Ixxxvi 
APPENDIX. 
Degombah, another country, said to be very productive in gold,* must, by 
its situation, lie directly opposite to the Gold Coast : for it lies immediately 
to the east of Kong (the Gonjah of Mr. Beaufoy, and the Conche of D'An- 
villej.f The people of Fezzan trade to Kong. 
The triangular hilly tract above commemorated, (p. xix.) which projects 
northward from the highest part of the belt, and contains Manding, Bambouk, 
&c. is also abundant in gold; particularly in the quarter towards Bambouk, 
where it is found in mines; and that chiefly in the middle level. X (See also 
p. xix.) 
Wangara appears to have been, in its time, nearly as rich as Manding in 
this metal. The Arabs name it Belad al Tebr, or the country of gold.§ 
Edrisi, Ibn al Wardi, and Leo, bear testimony to its riches. They say that 
the gold is found in the sands, after the periodical inundation of the Niger 
the Gold Coast ; others, that the gold is rolled down by the rivers to that neighbourhood. 
Both may be true. 
It is difficult to conceive any other adequate cause, than the exchange of the gold of 
the inland countries, for the introduction of so vast a quantity of kowry shells, which are 
carried from Europe to the Coast of Guinea, and pass for small money in the countries 
along the Niger, from Bambara to Kassina, both inclusive. 
I am informed from authority, that about 100 tons of kowries are annually shipped 
from England alone, to Guinea. These are originally imported from the Maldive islands 
into Bengal ; and from Bengal into England. In Bengal, 2400, more or less, are equal to 
a shilling: and yet notwithstanding the incredible smallness of the denomination, some 
article in the market may be purchased for a single kowry. But in the inland parts of 
Africa, they are about ten times as dear; varying from 220 to 280. Mr. Beaufoy was told 
that in Kassina, they were at the rate of about 250 : and Mr. Park reports, that they are 
about the same price at Sego: but cheaper at Tombuctoo, which is about the centre of 
the kowry country ; dearer towards Manding, which is the western extremity of it. Hence 
they are probably carried in the first instance to Tombuctoo, the gold market: and thence 
distributed to the east and west. Their circulation seems to be confined between Bornou 
and Manding. In Bornou they have a coinage of base metal. 
* African Assoc. 0- p- 176: O. p. 264. 
f Mr. Park says that Kong signifies mountain, in the Mandinga language ; which lan- 
guage is in use from the frontier of Bambara, to the western sea. 
I Labat, Vol. iv. ch. 2. 
$ Bakui, and Herbelot; article Vankara. 
