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 n>f(J ^TTTif'r^/ r^a//JA, /vt/AAn- A: 
 
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 'country o/d^ KOMPAS , 
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 Country of AKIM 
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 GREAT AKANNI 
 
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 KAMANA oi 
 
 ^ ABURA 
 
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 Country of AKANNI \ 
 
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 H.Shama or 
 
 
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 'x. 
 
 > 
 
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 MAMBA 
 
 
 D.Da/n^ 
 
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 ^^Aeea(7rnt/tejC it 
 
 "X 
 
 
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 V- 
 
 
 
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w (Siiiiifa 
 
 OR 
 
 dffhl (!|aa!it Jtf 
 
 FORMERLY A COLOXY OF THE AXUMITES, 
 
 OR 
 
 AXCIEXT AliYSSIXIAXS IX THE REIGX OF 
 KIXG SOLOMOX, 
 
 AND THK 
 
 VERITABLE OPITIR OF SCRIPTURE, 
 
 XOW AN UNDISPUTED COLOXU OF 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 BV 
 
 CAPTAIN GEORGE PEACOCK, F.R.G.S. 
 
 « * . 
 
 IJlth a fac-dimile Map of the Gold Coast Terrilorn, hij B'Anville, 
 printed in the year 1729. 
 
 ALSO 
 
 Plans of the ports of Cape Coast Castle, Axim or Axum, Dix's 
 Cove, Eltnina, and the entrance of the river Volta, froai 
 Admiralty Surveys. 
 
 1880. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM POLLARD, 
 NORTH STREET, EXETER, 
 
 AND SOLD BY 
 
 POTTLE k SON, ROYAL EXCHANOE, LONDON. 
 
 To he haU of all Booh severs Piicr One lihUltnrj. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/guineaorgoldcoasOOpeac 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 ^GG.<=| 
 
 
 6 
 
 The following interesting, elaborate, and curious 
 paper was written by Captain George Peacock, f.r.g.s., 
 in 1873, shortly after the breaking out of the Ashantee 
 war, shewing that the Gold Coast of Africa or Guinea 
 was originally a Colony of Abyssinia during the reign 
 of Maquida or Azeb, the Great Queen of Sheba, and that 
 this rich country was undoubtedly the veritable Ophir 
 of Solomon. This Paper” was published in John 
 o’Groat’s Journal of the 20th November, 1873, and 
 was highly commended by the learned societies of 
 Europe and the United States. It is now reprinted in 
 a pamphlet form, with copious notes, wliich did not 
 appear in the Periodical referred to. 
 
 The Author forwarded a copy of this “Paper” to 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley and received a handsome letter of 
 thanks and commendation, dated from the camp of the 
 British Army, by order of Sir Garnet (see P.S.). 
 
 On tlie return of the army to England a Imiiquet 
 was given by the Mayor of Liverpool to Sir John 
 Glover, when in tlie course of his (Sir John’s) S[)eech, 
 
y 
 
 4 
 
 he referred to the products, and great abundance of 
 gold on this part of the African Coast. 
 
 No less than four companies have recently been 
 formed for extracting the gold at this long neglected 
 “ Eldorado,” on the most improved system that ex- 
 perience in modern gold mining has perfected. These 
 companies have a large capital subscribed, and will 
 employ the most skilful and energetic managers, 
 with the best desciiption of macluTiery. The Guinea 
 or Gold Coast being now an entirely undisputed British 
 colony, with plenty of cheap labour, and having fre- 
 quent and easy steam communication with England, 
 it is confidently expected that before many years the 
 yield of the precious metal will be equal to or even 
 exceed the annual exports of either California or Aus- 
 tralia in their palmiest days, and prove a most re- 
 munerative imdertaking to the pioneer companies 
 which arc now working in the Wassau district. 
 
 London, 1st May, 1880. 
 
^\)t Clmttca, 
 
 OR 
 
 ®oliJ Coast of Africa. 
 
 To the Editor of the Johi o' Groat's Journal. 
 
 Sir, — As everything connected with the Ashantees 
 and the Gold Co^ist of Africa may be considered in- 
 teresting at the present moment, I make no apology 
 for introducing this letter to your notice, if you can 
 find room for it in your excellent paper. 
 
 In September 18G7, at the breaking out of the 
 Abyssinian war, the writer published a little book 
 entitled, The Iland-hook of Ahyssinia, which was very 
 well received, and therein the following passage occurs, 
 (Notes to page 12th, line 35th) — “ Agoona is the name 
 of a petty little kingdom on the Gold Coast of Africa, 
 and there are two other places not far from Agoona, 
 called Axum or Axim and Ankober (both Abyssinian 
 names) the latter being that of the southern capital of 
 Abyssinia, whilst Axum or Axim was the name of the 
 central capital of this ancient and once mighty Empire. 
 There is another place called Sabu or Saba, adjoining 
 the Gold Coast, formerly belonging to the ' kingdom of 
 Wliidah, which kingdom was conquered by the king 
 of Dahomey and annexed in 172G.” 
 
