast are thinly covered with humus, and are not buried, as in Australia, by ten to thirty feet of unproductive top-drift. The whole, therefore, can be run through the sluices before we begin mining the underlying strata. Washing will be easier during the Rains, when the dirt is looser; in the Dries hard and compact stuff must be loosened by the pick and spade or by blasting. There will not be much loss by float-gold, flour-gold, or paint-gold, the latter thus called because it is so fine as to resemble gilding. Spangles and specks are found; but the greater part of the dust is granular, increasing to 'shotty gold.' The natives divide the noble ore into 'dust-gold' and 'mountain-gold.' The latter would consist of nuggets, 'lobs,' or pepites, and of crystals varying in size from a pin's head to a pea. The form is a cube modified to an octahedron and a rhombic dodecahedron. These rich finds are usually the produce of pockets or 'jewellers' shops.' I am not aware if there be any truth in the rule generally accepted: 'The forms of gold are found to differ according to the nature of the underlying rock: if it is slate the grains are cubical; if granite they are flat plates and scales.'

And, lastly, the sluice begat the jet, or hydraulicking proper, which is at present the highest effort of placer-mining. We thus reverse the primitive process which carried the wash-dirt to the water; we now carry the water to the wash-dirt. In California I found the miners washing down loose sandstones and hillocks of clay, passing the stuff through sluices, and making money when the gold averaged only 9d. and even 4d. to the ton. A man could work under favourable circumstances twenty to thirty tons a day. An Australian company, mentioned by Mr. R. Brough Smyth, with 200 inches of water, directed by ten hands, 'hydraulicked' in six days 224,000 cubic feet of dirt. The results greatly vary; in some places a man will remove 200 cubic yards a day, and in others only 50.

Hydraulic mining on the Gold Coast, owing to the conformation of the country, will be a far simpler and less expensive process than in California or Australia. In the latter water has first to be bought, and then to be brought in pipes, flumes, leats, or races from a considerable distance, sometimes extending over forty miles. It is necessary to make a reservoir for a fall. The water then rushes through the flexible hose, and is directed by a nozzle against the face of the excavation. The action is that of a fireman playing upon a burning house. Most works on mining insist upon those reservoirs, and never seem to think of washing from below by the force-pump.

I have shown that the surface of the lands adjoining the Ancobra is a series of hummocks, rises, and falls, sometimes, though rarely, reaching 200 feet; that water abounds, and that it is to be had gratis. In every bottom there is a drain, sometimes perennial, but more often a blind gully or creek, [Footnote: The gully feeds a 'creek,' the creek a river.] which runs only during the Rains, and in the Dries carries at most a succession of pools. Here Norton's Abyssinian tubes, sunk in the bed after it has been carefully worked by the steam-navvy for the rich alluvium underlying the surface, would act like pumps, and dams would form huge tanks. Nor would there be any difficulty in making reservoirs upon the ridge-tops, with launders, or gutters, to collect the rain. Thus work would continue throughout the year, and not be confined, as at present, to the dry season. A pressure of 100 to 200 lbs. per square foot can easily be obtained, and the force of the jet is so great that it will kill a man on the spot. The hose should be of heavy duck, double if necessary, rivetted and strengthened by metal bands or rings—in fact, the crinoline-hose of Australia. Leather would be better, but hard to repair in case of accidents by rats; guttapercha would be expensive, and perhaps thin metal tubes with flexible joints may serve best. The largest hose carried by iron-clads measures 19 to 20 inches in diameter, and is worked by 30 to 40 horse-power. Other vessels have a 15-inch hose worked by manual labour, fifty men changed every ten minutes, and will throw the jet over the royal yards of a first-class man-of-war. The floating power-engines attached to the Dockyard reserves would represent the articles required.

With a diameter of from ten to fifteen inches, and a nozzle of three to four inches, a 'crinoline-hose' will throw a stream a hundred feet high when worked by the simplest steam-power process, and tear down a hill more rapidly than a thousand men with shovels. The cost of washing gravel, sand, and clay did not exceed in our colonies 1d. to 2d. per ton; and thus the working expenses were so small that 4d. worth of gold to the ton of soft stuff paid a fair profit. Lastly, there is little danger to the miner; and this is an important consideration.

