INTERIOR OF AFRICA. Sigg 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
Of Gold-dust, and the Manner in which it is collected. — Process 
of Washing it. — Its Value in Africa. — Of Ivory. — Surprise of 
the Negroes at the Eagerness of the Europeans for this Com- 
modity. — Scattered Teeth frequently picked up in the Woods. — 
Mode of Hunting the Elephant. — Some Reflections on the un- 
improved State of the Country, &c. 
Those valuable commodities, gold and ivory (the next objects 
of our inquiry) have probably been found in Africa from the 
first ages of the world. They are reckoned among its most 
important productions in the earliest records of its history. 
It has been observed, that gold is seldom or never discovered, 
except in mountainous and barren countries : Nature, it is said, 
thus making amends in one way, for her penuriousness in the 
other. This, however, is not wholly true. Gold is found in 
considerable quantities throughout every part of Manding ; a 
country which is indeed hilly, but cannot properly be called 
mountainous, much less barren. It is also found in great plenty 
in Jallonkadoo (particularly about Boori), another hilly, but by 
no means an infertile country. It is remarkable, that in the 
place last mentioned (Boori), which is situated about four days' 
journey to the south-west of Kamalia, the salt market is often 
supplied, at the same time, with rock-salt from the Great 
. 6 q 2 
