COMMERCE. 
513 
Wadstrom reckons the quantity exported from 
the Gold Coast, at the commencement of the 
present century, to be from two to three hundred 
thousand pounds. From Handing and Bambouk 
at least an equal quantity may be supposed to be 
drawn. The gold of Wangara finds doubtless 
still its way to Egypt and Northern Africa ; and 
a considerable quantity is exported from Mosam- 
bique. It is moreover employed profusely by the 
natives in rings, bracelets, and other ornaments ; 
so that the whole produce can scarcely be esti- 
mated at less than two millions. 
Ivory is another general staple of African ex- 
port. The vast plains and forest, bordering on 
all the rivers of interior Africa, are covered with 
herds of elephants, of which the natives, with a 
view to the extraction of the teeth, are in conti- 
nual pursuit. Elephants' teeth are brought by 
all the caravans across the desert, are carried 
down the Senegal and Gambia, to the shore of 
the Gold Coast, to Congo, to Mosambique, and 
are exported from Abyssinia. Ornaments of 
ivory are also very generally worn by the natives. 
Other important articles of African export are 
gums, particularly Gum Senegal, drawn from the 
part of the desert bordering upon that river, ma- 
nufactured hides and skins, particularly goats' 
skins, dyed red and yellow, one of the few manu- 
factures of Soudan j raw hides and skins, bees'- 
VOL. II. K k 