It is well known that California was prepared for agriculture and viticulture by 'hydraulicking' and other mining operations. It will be the same with the Gold Coast, whose present condition is that of the Lincolnshire fens and the Batavian swamps in the days of the Romans. Let us only have a little patience, and with patience perseverance, which, 'dear my Lord, keeps honour bright.' The water-jet will soon clear away the bush, washing down the tallest trees; it will level the ground and will warp up the swamp till the surface assumes regular raised lines. We run no risk of covering the face of earth with unproductive clay. Here the ground is wanted only as a base for vegetation; sun and rain do all the rest. And thus we may hope that these luxuriant wastes will be turned into fields of bustling activity, and will tell the tale of Cameron and me to a late posterity.

But gold is not the only metal yielded by the Gold Coast. I have already alluded in the preceding pages to sundry silver-lodes said to have been worked by the old Hollanders. As is well known, there is no African gold without silver, and this fact renders the legend credible. Even in these dullest of dull days 63,337l. worth was the export of 1880. Iron is everywhere, the land is stained red with its oxide; and manganese with cobalt has been observed. I have mentioned that at Akankon my companion showed me a large vein of cinnabar. Copper occurs in small quantities with tin. This metal is found in large veins streaking the granite, according to M. Dahse, who gave me a fine specimen containing some ten and a half per cent. of metal. He has found as much as twelve per cent., when at home 2 to 2-1/2 per cent. pays. [Footnote: 'The present percentage of block-tin derived from all the tin-ore ... of Cornwall is estimated at 2 per cent., or nearly 45 lbs. to the ton of ore.'—Davies, p. 391.] The aspect of the land is diamantiferous; [Footnote: I hear with the greatest pleasure that a syndicate has been formed for working the diamond-diggings of Golconda, a measure advocated by me for many years. Suffice to say here that the Hindus rarely went below 60 feet, because they could not unwater the mine, and that the Brazilian finds his precious stones 280 feet below the surface. Moreover the Indian is the only true diamond: the Brazilian is a good and the Cape a bad natural imitation.] and it has been noticed that a crystal believed to be a diamond has been found in auriferous gravel. In these granitic, gneissose, and quartzose formations topazes, amethysts and sapphires, garnets and rubies, will probably occur, as in the similar rocks of the great Brazilian mining-grounds. The seed-pearl of the Coast-oyster may be developed into a tolerable likeness of the far-famed pear-shaped Margarita of Arabian Katifah, which was bought by Tavernier for the sum, then enormous, of 110,000l.

Pearl-culture is an art now known even to the wild Arab fisherman of the far Midian shore. Lastly, the humble petroleum, precious as silver to the miner-world, has been found in the British Protectorate about New Town.



APPENDIX II.

PART I.

LIST OF BIRDS COLLECTED BY CAPTAIN BURTON AND COMMANDER CAMERON.

By R. BOWDLER SHARPE, F.L.S.

Vulturine Sea-eagle. Gypohierax angolensis. Osprey. Pandion haliaetus. Touracou. Corythaix persa. Red-headed Hornbill. Buceros elatus. Black Hornbill. Tockus semifasciatus. Red-throated Bee-eater. Meropiscus gularis. Blue-throated Roller with Eurystomus afer. yellow bill. Kingfisher with black and red bill. Halcyon senegalensis. Small Woodpecker. Dendropicus lugubris. Sun-bird. Anthothreptes rectirostris. Grey Flycatcher. (3 spec). Muscicapa lugens. Dull olive-green Flycatcher with Hylia prasina. pale eyebrow. 19. Common Swallow. 33. Hirundo rustica. Black Swallow with white throat. 30. Waldenia nigrita. Grey-headed Wagtail. 22. Motacilla flava. Black and chestnut Weaver-bird. 23. Hyphantornis castaneofuscas. Turtle-dove. 15 Turtur semitorquatus. Whimbrel. 5 Numenius phaeopus. Grey Plover. 13 Squatarola helvetica. Common Sandpiper. 18 Tringoides hypoleucus. Spur-winged Plover. 11 Lobivanellus albiceps. Green Heron. 7 Butoides atricapilla.



PART II.

LIST OF PLANTS COLLECTED ON THE GOLD COAST BY CAPTAIN BURTON AND COMMANDER CAMERON, R.N.

(FURNISHED BY PROFESSOR OLIVER.)

A considerable number of specimens either in fruit only or fragmentary were not identifiable.