 This Agoona may probably have been the Agow of 
 Cosmas, and a part, if not the whole, of the Gold Coast 
 a colony of the Axumites. Cosmas states that “ every 
 other year the king of Axum (Axim) sent several 
 persons of distinction to traffic with the natives of 
 Agow (Agoona) for gold.” “ At this period the Abys- 
 sinians were acquainted with the art of navigation, and 
 had recently imbibed the spirit of trade, and acquired 
 the seaport of Adidis or Zoola (now Annesley Bay), 
 
6 
 
 from whence they penetrated along the African coast as 
 far as the equator in search of gold, emeralds, and 
 aromatics.” But as Mr. Salt found Greek inscriptions 
 among the ruins of Axum, also at Adulis, in Annesley 
 Bay, in 1805, this Adulis might have been originally 
 one of the early Greek colonial cities, coeval with, or 
 even anterior to the reign of David and Solomon, a 
 long time before Axum or Axim became the central 
 capital of Abyssinia ; and it is quite possible that these 
 enterprising people — the ancient Greeks — were the 
 first to double the Cape of Good Hope, under the 
 auspices of the reigning monarch of Abyssinia — probably 
 the greaf Queen Maquida, or Azeb, herself ; and, query, 
 did they, finding abundance of gold there, and a savage 
 people worshipping a huge serpent, call it Ophir, from 
 0(piQ — a serpent or Python? The Pythian games were 
 established in renovated Greece about this time, the 
 first year of the Olympiad, during the reigns of David 
 and Solomon ; and abundance of gold poured into 
 Greece at this period, as well as Judea,* probably 
 brought from Agoona, or the neighbouring kingdoms 
 
 1 1 Clirolucles, xvi, 25. “ So David gave to Oman for the place 
 
 600 shekels of gold by weight,” equal to about J1200 sterling. 
 
 1 Chronicles xxii, It. “ Xow, behold, in niy trouble (or perplexity) 
 I have prepared for the House of the Lord an hundreil thousand 
 talents of gold, and a thousand thousand tnlents of silver” (about 
 one billion and fifty millions sterling, as a talent of gold Avas Avorth 
 about L7000, and a talent of silver about L350) “and of brass and 
 iron Avithout Aveight, for it is in abundance ; timber also and stone 
 have I prepared.” 
 
 1st Kings, X, 10, “And she (the Queen of Saha or Sheba) gaA'e 
 the king an hundred and tAventy talents of gold ” (worth about 
 L840,000). 
 
 “11 And the naA^y also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, 
 brought in from ( )phir great jdeiity of almug trees and })recious stones.”* 
 
 “ 12 And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house 
 of the Lord and for the king’s lious(‘.” 
 
 “14 Koav the Aveight of gold that came to Solomon in one year 
 Avas six hundred tliree score and six talents of gold” (AVorth about 
 four millions six hundred and sixty two thousands i)()un(Is sterling). 
 
 There Is a (luplieate or repetition of this verse in 2 Chroiiieles, ix, 10, but 
 there they are called “al(/i(iii ” trees. 
 
of the Gold Coast. It is recorded in the early history 
 of renovated Greece, that a “ golden statue of Victory 
 was placed in front of the Temple of Olympus, and a 
 golden vase at each end of the roof. Beneath the statue 
 hung a shield of beaten gold. Within the temple was 
 the statue of the god, the work of one of the most famous 
 sculptors that ever lived. It was of enormous size, made 
 of flesh-coloured (stained) ivory and gold. Precious 
 stones and painting and gold not only adorned the 
 figure of the god, but the throne on which he sat.” 
 We must not foro'et that one of the ancient names of 
 Africa was Olympius. Query, miglit not the first ship 
 that rounded the Gape and discovered this wonderful 
 gold coast, conquering the inhabitants who worshipped 
 a great Python, and bringing home such a quantity of 
 gold, have been called the Apollo ? ” (see foot note at 
 page 17) and hence, through the medium of that all- 
 powerful agency — gold — might have arisen the sacred 
 legend which instituted the Pythian games at Delphos, 
 their generally received origin as connected with the 
 Deucalian deluo’e notwithstanding’. The Greeks were 
 the most enterprising followers or imitators of the 
 Phoenicians, and among tlie first people smitten with 
 the aura sacra fames; and we must bear in mind 
 that the exj^edition to Colchis by the Argonauts, 
 
 “16 And king Solunion made two linndred targets of beaten 
 gold, six linndred shekels of gold went to one target ” (worth about 
 A 240,000 sterling). 
 
 “17 And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold, three 
 pounds of gold went to one shield ” ("’orth about .£7.5,000 sterling). 
 
 “18 IMoreover the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid 
 it with beaten gold.” 
 
 “21 And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold and 
 all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon w(a*e of pure 
 gold, noiK! weiH' of silv(‘r ; it was iiDthing accounted of in the days of 
 Solomon.” 
 
 “22 For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the 
 navy of Hiram. Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish 
 bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes and })eacocks.” Shii)S of 
 Tharshish meant large ships lit to make long voyages, not mere 
 coasting vessels. 
 
