450 
NATURAL lilSTORY OF AFRICA. 
the quantity of gold they afford. The first is 
Kordofan, situated between Darfur and Abys- 
sinia. The gold collected there is brought to 
market by the negroes in quills of the ostrich and 
vulture. This territory, it would appear, was 
known to the ancients, who regarded -Ethiopia 
as a country rich in gold. 
The second principal tract lies to the south of 
the Great Desert of Zahara, and in the western 
part of Africa. The gold is collected in that ex- 
tensive flat which stretches from the foot of those 
mountains in which are situated the sources of 
the rivers Gambia, Senegal, and Nigen Gold 
is also found in the sands of all these rivers* 
Bambouk, which 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 Mo- 
I'occo, Fez, Algiers, and to Cairo and Alexandria 
in Egypt. 
The third principal tract where gold is abun- 
dant, lies on the south-east coast, between 15^ 
and ^^"^ of south latitude, and nearly opposite 
Madagascar. The gold of that country, it is saidy 
is found not only in the state of dust, but also in 
veins j and it is supposed, that Ophir, from whence 
Solomon obtained gold, was a country on the same 
coasts Nearer to the equator, the Gold Coast 