Oncoba echinata, Oliv. Hibiscus tiliaceus, L. " Abelmoschus, L, Glyphaea grewioides, Hk. f. Scaphopetalum sp. ? fruit.

Gomphia reticulata, P. de B. " Vogelii, Hk. f, " aff. G. Mannii, Oliv. an sp. nov. ? Bersama? sp. an B. maxima? fruit only Olaoinea? an Alsodeiopsis? fruit only Hippocratea macrophylla, V. Leea sambucina, W. Paullinia pinnata, L. ? Eriocoslum sp. (fruiting specimen). Cnestis ferruginea, DC. Pterocarpus esculentus, Sch. Baphia nitida, Afz, Lonchocarpus sp.? Drepanocarpus lunatus, Mey. Phaseolus lunatus? imperfect Dialium guineense, W, Berlinia an B. acuminata? var. (2 forms.) Berlinia (same?) in fruit. Pentaclethramacrophylla, Bth. Combretum racemosum, P. de B.? Combretum comosum, Don. Lagunoularia racemosa, Gaertn. Begonia sp. flowerless. Modecca sp. nov. ? flowerless. Sesuvium Portulacastrum? barren. Tristemma Schumacheri, G. and P. Smeathmannia pubescens, R. Br. Sabicea Vogelii, Benth. var. Ixora sp. f Rutidea membranacea? Hiern. Randia acuminata? Bth. Dictyandra ? sp. nov. Urophyllum sp. Gardenia? sp. Gardenia ? sp Pavetta ? sp. Canthium, cf. C. Heudelotii, cf. Virecta procumbens, Hiern.; Sm. Seven imperfect Rubiaceae (Mussaendae, & c.). Diospyros sp.? (corolla wanting). Ranwolfia Senegambiae, A. DC. Tabernaemontana sp. in fruit. Apocynacea, fragment, in fruit. Two species of Strychnos in fruit: one with 1-seeded fruit singular and probably new; the other a plant collected by Barter. Ipomaea paniculata, Br. Physalis minima, L. Datura Stramonium ? scrap. Clerodendronscandens, Beauv. Brillantaisia owariensis, Beauv. Lankesteria Barteri, Hk. Lepidagathis laguroidea, T. And. Ocyinum viride, W. Platystomum africanum, Beauv. Brunnichia africana, Welw. Teleianthera maritima, Moq. Phyllanthus capillaris, Muell. Arg., var. Alchornea cordata, Bth. (fruit). Cyclostemon? sp. (in fruit only). Ficus, 3 species. Musanga Smithii ? (young leafy specimens). Culcasia sp, (no inflorescence), Anchomanes, cf. A. dubius (no attached inflorescence). Anubias ? sp. (no inflorescence). Palisota thyrsiflora? Bth. (imperfect). Palisota prionostachys, C.B.C. " bracteosa, C.B.C. Pollia condensata, C.B.C. (fruit). Aneilema ovato-oblongum, P. de B. Aneilema beninense, Kth. Crinum purpurascens, Herb. Haemanthus cinnabarinus? Denc. Dracaena? sp. (fruit). " (in fruit) aff. D. Cameroonianae, Bkr. Flagellaria indica, L. Cyrtopodium (? Cyrtopera longifolia, B.f.), no leaf. Bulbophyllum ? sp. (no inflorescence). Costus afer? Ker. Trachycarpus (fruit) (= Vogel, no. 13).

Phrynium brachystachyum, Koern. (fruit). Cyperus distans, L. " sp. " cf. C. ligularis, L. Mariscus umbellatus, V. Panicum ovalifolium, P, de B. Centotheca lappacea, Desv. In fruit: a fragment, perhaps Anacardiacea. Pteris (Campteria) biaurita, L. " (Litobrochia) Burtoni, n. sp. 62.

Pteris (Litobrochia) atrovirens, Willd. Lonchitis pubescens, Willd. Nephrolepis ramosa, Moore. " acuta, Presl. Nephrodium subquinquefidum, Hook. Nephrodium, type and var, N. variabile, Hook. Nephrodium pennigerum, Hook. Nephrodium? sp. Acrostichum sorbifolium, L. " fluviatile, Hook. Lygodium pinnatifidum, Sw. Selaginella Vogelii, Spring. " near anceps, A. Br.? " near cathedrifolia Spring.



FUNGI, NAMED BY Dr. M. C. COOKE.

