﻿GOLD COAST COLONY. 



OOOLE. 



>ra flut and mulj. TLera are no lurboun along the coast ; and »« 

 Uie surf is vcrr violent, the trading veaseli are obliged to anchor 

 foor or five miles from the beach. This coast was formerly much 

 rMortad to by European and American Tesaels for slaves. At present 

 it is visited by a few vessels for palmK>il, gold, and ivory : they give 

 in exchange firearms, iron and iron-ware, tobacco, rum, Uanchestvr 

 cottons, and some other articles. 



The whole of this coast being near S' N. lat, is considered one of 

 the hottest countries on the globe ; yet the mean temperature is only 

 78°, and in the cold season the thermometer sometimes fidls to 73° 

 or 74*. During the Hamattan st-ason, from the middle of December 

 to March, which is the driest and coolest part of the year, the wind 

 blows from north-east The great rainy season begins in March, and 

 continues to the beginning of June. From June to the end of 

 September is the warm season, which is the most unhealthy, espe- 

 dsilly the month of August, when the fogs are denser than at other 

 times, and generate fevers. In October and November showers of 

 rain are frequent. Except during the Hamattan season, the winds 

 Uow from the west in the middle of the day, from 11 to 3 o'clock, 

 but in the evening from south-west, and in the morning from north- 

 west. The climate is in general unhealthy, especially to Europeans 

 on their arrival Every person is attacked by a fever, which is called 

 the seasoning. This fever in many int^tances proved fatal ; but it is 

 stated that of late years the administration of quinine has been 

 found exceedingly useful in promoting the recovery of persons 

 attacked by the fevA-. 



Cape Ooa$t Cattle is the principal English fortress ; it is situated in 

 fi° 5' N. lat., 1° 12' W. long., and covers a considerable ares. In it 

 are apartments for the officers, and barracks for the private soldiers. 

 There are some spacious warehouses. It is built on a rock close to 

 the sea. Near it are the small outposts called Fort Willinm and 

 Fort Victoria. The town, which is behind the fortress, is of con- 

 siderabli extent ; it has abotit 10,000 inhabitants, of whom about 20 

 are Europeans. The streets are regularly arranged, but the houses 

 are of mud, and huddled together. Within Cape Coast Castle is a 

 government-school, which in 1852 was attended by 153 boys. 



The other forts are Accra, Annamaboe, and Dixcove. Fort St. 

 James at A ccra is occupied by a small garrison. The native popu- 

 lation is stated to be about 3000. The fort is situated on the coast 

 in 6° 32' N. lat, 0° 12' W. long., and the station is regarded as 

 among the most healthy on the Qold Coast. In the vicinity of 

 Accra is the Dutch fort of Creveccsur. About 3 miles 'E. from Accra 

 is the fort of Christiansborg, and about 30 miles N.E. from Accra is 

 the fort of Fredensborg, both recently purchased from the Danes by 

 the British government. The purchase of the Danish forts on this 

 coast has added considerably to the area of territory under British 

 protection. Anhamaboe has been noticed separately. The popu- 

 lation is said to be about 4500. The exports include the articles 

 usually sent from this coast, namely, pnlm-oil, gold-dust, ivory, and 

 grains, and the importa include British manufactured goods of a 

 useful description, besides arms, gunpowder, spirits, and wines. 

 Annamaboe is an entrepAt of commerce for Ashantee and the interior. 

 Dixcove is situated in 4° 48' N. lat, 1° 67' W. long. The bay affords 

 accommodation for vessels of 1 00 tons to take in their cargoes. The 

 native population inhabiting the town is about 1200. 



The introduction of civilising influences to the native population 

 of the Qold Coast, is chiefly owmg to the labours of the Wesleyan 

 missionaries. From the despatches of successive governors of the 

 colony, add r e ss ed to the Secretary of State, it would appear that 

 considerable progress has been made in communicating to the natives 

 the benefits of an educational and industrial training. In the year 

 1852 the Wesleyan chapels were attended by upwards of 6000 persons, 

 and about 1200 children were in attendance at the schools of the 

 mission. Mr. Fn-vuian, the misaionaiy snperintendant, established in 

 1861 an induetrial school and garden at Beulah, about 8 miles from 

 Cape Coast Castle. In February 1852 there were 23 native youths 

 under training at this establishment On December 81st 1852 Mr. 

 Freeman, writing to Qovemor Uill, says, " We have now about 750 

 Tinea, and 6000 coffee plants. The lads in the establishment work 

 wilUogly, and behave well." The Wesleyan Missionary Society 

 awenids above 6000^ a ^ear on the Gold Coast Mission. Among 

 ctber evideooas of advancing civilisation may be noticed the erection 

 by the natives of many neat cottages for the reaidenoe of their 

 umiliea, with some pretension to the conveniences and comforts of 

 European dwellings, and the construction of several good roads to 

 &cililate oommuuication between the towns and vulaiges in the 

 interior. The roods have been oonatruoted voluntarily by the natives 

 under, the directioo of the misrionariss, These encouieging features 

 have been more particularly noticeable in the neighbourhood of 

 Abrakrampa, the capital, and Domonaoi, the second town of the 

 Abrah tribe and district in the Cape Coast territory. In some of 

 the priDcipal towns of the interior chapels for Christian worship 

 hare bet-n built by the chielt at their own expense. 



Ouvcmor Uill hss endeavoured to enlist the symjiathies and 

 oc-opcntioo of the native ohie£^ by fonniiig tlicm intu a kind of 

 legislative body, including the council, with the executive at its head. 

