BonsHaw TOWER. 169 
their independent military position, by the junction of the two 
kingdoms. 
Bonshaw took strong part with King Charles I., and was 
always very active against the Covenant. It was Bonshaw who 
arrested the famous Donald Cargill, who was afterwards burnt 
at the High Cross of Edinburgh. My great-great-grandfather, 
William Irving of Woodhouse, had a long lawsuit for the recovery 
of Bonshaw, which he regained in 1696. He married Amelia, 
eldest daughter of Lord Rollo. They had fourteen children, of 
which James, my great-grandfather, was the second that married 
and had issue. 
GoD MINING ON THE GoLD Coast. By JoHn Maxwe tt, H.M. 
Travelling Commissioner on the Gold Coast. 
Mr Maxwell said that the Gold Colony took its name from the 
gold which was exported from the country, and we had it on the 
best authority that in 1551 Captain Thomas Wyndham on one occa- 
sion conveyed to England 150 pounds weight of gold dust. This 
gold dust was almost entirely washed from the sand of the rivers. 
Neither had this gold industry ceased to exist, for even now the 
natives lived by extracting it from the rivers. Gold dust on the 
Gold Coast was to a small extent still the money of the land; a 
perigum being forty-six dollars, nearly £10; an ounce, £3 12s 5d; 
and an ackie, 2s 6d to the natives. Even some of the towns, such 
as Elmina, derived their names from the precious metal, and it 
was perhaps needless to say that our word guinea was derived 
from the fact that the first guinea was made from gold from this 
part of Africa. The natives were born miners, and travellers 
through the country in some parts experienced great difficulty 
owing to the multitude of native shafts. These shafts were practi- 
cally open pit holes along the main roads, and he had personally 
seen one native falling down one of the shafts, and on one occa- 
sion his own dog fell down, and it was with much difficulty that it 
was rescued. Gold was to be found everywhere in large or small 
quantities, and there was no native family in the country without 
its ornaments made of the purest gold, and often of artistic work- 
manship. Mr Maxwell then described in detail the method of 
mining used by the natives. He said that the natives in selling 
gold dust between themselves used little weights. ‘There were 