Lentinus sp. Polyporus (Mesopus) heteromorphus, Lev. Polyporus (Mesopus) acanthopus, Fr. Polyporus (Pleuropus)lucidas, Fr. Polyporus (Pleuropus) sanguineus, Fr.

Polyporus (Placodermei) australis, Fr. Polyporus (Placodermei) hemitephrus, Berh. Trametes Carteri, Berk. " occidentalis, Fr. Daedalea sangninea, Kl. Hydnum nigrum? Fr. Cladoderris dendritica, Pers. Stereum sp.

The remainder not determinable.



INDEX.

[Transcriber's Note: This index applies to both volumes I and II of this work. The entries in this text-ebook have only the volume number, and not the page number.]

Abeseba, ii. Abonsa (river), the, ii. Abosu (mining village), ii. the mine. Africa, West, proposed exchange of colonies between English and French, i. trial by jury in, ii. Amazon settlements. African, characteristics of the 'civilised,' ii. limited power of kings, travelling, Hades, disinclination to agriculture. 'African Times,' the, character of its journalism, i. ; ii. Ahema, discovery of a diamond at, ii. Ahoho (ant), the, ii. Ajamera, ii. Aji Bipa (mine), general description of, ii. Aka-kru, ii. Akankon concession, the, origin of name, ii. mineral riches, situation, general description and capabilities, native squabbles over title, Cameron's scheme for its working and local establishment, occupation suggested for the leisure of the mining staff, working hours and food. Akim, ii. Akra, earthquake at, ii. Akromasi, ii. Akus (tribe), the, ii. Albreda, i. Alligator-pear (Pertea gratislima), the, i. Alta Vista (Mt. Atlas), i. Ananse (silk spider), the, ii. Ancobra (river), the, origin of name, ii. Anima-kru, ii. Apankru, a 'great central depot,' ii. Apateplu (watch-bird), the, ii. Apatim concession, the, capabilities of, ii. Apo (chief), ii. Apollonia, ii. Apollonians (tribe), the, ii. Arabokasu, ii. situation of. Ashanti, the 'scare' from, ii. treaties with England, Sir Garnet Wolseley's settlement only a partial success, the royal place of human sacrifice, her exclusion from the seaboard, real and pretended causes of discontent, the English Government's preparations to meet the 'imminent' invasion, the King's excuses, a mission of peace, power and purport of the Gold Axe, surrender of a false axe, advocacy of a 'beach' for the Ashantis. Assini (river), the, ii. Atalaya (Canaries), and its troglodytic population, i. Athole Hock, the, ii. Axim, Port, picturesque aspect of, ii. the fort, dispensary, tomb of a Dutch governor, climate, the town, poisonous pools, paradoxes of prison life, social phases, characteristics of inhabitants, peculiarities of personal names, a negro 'king,' his suite, native swords, native music, 'compliments' to African chiefs, geological notes, stone implements, revenue, postal communication, 'the threshold of the Gold-region,' gold gathering, hints on gold-mining, fetish, departure of caravan from, cost of transport at, cocoa-trees, lagoonland, the 'Winding Water,' the bars of the river.

Ball, a native, ii. Bamboo-palm (Raphia rigifera), the, ii. Bambuk mines, the, ii. Bance (Bence's Island), i. Bassam (Grand), ii. Bathurst, physical formation, i. history, graveyard, general aspect, its 'one compensating feature,' the black health officer, commissariat quarters, reminiscences respecting, inhabitants, dress, religion, horses, the Wolof, the only native tongue spoken by Europeans, the 'African Times,' Chinese coolie labour advocated, administrative expenses, exports. Beds, African, ii. Bein, origin of name, ii. the fort, Birds, list of, collected by Capt. Burton and Commander Cameron, ii. Black Devil Society (Liberia), ii. Blake, Admiral Robert, at Tenerife, i. Blay, King, state visit of, ii. his guest-house, costume, served with a writ, his inflamed foot attributed to fetish, property in mines, loyalty to British Government. Bobowusua (a fetish-island), ii. Boma (fetish-drum), the, ii. Bombax-trees (Puttom Ceiba), i.; ii. Bonnat, M., ii. Bosomato, ii. Bottomless Pit (Little Bassam), the, ii. Boutoo, etymology of, i. Brackenbury, Capt., on the capabilities of the Gold Coast, ii. Brezo (Erica arborea), the, i. Bristol barque trade, the, on the West African coast, i. Brovi (hardest wood), ii. Bulama (colony), Capt. Beaver's description of, i. Bulloms (tribe), i. Butabue rapids, the, ii.