8 
 
 althouo-h it failed in bvino^in^ lioine the Golden Fleece, 
 
 o o o y 
 
 became sacred scripture in heathen mythology, and 
 the ship Argo was afterwards constituted a constel- 
 lation of the celestial globe. The three years’ voyage 
 to the Ophir of Solomon would also answer much 
 better for the Gold Coast of Africa than Ceylon or 
 Sofala,* and these voyages might have been begun by 
 enterprising Greeks who were driven out of the Pelo- 
 ponesus during the eighty years of Grecian obscurity 
 after the Trojan war, and previous to the reinvasion of 
 Greece by the Heraclidse. Besides Olympius, another 
 of the ancient names of Africa was Lybia, so called 
 from the grand-daughter of Jupiter, and the great 
 Egyptian god Osiris was synonymous with Jupiter, 
 Apollo, Hercules, and Prometheus. After the des- 
 cription of the celebrated siege of Troy by Homer, the 
 great bard describes Egyptian Thebes ; and Greek 
 inscriptions are found on the ruins of temples, &c., in 
 this once enormous city to this day. Osiris was also 
 worshipped at Heliopolis as Apollo or the Sun. I)id 
 not the Greeks, then, some years after the Trojan war, 
 become identified, as it were, with Egypt ? and hence 
 the invasion of the Heraclidm from Daraa (not Doria),*^ 
 after which the Olympic games were established, and 
 she (Egypt) then became a powerful nation. 
 
 Dr. I)oig, formerly master of the Grammar School at 
 Stirling, came to the conclusion that the Ophir of 
 Solomon ivas situated on tlie Gold Coast of Africa f 
 and we may reasonably suppose that the fleets of 
 Solomon and Hiram, after leaving the port of Ezion- 
 geber or Elion, proceeded down the Bed Sea with a 
 fair wind to Adulis (now Annesley Bay), where they 
 provisioned and recruited, having established relations 
 with Azeb, the Queen of Saba, Sheba, or Abyssinia, 
 waiting there for the favourable monsoon,* and then pro- 
 
 1 Or Soutliern India. 
 
 Daara was tlic ancient name of tlie Nile at IMcn’oc — its western 
 brancli and may liave been confoumled witli J)oria or J)oris. 
 
 ^ do!) xxii, 21. 
 
9 
 
 ceeding leisurely along the African coast, after passing 
 the Straits of Babel Mandeb (the Gate of Death) ; and 
 probably halting at Zanzibar or Delagoa Bay for 
 favourable weather to round the Cape, from tlience 
 proceeding along the west coast of Africa with the 
 favourable southerly trade wind, and taking in their gold 
 and ivory, apes and peacocks at the rivers Volta, Prah, 
 Ankober, Slierbro, Issini, Mattoniba, Gambia, &c. (? the 
 then colonial possessions of tlie Axumites) ; where they, 
 perhaps, also collected the almug timber — a hard coral 
 coloured wood — probably what we now term the African 
 oak, or it might have been the gum copal tree, which 
 abounds at Sierra Leone (see 1st Kings, x, 11.)' From 
 thence they may have proceeded along the African 
 shores to the great Phoenician port of Tharshish (now 
 Cadiz or Seville, or perhaps Carthagena), where they 
 probably took in their silver, and continued their 
 voyage by the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) 
 to Tyre and Joppa : thus occupying three years ; or if 
 they returned from the Gold Coast without visiting 
 Tharsliish, still occupying three years. 
 
 Bruce considered that SofaJa, on the S.E. coast of 
 Africa, was the Ophir of Solomon, and that owing to 
 the monsoons it would actually take three years to go 
 to Sofala and return to Eziongeber ; but I rather agree 
 with Dr. Doig, backed, as it seems to be, by the writings 
 of Cosmas and similarity of names on the Gold Coast 
 to those of Abyssinia. I have in my possession an 
 old map of the Gold Coast, printed in 1729 by M. 
 D’Anville (a copy of this map is published herewith) 
 in which he places a range of mountains some twelv^e 
 leagues inland of Agoona and Accra," washed by the 
 river Volta, called Tafu — marked in the map as 
 “ abounding in gold near which is a province 
 
 1 The cedars of r.eoaiioii and pine tinihe.r were too soft for columns 
 for wliicli tlie Alnnig or Alg’nin timher was used. 
 
 2 Accra is a Cartliagenian name, and tlie Cartluigenians are said hy 
 Herodotus to have receivinl gold from a hhiclc nation hy caravan 
 across the great desert of Sahara. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 called Quahu — also marked, ‘^rich in gold.”‘ These 
 mountains are jiow considered fetish or sacred, and 
 from religious feelings are not allowed to be worked 
 in the present day, and the natives are very jealous of 
 their position being known. The quantity of gold im- 
 ported in the three years by Solomon was about fourteen 
 millions sterling (2000 talents).^ 
 
 The natives of this coast to the present day worship 
 the great Python or sacred serpent of that country, 
 rearing temples to its honour, and worshipping it as a 
 god! A friend of tlie writer, a large Liverpool shipowner 
 and African merchant, related to him the other day a 
 circumstance that happened on board one of his ships a 
 few years ago. The crew had been allowed to go on 
 shore, and in the woods they killed a huge serpent, 
 which they brought on board. The priests heard of it, 
 complained to the king, and all trading was immediately 
 stopped, but the ship was allowed to remain for a certain 
 period by the payment of a fine, until trading was 
 resumed. In the meanwhile the priests came on board 
 the ship and carried the body of the serpent on shore, 
 proceeding with it to their temple with great proces- 
 sional pomp. This affair caused a great loss to the 
 owners, Messrs. Stuart and Douglas of Liverpool, and 
 strict orders were given to the captains and supercargoes 
 afterwards not to attempt the destruction of any more 
 snakes or serpents. » 
 
 British missionaries on this coast have long endea- 
 voured to put down this fetishism, but the native priests 
 point to certain verses in Exodus and Numbers in the 
 Bible distributed amongst them by the Bible Society, 
 translated into their native language, in support of 
 
 ^ 8ee map. 
 
