ON GOLD IN WESTERN AFRICA. 189 



In several countries, as Dinkira, Tueful, Wasa, and especially Akim, 

 the hill region lying due north of Accra, the people are still active in 

 digging gold. The pits, varying from two to three feet in diameter, 

 and from twelve to fifty deep, are often so near the roads that loss of 

 life has been the result. " Shoring-up," being little known, the miners 

 are not unfrequently buried alive. 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 ex- 

 cavated 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. The yield is very uncertain, and the chief of the dis- 

 trict is entitled to one-third of the proceeds. During the busy season, 

 when water is abundant, the scene must resemble that described by Dr. 

 Livingstone near the gold diggings of Tete ; as in California and Aus- 

 tralia, prices rise high, and gunpowder, rum, and cotton goods soon 

 carry off the gold-dust. During the repeated earthquakes of July, 1862, 

 which laid waste Accra, the strata of the Akim hills were so much 

 shaken and broken up, that, according to report, all the people 

 flocked to the diggings and dispensed with the shafts generally sunk. 

 There are several parts of the Gold Coast where the precious metal is 

 Fetish, and where the people will not dig themselves, though perhaps 

 they would not object to strangers risking their lives. One of the most 

 remarkable is the Devil's Hill, called by Bosnian, Monte de Diablo, near 

 Winnibah, in the Aguna (Agouna) country. In his day, a Mr. Braggs, 

 English agent, was commissioned by the African Company to prospect 

 it. He died at Cape Coast Castle before undertaking a work which, in 

 those days, would have been highly dangerous. Some authorities fix 

 the Seecom river as the easternmost boundary where gold is found. 

 This is so far incorrect that I have panned it from the sands under 

 James Fort. Besides which it is notorious that on the banks of the 

 upper Volta, about the latitude of the Krobo (Croboe) country, there 

 are extensive deposits, regarded by the people as sacred. 



The Slave Coast is a low alluvial tract, and appears to be wholly 

 destitute. According to the Kev. Mr. Bowen, a small quantity of 

 gold has been found in the quartz of Yoruba, north of Abeokuta ; 

 but, as in the Brazils, it is probably too much dispersed to be worth 

 working. And the Niger which flows, as will presently be seen, from 

 the true auriferous centre, has at times been found to roll down stream- 

 gold. The soil of Fanti and the seaboard is but slightly auriferous. 



As we advance northwards from the Gold Coast the yield becomes 

 richer. In Ashantee the red and loamy soil, scattered with gravel and 

 grey granite, is everywhere impregnated with gold, wdiich the slaves 



Company a maximum of 4,000 ounces per month, we obtain from that source 

 48,000 ounces. But considerable quantities are exported in merchant ships, more 

 especially for the American market. Whilst, therefore, some reduce the total to 

 60,000 ounces, others raise it to half a million of money. 