 Kaoh chief boa agreed to pay a poll-tax of 1«. yearly for each person 

 hatnagfajg to hie tribe : from the fund thus provided eaoh diief ia to 



receive a stipend to support the dignity of his position, and from it is 

 to be defrayed the cost of such general measures of improvement 

 as the legislative body may agree to undertake. Besides the school 

 at Cape Coast Castle, already noticed, the Governor has recently 

 established one in the interior, which in April 1858 had 24 scholars, 

 and he proposes to establish schools at such places within the range 

 of his government as have not been already supplied by the Wesleyan 

 body. He has also employed the natives composing the Gold Coast 

 corps, numbering 333 non-commissioned officers, rank and file, in 

 executing works of public utility, giving them the opportunity of 

 attending the regimental school when they can be spared from other 

 service. In this way many members of the corps have made con- 

 siderable progress in reading, writing, and a knowledge of the 

 mechanical arts. By their labours 40 miles of a military rood haa 

 been opened through the Assin country, directly into the interior 

 towards the capital of Ashantee; and a fine carriage-road to Anna- 

 maboe was in process of construction in April 1853. On this road 

 a handsome bridge had been constructed, at the entrance of the town, 

 the granite for which had been first quarried by the soldiers from a 

 deposit opened by them in the immediate neighbourhood. 



(Robertson, Notes on Africa ; Huttou, Voyage to Africa ; Adams, 

 Remarht on the Countries extending from Cape Palmer to the Hirer 

 Congo ; Monrad, OemShlde der KiMe von Guinea ; Parliamentary Pajiert.) 

 GOLDBERG. [Lieonttz.] 



GOMBROON, called also Bunder Abbot, a sea-port town, situated 

 at the entrance of the Gulf of Persia, opposite the far-famed island of 

 Orniuz. The town was once flourishing, and carried on such an exten- 

 sive trade that the English, French, and Dutch found it adrantagooiu 

 to maintain large factories here ; but owing to some dispute among the 

 natives, the factories were destroyed, and Uie place abandoned by Euro- 

 peans, after which its trade was removed to Abushehr, or Bushire. Before 

 that event the town is said to have contained 80,000 inhabitants ; now 

 the population is reduced to 3000 or JOOO Arabs. It is surrounded 

 by a mud-wall, about three-quarters of a mile in circumference. The 

 houses are flat-roofed, but rather commodiously built ; the streets, as 

 in most oriential towns, are narrow and dirty. The best building in 

 the town is the palace of the sheikh, which was formerly the Dutch 

 factory, and has been converted into the residence of the Arabian 

 chief There is a good anchorage off the town, where a vessel may be 

 perfectly sheltered. The sheikh of Gombroon is dependent on the 

 Sultan of Muscat, in Arabia. 

 OOMERA. [Canaries.] 



GOMOR. [HUNOABT.] 



GONDAR, a city of Abyssinia, and the residence of the Negus, or 

 nominal emperor of that country, is situated on hilly ground at the 

 north-eastern extremity of the plain of Dembea, 30 miles N.E. from 

 the lake of Dembea, or Zana, at an elevation of 7420 feet above the 

 level of the sea. It is irregularly built, the houses or huts are all 

 of one story high and thatched. The emperor's palace, a square 

 stone building flanked with towers, is the only building of any pre- 

 tensions in the town. There are no shops or bazaars, goods and 

 merohandise of whatever sort being exposed for sole on mats in the 

 open market-place. The town has greatly declined from its condition 

 before the emperors had lost their authority ; it then contained from 

 50 to 100 churches (but Abyssinian churches are not impoBing struc- 

 tures^, and above 50,000 inhabitants. The town has some manufacturen, 

 which comprise firearms, sword-blades, knives, scissors, razors, nhields, 

 coarse pcttery, tc There is some trade by means of kafilas through 

 Gondar between the southern parts of Abyssinia and Mossowa : the 

 chief articles of this transit trade are slaves, musk, wax, elephants' 

 tusks, coffee, honey, some gold, and a kind of spice called khi51<5. 

 Most of the inhabitants of Gondar (with the exception of the priests 

 and the slaves) are engaged in this trade. There are caravan roails 

 from Gondar to Boao on the Nile. Gondar is also the capitAl of the 

 kingdom of Amhara, one of the states into which Abyssinia is ilividcd. 

 [Abtssikia.] a great quantity of rain falls at Gondar, but the 

 temperature is vrarm ; the mean temperature, according to R\>p|>ell, of 

 seven months from October to April inclusive, being 69". 'The 

 lowest temperature observed during the interval was SS'Ofl", wliieh 

 was one muming in December. Gondar is situated in about 12° 36' 

 N. Ut, 37° 30' E. long. 



GOOD HOPE, CAPE OF. [Cape op Good Hope.] 



GOODWIN SANOa [Kkhi.] 



GOOLE, West Riding of Yorkshire, a market-town, river-port, and 

 the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Suaith, in situated on 

 the right bank of the river Ouae at its junction with the river Dutch, 

 in 6S' 42' N. Ut, 0° 60' W. long., distant 30 miles K.S.K. from York, 

 180 miles N.N.W. from London by road, and 196 miles by the Groat 

 Northern and Goole Pontefract and Wakefield railways. The i>opu- 

 lation of the town in 1851 was 4722. The livings are perpetual 

 curacies in the arehdeaconry and diocese of York. Goole Pour- Law 

 Union contains 17 parishes and townships, with an area of 36,911 

 acres, and a population in 1861 of 13,546. 



Goole has only recently risen into ini)tortance. The opening of the 

 canal from Goole to Ferrybridge, the establishment of Goole as a 

 bonding port in 1 829, the subsequent erection of docks, and the com- 

 pletion of the Goole, Pontefract, and Wakefield railway have greatly 

 promoted the prosperity of the town. The ship-dock is 600 feet long 