 2 Sec page 13. 
 
 3 Tlio sacred serpent or Python of this country attains a length of 
 from seventeen to twenty feet, is from eighteen to twenty inches in 
 girth, and is capable of swallowing a goat entire. jMcCullock in his 
 “Geographical Dictionary,” published in 1866, says, “this reptile 
 acquires a length of thirty feet (?) ” (sec P.S.). 
 
11 
 
 it,* and also cunningly draw arguments in favour 
 of utterly destroying their enemies from the books 
 of Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, &c., where 
 they think they have divine authority for exter- 
 minating their enemies, and decapitating their 
 prisoners ! They also worship, or did worship, idols 
 in groves, like the Canaanites ; and a tribe of the 
 Abyssinians, called Agows, residing at Lasta and Damut 
 in Abyssinia, were supposed by Bruce and Salt to have 
 been the descendants of the Canaanites driven out from 
 Canaan by the Jews.^ They also pay divine honours 
 to the rivers Nile and Taccazzi, as the natives of the 
 Gold Coast do to the sea at the present time. They also 
 circumcise both sexes during infancy, like the Abyssin- 
 ians, saying this custom was handed down to them by 
 their ancestors ; and they conduct their funerals in the 
 same way as the Abyssinians, holding drunken wakes, 
 and howling over the deceased like the Irish 
 
 The two kingdoms of Akim and Akinni are marked 
 in M. DAnvilie's map as being very powerful, and 
 
 ^ Exodus, c. iv., V. 3. “And he (Moses) cast it (his rod) on the 
 ground and it became a serpent.” — Exodus, iv, 3. 
 
 “And Aaron cast down Ms rod before Pharaoh, and before his 
 servants, and it became a serpent.” — Exodus, vii, 10. 
 
 “ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole ; and 
 it came to pass that if a serpent liad bitten any man when he beheld 
 the serpent of brass he lived.” — Numbers, xxi, 9. 
 
 “ The brazen serpent that Moses had made was broken up by 
 Hezekiah some 300 years after Solomon’s time, because the people of 
 Israel worshipped it. Mr. Forster considers that this serpent was 
 cast by INIoses at Talmona, the present IMaan, near Mount Hor, after 
 the death of Miriam .” — Stones Crying Oat” 
 
 2 So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord 
 had said unto Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto 
 Israel.” — Joshua, xi, 23. 
 
 ^ Speaking of the religion of tlic Gold Coast inhabitants, an 
 allegory exists of the book and calabash as follows, viz. — ^Thc great 
 s})irit, after creating three white and three black men and Avomen, 
 jdaced before them a large calabash and a sealed paper, giving to tlie 
 black race the choice of the two : they took the calabasli wliicli con- 
 tained gold, iron, and the choicest productions of the earth, but left 
 them in ignorance of their use and application. The scaled paper or 
 book, on the contrary, instructed the white men in everything, made 
 
12 
 
 rich in gold ; ” but they do not work their gold mines 
 in the present day, owing to religious scruples, and are 
 very jealous of their position being known, as before 
 remarked ; but merely accumulate such God-sent gold 
 as becomes disintegrated, and is washed down by the 
 rivers in the rainy season ; and there is no doubt, from 
 the tenor of this map and the geographical writings of 
 Ogilby, Miller, Salmon, and others, that if the gold 
 mines were thrown open and worked like those of 
 California, Australia, and New Zealand, any amount of 
 the precious metal might be produced under the tuition 
 of English, American, or Australian miners ; and King 
 Koffee could easily procure sufficient gold, not only to 
 pay all the expenses of this untoward war, but an 
 annual tribute of a million or more, if compelled so to 
 do.‘ Adjoining the town of Little Kommenda, or 
 Aprobi, near the sea, lies a hill which is marked in the 
 map — “ contains much gold” This mine caused the 
 Castle of Las Minas (Elmina) to be erected by the 
 Portuguese towards the close of the fourteenth century, 
 but in 1G22, as the natives were working it, the 
 ground fell in for want of props, and the miners were 
 all smothered, so that Gueffa, King of Kommanni, 
 
 them the hivoritcs of tlic great spirit, and gave them that siipeiiority 
 which the negroes always readily acknowledge. From this legend, 
 notwithstanding the worship of the great Python, and the sea, the 
 snn, and the moon, hy some sects, it is evident that they had some 
 notion of a 8n])reme Peing ! They have a firm belief in a future 
 state, although this belief is unfortunately associated with the massacre 
 of great numl^ers (some hundred^) of innocent victims at the death of 
 tlieir kings or chiefs, with a view of their being attended by tiiein in 
 a future world, and the victims themselves, called ornh'i or souls, it is 
 said, are not avcu’se to this dreadful sacrifice, believing thus, under 
 royal auspices, to secure a passport to Paradise. Let us hope that 
 lik(! sutt('ism in India, by the labours of tlie missionary and civilization, 
 these fanatical murderous rites will soon b(‘ abolisluHl ! 
 
