5° 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
the rock, which only needs the requisite machinery to crush out, at anything 
from io dwts. to i oz. per ton, no conclusive evidence has yet been offered to 
support these statements by specimens which can be submitted to analysis. In 
1889, however, long before Europeans turned their eyes in this direction, the old 
fumbe of Kotakota told me that the quartz in his country contained gold, and 
THE SHIRE HIGHLANDS 
soon afterwards he entered into an agreement with the African Lakes Company 
that this gold should be worked. The Lakes Company turned over their 
agreement to the British South Africa Company, on whose account prospectors 
have entered the Marimba district. 
Specimens of something very like cinnabar were once submitted to Mr 
Sharpe and myself for examination. They came from the country to the west 
of the Lower Shire. We attempted an analysis but although there seemed to 
be traces of mercury in the pan we could not authoritatively state that the 
f 