Calabar-Bean (Physostigma venenosum), ii. Caldera de Bandana (Grand Canary), i. Camara dos Lobos, i. Cameron, Commander, his track and researches along the Gold Coast; i., ii. personal account of further visits to the goldmines. Canadas del Pico, Las, geological formation of; i. flora, average temperature. Canarian Triquetra, the, i. Canaries, the, cock-fighting at; i. wine trade. Canary-bird (Fringilla Canaria) the, i. Canary (wine), i. Cankey-stones, ii. Cape Apollonia, origin of its name, ii. Cape Girao, i. Mount, Palmas, St. Mary, Verde, derivation of name. Capirote, or Tinto Negro (Sylvia aticapilla), the, i. Cavally (river), the, ii. Cephalonia, i. Chasma, origin of, i. Chigo (Pulex penetrans), the, ii. Chinese coolie labour, ii. Cinnabar vein, the, at Akankon, ii. Cleanliness in W. African villages, ii. Cochineal, ii. Cocoa-tree, the, ii. Codeso (Adenocarpus frankenoides), the, i. Crannog, a, i. Crockerville concession, description of the, ii. tables of temperature, &c. at. Cueva de Hielo, the, i. Curlew (Numenius arquata), ii. Custard-apple (Anona squamosa), i.

Dahse concession, the, ii. Dakar, harbour of, i. Desertas, the, i. Diamonds, ii. Divining-rod, the, used in goldmining, ii. Dixcove, ii. Dorimas (Grand Canary), i. Dos Idolos, i. Dragoeiro (Dracoena Draco, Linn.), the, i. Dragon-tree, the Tenerife, i. Drake, Sir Francis, inscription at Sierra Leone attributed to him, ii. Drewins, the, ii. Dum (Oldfieldia africana), the, ii.

Ebiasu, i. Ebumesu (river), ii. Eden, Dr., his account of the Guanches of Tenerife, i. Effuenta mine, the, ii. Elephants, ii. Elisa Cartago, ii. El-Islam, spread of, on the Gold Coast, ii. Elmina, ii. El Pilon, i. Enframadie, ii. Eshanchi (chief), ii. Essua-ti, Mr. McCarthy's visit to, ii. Esubeyah, ii.

Felfa (Gatropha curoas), the, ii. Fetish, i., ii. Fetish-pot, the, i. Fish-trap, an African, ii. Fiume, i. Fort James, i. France as a colonising power, i., proposed exchange of her West African Colonies with England. Freetown, ii. French colonisation versus English, i. Fresco-land, ii. Fuerteventura, i. Funchal, i.

Gallinas (river), the, ii. Gallo (fighting-cook), the, i. at the Canaries. Gambia (river), the, ii. the French on the. Garajao (Madeira), physical formation of, ii. Garraway trees, the, ii. Gibraltar, physical outline of, i. from English and Spanish points of view. Gold Axe, the Ashanti, powers and purport of the symbol, ii. Gold Coast, Captain Brackenbury on the, ii. Mining Company, Limited, the. Gold-digging in N.W. Africa, i. origin and history, description of the best known gold provinces, gold signs, estimate of the gold supply. Gold-region, the threshold of the, i. Gold-weights, African, i. Gold-working, development of the modes of, ii. Goree, i. Grand Bassa (Liberia), ii. Grand Canary, i. early attacks on, description of the cathedral of Las Palmas, the old palace of the Inquisition, Hispano-Englishmen of Las Palmas, excursions, physical conformation and general view of, dress of inhabitants, troglodytic populations, cochineal culture, fluctuations in cochineal commerce, wine culture. Grand Curral (Madeira), the, i. Grand Devil, the, of Kruland, ii. Grand Tabu (island), ii. Granton (Akankon), description of, ii. Grebo war, the, ii. Ground-hog, i. Ground-nut (Arackis hypogaea), i. Guanches (of Tenerife), their mummification of the dead, i. inscriptions, derivation of the name, the Guanche pandemonium. Guinea, peach (Sarcophalus esculentus), the, ii. Gyaman, history of, ii.