 ’ Since the ndurn of the Ashant(H‘ expedition .several companies 
 liave bec'ii formed for working the gold miiu's and are now (March, 
 1880) .sending out machinery for this ])urpose ; it is said that some of 
 tlie gold ore sent home has assayed £5000 to the ton, and from £10 
 to £25 a ton in bulk ! 
 
13 
 
 issued an edict that no one was to dig any more in 
 this hill, and up to the end of the eighteenth century 
 it had never been attempted, or even perhaps to the 
 present day, as they affirm that apparitions of golden 
 dogs are seen in the mines (query — identical with the 
 Egyptian god Anubis ?) and other imps are conjured 
 up by fear, to prevent the legitimate working of the 
 mines, which are now considered fetish or sacred ; but 
 if priestcraft can be put down in this respect, no doubt 
 abundance of the precious metal would be forthcoming 
 ' from this wonderful country ! * 
 
 The quantity of gold named by David in his address 
 to Solomon (see 1st Chron. xxii, 14) was enormous, 
 100,000 talents of gold — -reckoning a talent as only 
 worth £7000 in round numbers, it would equal seven 
 hundred millions sterling ! besides 1,000,000 talents 
 of silver ! all of wliich he had “ prepared for building 
 the house of tire Lord.” Is not the Hebrew word 
 kikkar, however, wrongly translated ? Should it not 
 be bars and not talents ? For even this would have 
 been an enormous amoirnt, reckoning each bar ah only 
 seventy pounds sterling for the gold and twenty 
 pounds for the silver, which would give seven millions 
 in gold and twenty millions in silver ! 
 
 I have not been able to ascertain whether the 
 Ashantees proper are in general of the regular negro 
 type, with flat noses, thick lips, and woolly hair, or 
 whether they are of the Abyssinian or Sikh tribe of 
 negroes ; Miller in his Geography of the Gold Coast 
 says the women have high noses and long curly hair. 
 If so it would seem to confirm the writings of Cosmas, 
 and that the Axumites, under Grecian leaders, had 
 planted a colony on this coast some 2900 years ago ! 
 Bosman before named, who was for many years a 
 
 ^ Then; is a tradition extant in the archives at Cairo of niyst(;rioiis 
 travellers liaving been seen lloating down tlie Nile in vessels of anti(j[ne 
 build, accompanied by women of blackest colour but with Grecian or 
 Ethiopian features, adorned with rings, collars and bracelets of pure 
 gold I 
 
14 
 
 resident at St. George de las Minas — a fortress taken 
 by the Dutch from the Portuguese in 1638, and lately 
 ceded to the English now called “ Elmina ” — see plan 
 (the seeming cause of the present war), says, as quoted 
 in Millers Geography,'’ “ That the kingdom of Agoona 
 is governed by a woman, and has ever been so 
 governed, the eldest daughter being made Queen at 
 the death of the sovereign. She contracts a sort of 
 Morganatic marriage with the handsomest slave of her 
 choice, and her sons are sold as slaves, the daughters 
 having the privileges of Princesses.” Wimba, the 
 principal town on the sea coast, lies about 15 leagues 
 to the eastward of Elmina. May not this anti-Salique 
 law have been inherited from Maquida or Azeb, Queen 
 of Sheba ? showing by inference that this part of Africa 
 was really an Axumite colony during the reign of that 
 powerful Queen, whose dominions extended from 
 Meroe, on the borders of Egypt, to the great lakes. 
 She is said in the Bible to have come ‘^from the 
 uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of 
 Solomon,” and might have told him of her colonial 
 golden possessions beyond the southern Cape. 1 have 
 myself seen negro slaves at Bio de Janeiro and 
 Maranham, said to have been brought from the Gold 
 Coast, with decided Ethiopian features, like the Sikhs 
 in India, having long black hair and aquiline noses. It 
 is also said that numbers of the natives of the Congo 
 are of decidedly Ethiopian' features, quite different to 
 the ordinary negro of Nigritia. 
 
 King John of Portugal despatched Cavillam and 
 Payo to look for Prester John, after he had first heard 
 of him through the Portuguese commander Camm or 
 Ca6n, who discovered the river Congo in 1484, and was 
 there told of a powerful Christian King reigning in 
 Abyssinia, from the southern parts of whose dominions 
 this river came. This Cavillam arrived in Abyssinia 
 via the Bed Sea in 1490, and having been informed 
 that a passage existed round the southern promontory 
 
15 
 
 of Africa, he procured a chart and sent it- to King 
 John ; and a few years afterwards, in the reign of 
 Emanuel, Vasco de Gama was despatched to make the 
 voyage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, in which 
 he succeded in 1497, passing it on the 20th November, 
 and making tlie land again, far to the N.E., on Christ- 
 mas-day of that year, calling it Natal, or the Nativity, 
 from this circumstance, which name it still retains. 
 
