266 AFRICAN GOLD. 



conjecture as to their geological nature. At Gambia there 

 is only sand ; but opposite the town there are islands of 

 red decomposed granite. At Goree the rock is a fine 

 basalt, which takes a regular prismatic form, similar to the 

 Giants' Causeway.* 



Vast tracts of flat country, partly rich and cultivated, 

 partly desert and sandy, extend to the eastern limit, in- 

 cluding Soudan, of which the great kingdoms are Houssa 

 and Bomou. In the flat and desert regions, salt lakes and 

 natron lakes, and salt and natron springs, are met with. 

 Beds of rock-salt occur in different places, as at Teleg, 

 north of Timbuctoo, half a day's journey from Taudeny. 

 From this place is exported all the salt from Timbuctoo to 

 Jenne, and from that town to Soudan. The salt is there 

 disposed in beds several feet thick : it is mined into large 

 slabs, which are afterward sawn into blocks for the market. 

 These mines form the riches of the country. 



African Gold. — This continent, as is well known, affords 

 a considerable quantity of gold, which is found in the form 

 of rolled pieces, or in minute grains, named gold dust, in 

 the alluvium of rivers, lakes, valleys, and the wide-spread- 

 ing sand of the vast Desert. The northern parts of Africa 

 afford but little gold ; while in the countries to the south 

 of the Great Desert, there are tracts remarkable for the 

 quantity of gold they contain. Thus the flat country, which 

 extends from the foot of the mountains in which are situ- 

 ated the sources of the Gambia, Senegal, and Niger, has, 

 from an early period, afforded gold. Bambouk, w^hich is 

 situated to the north-west of these mountains, furnishes the 

 greatest part of the gold which is sold on the western coast 

 of Africa, as well as that which is brought to Morocco, 

 Fez, Algiers, Cairo, and Alexandria. The gold, as is often 

 the case, is accompanied with grains of iron ore, probably 

 the magnetic or black iron ore. Gold mines occur to the 

 south of Timbuctoo. The people employed in these mines 

 are Bambarra negroes, who become wedthy, as all the 

 particles of gold under a certam weight (12 mizams) belong 

 to them. Pieces of gold, weighing several ounces, are 

 sonaetimes found there. The country of Kordofan, to the 

 south-east of the Great Desert, affords a considerable quantity 



* Geol. Tr., vol. i., New Series, p. 418. 