Hades, an African, ii. Hahinni (formica), the, ii. Harmatan (wind), origin of name, i. Hierro, Numidio inscriptions of, i. Hispano-Englishmen, i. Hornbill (Buccros), the, ii. Hydraulicking, ii.

Iboes (tribe), the, ii. Ice-cave, an, i. Ingotro concession, approach to the, ii. size, native shafts in the valley of the Namoa, origin of name, the country 'impregnated with gold,' climatal considerations. Insimankao concession, the, ii. situation of, size and geographical position. Inyoko concession, size and site, ii. its geography and geology, prospects. Ionian Islands, i. Islamism, progress of, in Africa, ii. Izrah concession, the, ii. derivation of name, dimensions and site, history, conflicting native claims, diary kept at the diggings, birds, idleness of native workmen, geographical bearings, formally made over by King Blay, favourable prospects.

James Island, i. Japanese medlar (Eriobotrya japonica), the, i. Jennings, Admiral, repulse of, in an attack on Tenerife, i. Jervis, Admiral, failure of, before Tenerife, i. Jungle-cow (or Nyare antelope, Bosbrachyceros), the, ii. Jyachabo (silver-stone), ii.

Kikam, ii. Kingfisher (alcedo), the, ii. King's Croom (mining village), ii. Kokobene-Akitaki (mine), ii. Kola-nuts (Sterculia acuminata), i. Kong Mountains, ii. Krumen, characteristics of the, ii. Kumasi, origin of name, ii, Kum-Brenni, origin of name, ii. Kumprasi, ii. Kwabina Bosom (fetish rocks), ii. Kwabina Sensense (African chief), ii. Kwansakru, a women's gold-mining village, ii.

Labour, in West Africa, ii. disinclination of natives to work, influence of the decline of population on, dearth of, Stanley's observations, superiority of native women to men as labourers, estimate of the respective value of the various tribes as labourers, wages paid to natives, coolie immigration advocated. Lagoon-land, ii. Lake village, a, i. Las Palmas, i. Liberia, colonisation of, ii. india-rubber and coffee produce, 'the Black Devil Society', progress of Islamism, disinclination of natives to agriculture, gold at. Lightning-stones, ii. Lisbon, material progress of, i. Logan, Sir William, on 'hydraulicking', ii. Lugar do Baixo, i.

Machico, i. Machim's Cross, i. Madeira, first sight of, i. conflicting claims of discoverers, early accounts of, physical contrasts with Porto Santo, views of geologists on, climate, excursions, contrasts of southern and northern coasts, peasantry, dress of peasants, domestic life, religious superstitions and morality, emigration from, geographical and geological characteristics, Christmas at, demeanour of priests at service, amusements, considered as a sanatorium, sugar cultivation, 'la petite industrie,' tobacco, pine-apples, wines, governmental shortcomings, commerce. Madeiran archipelago, the, geographical distribution of, i. climate, cedar-tree (Jumperus Oxeycedrus), the. Mahogany (Oldfieldia africana), ii. Mandenga (snake), the, i. Mandengas (tribe), ii. McCarthy, Mr. E. L., his visit to Essua-ti, ii. Messina, i. Money, African, i. Monrovia, ii. Moslem Krambos (talisman and charm writers), ii. Mount Atlas, height of, i. routine ascent of, flora, geology, zones of vegetation, characteristics of snow, extinct volcanoes, height of the Pike. Mount Geddia, ii. Mount Mesurado, the 'cradle of Liberia,' ii. Muka concession, the, i. Mummies, i.

Nahalo (a women's village), ii. Negro passengers on board the 'Senegal,' i. idiosyncrasies of, their 'pidgin English,' school. Nelson, Admiral, his repulse in an attack on Tenerife, i. Newtown, ii. Niba, i. Nicknames, ii. Nkran (formica), ii. Nopal or Tunal plant (Opuntia Tuna or Cactus cochinellifer), i. Numidic inscriptions, i.

Occros (Hibiscus), the, ii. Oil-palm (Elais guineensis), ii. Oji, etymology of, ii. Ore, cost of reducing, ii. Orotava, i. Osprey (Haliaetus), the, ii. Osraman-bo (lightning-stones), ii.