 Now it seems probable that the southern extremity 
 of the Abyssinian Empire, called Narea, or Enarea, 
 may have reached the great lakes called Zafflan, Zaire, 
 and Zembre (as shewn in an old map published in the 
 reign of Charles II, 1680, by Jacobus Murcium,in Latin), 
 from the former of which lakes one branch of the Nile 
 is made to how, and another branch from the Zaire ; 
 and the Congo is made to how from the united Zaire 
 and Zembre lakes, extending to latitude 12° south, 
 no doubt the same lakes re- discovered by Grant, Speke, 
 Livingstone, and Baker. The fame of Prester John 
 may have been easily conveyed by the Congo to the 
 mouth of that river ; and it is very probable that the 
 large quantity of gold said to have been brought into 
 Abyssinia, via Enarea, by the “ Kaffirs,”* or Agows, 
 came from the coast of Guinea by the Congo, and 
 stimulated the Axumites to search for this country by 
 sea.'*^ It is well known that in early days the caravans 
 which came to Morocco across the desert brought gold 
 from countries beyond the Gambia; and it. is recorded 
 in Herodotus that the Carthaginians traded for gold 
 with a black nation in Lybia far beyond the pillars of 
 Hercules, some 500 years B.C. According to Bosman 
 the rainy season on the Gold Coast is pretty well over 
 by the early part of September, and the. evenings are 
 
 ^ Kaffirs ill the Gheeze language signifies Heathens or Pagans, the 
 same as Ago\vs. 
 
 2 This arduous journey across the “ dark continent” from Lake 
 Taganyika to the Atlantic seaboard by the Congo has lately been 
 achieved by the two celebrated travellers and explorers, Cameron and 
 Stanley. 
 
16 
 
 cool — indeed, it may be called cold, although from 9 in 
 the morning to 3 p.m. it is very hot, even during the 
 winter season, or from October to March, but this is 
 the healthiest part of the year. Heavy rollers set in 
 very frequently from the sea, owing to distant gales 
 of wind blowing in the South Atlantic, the waves 
 rolling on and on till they find a shore to break upon ; 
 and it is difficult to land on any part of the coast at all 
 seasons, although there are periods of tolerable smooth 
 water between the setting in of these terrible rollers as 
 the successive district gales near Cape Horn come and 
 go. Matthews, who visited Sierra Leone in the early 
 part of the present century, soys “ cotton of three 
 natural colours is grown in this neighbourhood, white, 
 pink, and nankeen, and by careful cultivation could be 
 produced to any amount ; and the best indigo in the 
 world grows wild in every part of the countiy.” He 
 also confirms the statement of circumcision being per- 
 formed on the children of both sexes, the girls under- 
 going the sacred rite on arriving at the age of puberty 
 at the hands of the priests, with mystic ceremonials 
 like those of the Bona Dea, or Cybele, • among the 
 Greeks and liomans. 
 
 The Gold Coast lies very nearly east and west, and 
 extends about two hundred and twenty miles, or from 
 the river Issini to the river Volta, embracing the coast 
 line of some twelve petty kingdoms (now in the pos- 
 session of Great Britain) ; the river Volta separates 
 the British colony from the kingdom of Dahomey. The 
 Issini is said to rise some 400 miles in the interior, 
 but is only navigable for boats ; there was formerly 
 a French fort at its entrance.’ The Bio-del- Oro, 
 
 ^ It is said tliat tliis coast was discovered in 1364-G6, by a French 
 cx{)loring i)arty in the reign of Charles A", of France. 
 
 Captain Thos. Wyndhani, an Englisliinan, in 1551, visited tlie Gold 
 Coast and brought home 150 })onnds weight of gold. 
 
 In the early part of the eighteenth century no less than three 
 millions worth of gold were shipped on board a small schooner for 
 Lisbon from Elmina. 
 
17 
 
 or Eiver of Gold, and the Rio Manco, have the 
 settlement of Apollonia (a Grecian name so called 
 from Apollo) about half-way between them.* Next to 
 the Manco is the Rio del Ankober, which rises in the 
 kindgdom of Wassau, passing through that of Egwira, 
 “ both rich in gold.” About seven miles to the N.W. 
 of Cape Three Points, is the old fortress of Frederick- 
 burgh, which once belonged to the Prussians, but they 
 sold it to the Dutch in the early part of the eighteenth 
 century ; they also at one time held a fortress on Cape 
 Tliree Points, and another called Dorothea, about three 
 leagues to the eastward of the Cape, which was taken 
 by the Dutch in 1643. The next place of any note is 
 Sakkundi, which at one time produced “ large quan- 
 tities of gold” in barter. We then come to the River 
 Prah, the sacred stream of the Ashantees, where poor 
 Commerell was so seriously wounded.*'* This river 
 was formerly called St. John, and also St. George, 
 in some old maps. It separates the kingdom of 
 Asliantee from its powerful and rich neighbours, the 
 Akanni, who, it is hoped, are allied with tlie Fantees 
 on our side. A few miles beyond the Prah is the gold 
 mine before named in the kingdom of Commenda or 
 Kommany, close to the town of Cotoberi, where a 
 fortress was built by the Dutch in 1688. Nine miles 
 from this is the fortress of Flrnina before named (see 
 plan). About eight miles to the eastward of this lies 
 Ckpe Corse ; it is a projecting promontory resembling a 
 
 1 Apolloniae were feasts sacred to A})ollo instituted in Greece in 
 conse(|uence of Apollo con(|nering the Python. “The true Apollo, 
 how(',ver, was that of Egyi)t, Crus the son of Osiris, subse(|uently 
 worship})ed in Greece.” 
 
