Presented by Auth o rama Public Domain Books. The pits, varying from two to three feet in diameter, and from twelve to fifty deep eighty feet is the extreme , are often so near the roads that loss of life has been the result. The stuff is drawn up by ropes in clay pots, or calabashes, and thus a workman at the bottom widens the pit to a pyriform shape; tunnelling, however, is unknown.
The excavated earth is carried down to be washed. Besides sinking these holes, they pan in the beds of rivers, and in places collect quartz, which is roughly pounded. Will our grandsons believe in these times That half the washings are wasted because quicksilver is unknown?
That whilst convict labour is attainable, not a company has been formed, not a surveyor has been sent out? Western Africa was the first field that supplied the precious metal to mediaeval Europe. The French claim to have imported it from Elmina as early as A. Presently a company was formed for the purpose of carrying on the gold-trade between Portugal and Africa. After this a flood of gold poured into the lap of Europe; and at last, cupidity having mastered terror of the Papal Bull, which assigned to Portugal an exclusive right to the Eastern Hemisphere, English, French, and Dutch adventurers hastened to share the spoils.
For long years my words fell upon flat ears. Presently the Ashanti war of brought the subject before the public. The Protectorate was overrun by British officers, and their reports and itineraries never failed to contain, with a marvellous unanimity of iteration, the magic wordโGold. The fraction of country, twenty-six miles of seaboard out of two hundred, by a depth of sixtyโin fact, the valley of the Ancobra Riverโnow early contains five working companies.
Upwards of seventy concessions, to my knowledge, have been obtained from native owners, and many more are spoken of. In fact, development has at length begun, and the line of progress is clearly traced. Our object was to explore the so-called Kong Mountains, which of late years have become quasi -mythical. He came out admirably equipped; nor was I less prepared.