Palm-birds (Orioles), ii. Palm-wine, ii. Palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis), the, ii. Papaw, the, ii. Patras, i. Payne, Bishop, ii. Pearl-culture, ii. Pico del Pilon, the, i. Pico Ruivo, i. Pile-dwellings, i. Pino del Dornajito, the, i. Plants, list of, collected by Capt. Burton and Commander Cameron, ii. Poke Islet, ii. Polyandry, i. Ponta do Sol, i. Porto Loko, ii. Porto Santo, i. Prince's river, ii. geographical aspect, gold signs, a true lagoon-stream, animal life, fish, luxuriance of vegetation, shifting aspects and bends of the river, mining grounds, idiosyncrasies of native travelling, collecting plants, insect pests, Prince's fort, local fetish. Puerto de la Luz, i.

Retama (Cytisus fragrans, Lam), the, i.

San Christobal de la Laguna, i. Sanguis Draiconis, i. Sanma, i. Santa Cruz (Madeira), i. Santa Cruz (Tenerife), i. Sao Joao do Principe, i. Senegambia, French colonisation in, i. Sickness on the West Coast of Africa, ii. its remedies, Tinctura Warburgii. Sierra Leone, situation and aspect of, ii. geological formation, its only antiquity—Drake's inscription, washerwomen, St. George's Cathedral, the market, fruits, vegetables, meat, leather, snakes, plan of the 'city', climate, clothing and diet suitable for, rainy season, the 'Kissy' road, history of, abolition of slavery, its four colonies, the Sierra Leone Company, rival races of the Aku and Ibo, trial by jury, religious establishments, negro psalmody, negro education, influence of the Moslem faith on the negro character, journalism, population, native character, bad influence of the colony, a 'peddling' people, agriculture, the true system of negro education, Chinese coolie labour advocated, Stanley's observations on the natives', disinclination to agriculture. Sisaman (the African Hades), ii. Slavery, notes on, ii. Snakes, ii. Spanish account of the repulse of Nelson from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, i. Spiders, native beliefs concerning, ii. Spur-plover (Lobivanellus albiceps), the, ii. Stanley's, Mr., observations on the African labour question, ii. St. John concession, the, ii. St. Mary Bathurst, i. Stone implements, ii. Su, the African radical of water, ii. Sulayma river, the, ii. Sulphur, on Mount Atlas, analysis of, i. Susus (tribe), the, i. Swallow (Wardenia nigrita), the, ii. Swanzy establishment, the, ii. Swords, i.

Tabayba (Euphorbia canariensis), the, ii. Tagus, the, i. Takwa, i. character of its inhabitants, geology. Tamsoo-Mewoosoo mine, the, ii. Tartessus, i. Tasso Island, i. Tebribi Hill (mine), ii. Telde (Grand Canary), i. Tenerife, i. material progress of, aridity, religious establishments, general aspect of streets, Guanche mummies, ancient implements and dress, range of civilisation of the Guanches, ancient inscriptions, Guanche skulls, catacombs, dwellings of the Guanches, powers of the Guanches as swimmers, polyandry, derivation of the name Guanche, derivation of the name Tenerife, language, dress and personal appearance of inhabitants, Irish immigration to, hotel diet, Jardin de Aclimatacion, routine ascent of Mount Atlas, geological formation, volcanic type, flora, snow, volcanoes, height of Mount Atlas, Admirals Blake, Jennings, and Jervis's defeats, Nelson's repulse, tobacco culture, fighting-cocks, wine. Teyde, i. Til-trees (Oreodaphne foetens), i. Timnis (tribe), the, i. Tinctura Warburgii, ii. Tiya (P. canariensis), the, i. Trade-gin, ii. Troglodytic populations, i. Tsetze-fly (Glossinia morsitans), the, i. Tsil-fui-fui-fui (bird), the, ii. Tumento, meaning of name, ii. the 'grand central depot,' Cameron's illness at, geographical position of.

Vai (tribe), ii. Venice, i. Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis), the, ii.

Wages, scale of, on Gold Coast, ii. Warry (a native game), ii. Wasawahili (tribe), the, ii. Wilberforce memorial, the, at Sierra Leone, i. 'Willyfoss' (Wilberforce) nigger, a, ii. Winwood Reade, cited, ii. Wolof, the, tongue spoken by Europeans, i. Wolofs (tribe), the, i. Wolseley, Sir Garnet, at Ashanti, ii. Women's gold-mining village, a, ii.

Zante, i. Zodiacal light, the, i.

THE END