 Extract from the Ilymii of Callimachus (the celebrated Greek poet 
 of Gyrene in iwbia, who flourished some 300 years r>.C.) to Apollo : 
 
 “ Thr. moiuti'ons Pi/tlion dur-st tempt tluj icrath. in vain — 
 
 For (lead he fell to thij (fr(u(t strenr/th^ and (jolden arms ^ineqwd. 
 
 Ijenefdh his steps the yellow mineual rlse.s — 
 
 And Fartli reveals her trefan res f 
 
 Asliantee or Ashanty is an Abyssinian name. There is a lake in 
 Abyssinia called Ashangy or Ashanty. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 corpse from one point of view, hence the name, now 
 called Gape Coast (see plan). It is on this fortress, by 
 the latest account, that the Ashantees are marching. 
 
 There seems to be a feeling on the part of some of 
 our very clever politicians, who know little of geography 
 and less of the resources of any country, that we ought 
 to abandon this colony of the Gold Coast, and supply 
 the natives ad libitum with Bibles, Brummagem 
 muskets, Sheffield blades, spirits, and gunpowder, 
 to their hearts’ content ; so that with the Bible in 
 one hand, and a two-edged coulter in the other, they 
 may freely go forth, slay their harmless neiglibours, 
 and cut off their heads, secundum artem, as long as 
 they will barter gold for these much -coveted luxuries 
 of the “untutored savage.” No doubt there has been 
 a great deal of bad management in the government 
 of this country for some years past, and the result 
 is now seen by our having drifted into an untoward war 
 with the Ashantees that will cost a thousand times 
 more than the black mail we ought to have known was 
 to have been paid to King Koffee for the privilege of 
 living quietly at St. George de las Minas. However, 
 this question having now assumed a phase where British 
 honour is involved, we are bound to subdue these 
 savages at all cost f and as “ out of evil comes good,” 
 let us hope that having succeeded in this respect we 
 shall see the necessity of promoting civilization here by 
 the endowment of public schools like those at Lagos 
 and other parts of civilized Africa. Next annul their 
 stupid superstitions as to sacred gold mines, and evil 
 
 1 111 the year 1824, Sir Charles jMcCarty, the Governor of Cape 
 Coast, at the head of 1000 men was totally defeated with great loss, 
 he himself was killed and it is said that the king of Ashantee cut out 
 his heart and eat it ! Two years after tliis the Ashantees were defeated 
 themselves with great slaughter, and consented to pay the llritish six 
 tlioiisand ounces of gold (about .£' 20,000) as the price of peace. The 
 temerity of King Koifee in declaring war against the English again in 
 1873, was terribly punished by Sir Garnet AVolseley in marching on 
 his capital, Coomassie, and burning it to the ground. 
 
19 
 
 genii in mines (once prevalent in Cornwall), and by all 
 means appoint missionaries — good Negro missionaries,' 
 if possible — who will teach the pure religion of Jesus 
 Christ, and pay them well to prevent their trading. 
 Do not allow the Bible to become a fetish, as at present, 
 but leave it at home, at least that portion of it which, 
 in respect to the bloody wars of the Jews, has nothing 
 whatever to do with Christianity, and does much harm. 
 Inculcate industry in tilling the ground and producing 
 food and raw textile material. Encourage or enforce 
 the wearing of suitable apparel, like our free and inde- 
 pendent negroes in the West Indies. Prevent the 
 indiscriminate importation of muskets, swords, coulters, 
 daggers, spirits, and gunpowder, and substitute the 
 miner's pick, the shovel, and the hoe. Compel the 
 chiefs, or kings, as they call themselves, to ‘^seek peace 
 and ensue it." Encourage legitimate gold-mining, the 
 staple produce of the soil, and introduce miners to teach 
 them the art ; and by placing an export duty on the 
 gold, a large revenue will be raised for supporting the 
 Government without taxing the British dominions — in 
 short, make the Gold Coast an integral part of these 
 dominions. ‘ Thus the inscrutable ways of Providence 
 may, by the present unlooked-for war, eventually bring 
 about happiness to some five millions of human beings, 
 who are at present suffering more misery than when 
 the foreign slave trade, with all its horrors, was in full 
 force ; and also prove the means of establishing a 
 universal specie currency, and prevention of these 
 lamentable panics in the money-market, which bring 
 such misery into the families of a civilized community. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your constant reader, 
 
 GEORGE PEACOCK, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Foiiiitrhj n MoMer {N<nmjatiyi(f ()(jic(‘r) in ilw Roijal Nanj. 
 
 Regent House, Starcross, Devon, 
 
 Kov. 5, 1873. 
 
 ^ Tliis has now been accomplished, tlu; whole of the Gold Coast 
 being indisputably a colony of Great Pritain. 
 
20 
 
 Since the above was written, Captain Peacock haS 
 sent us the following note: — 
 
 “I find the usual value of ancient hars of gold was 
 about £70 each, and 100 of such bars went to a talent; 
 whilst a bar of silver, much larger in bulk, was worth 
 about £20 only, so that 100,000 of these ‘kikkars’ 
 (bars or ingots) would represent in gold about 
 £7,000,000 ; and the 1,000,000 kikkars of silver to 
 £20,000,000, or about twenty-seven million pounds 
 sterling, in round numbers, instead of the enormous 
 and almost incredible sum named in talents by what T 
 think is a wrong translation of the word ^kikkar.’ ” 
 
 Editor. 
 
 THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 
 
 Extracts from the Handbook of Abyssinia.’' 
 
 The country opposite Arabia in the Bed Sea, at the 
 time of David, King of Israel, having Axum for its 
 capital, was probably known as Sheba or Saba (see 
 Psalm Ixxii, 10 and 15). It has been supposed, 
 however, that Sheba or Saba was on the other side of 
 the Bed Sea, and that Queen Balkis, as claimed by 
 Arabian historians, was the Queen of Sheba or Mareb, 
 a city built by Ab’dsh’ems, one of the Himyarctic kings ; 
 and modern commentators have rather sided with the 
 Arabians in this, arguing that it would have been so 
 much easier for this great Queen, with her numerous 
 suite, to have marched by land from Mareb to Jerusa- 
 lem than to have gone by sea to Akaba from Adulis. 
 However, it seems very probable that that part of 
 Arabia at this period belonged even to the empire of 
 Axum, the chronicles of which mighty kingdom may be 
 just as authentic, or more so, than that of Mareb.” 
 The probabilities also are that no road existed on the 
 Arabian side, and, looking at the probable })revious 
 and frequent intercourse between the courts of Judea 
 and Axum via Adulis, and at the visit of Azeb, the 
 
21 
 
 Queen of Slieba, to Solomon, after hearing of his great 
 fame, it seems not improbable that King Hiram, accom- 
 panied by Solomon as far as Eziongeber, where the 
 combined fleets lay, might have gone himself at the 
 request of Solomon to invite the Queen of Sheba to 
 visit him at Jerusalem, taking his daughter, the 
 daughter of Tyre,” and other ladies of his court with 
 him from Eziongeber to Adulis, and that the ship or 
 yacht appointed for this purpose, after parting from the 
 combined fleet at Adulis on their way to Ophir,' might, 
 in order to shorten the distance, have sailed up the 
 Gulf of Akaba, and landed the Queen and her court, 
 with King Hiram and suite, possibly within 100 miles of 
 Jerusalem, as the wady of Araba or Akaba miglit have 
 at that time been a continuation of the Gulf of Akaba, 
 possibly even as far up as Kadesh, which was only some 
 twenty - five leagues distant from J erusalem itself. 
 “ Wady ” in Arabic signifies the dry bed of a river or 
 inlet of the sea filled up by drifting sand, also a valley ; 
 and the track of the Israelites is supposed, after they 
 had crossed the Red Sea, to have been through the 
 different wadies past Serbal and Hazaboth, &c., in the 
 wilderness, until they reached Kadesh, the furthest 
 limit of the wadies, when, encountering a mountainous 
 land of desert rocks, and no supply of provisions, they 
 became disheartened, murmured against Moses, and 
 turned back to the valley of Serbal, the true Mount 
 ‘Sinai, where they had obtained such abundance of food 
 and plenty of water, herbage, fruit and vegetables, 
 and raised herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and goats — 
 also corn, wine and oil, besides the manna and quails, &c. 
 (see Leviticus from beginning to end, also Numbers 
 vii and viii). McCulloch, in his General Dictionary, 
 
 ^ “ Then went Solomon to Ezion-gel)er and to Elotli at tlie sea-side 
 of Edom. And Hiram sent liim by tlie liands of liis servants, ships, 
 and servants that liad knowledge of the sea ; and they went witli the 
 servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty 
 talents of gold, and brought them to king »Solomon ” (worth 
 £2,150,000). — 2 Chronicles, viii, 17, 18. 
 
22 
 
 under the head of Arabia, says : — Among the natural 
 productions is the singular substance called manna, ^ 
 produced from a little thorny bush which seems to be 
 abundant in all the deserts and their neighbourhood, 
 and exactly answers the description in Exodus xvi, and 
 Numbers xi.” Welsted ii, 95, says : — “ Mount Sinai is 
 about 7,500 feet above the level of the sea; about 500 
 feet up the mountain is a spring of fresh, cold water, 
 covered by a rock which protects it from the sun and 
 rain ; a garden exists near this which produces fruits, 
 plants and vegetables in the utmost profusion.” Query, 
 this is most probably Mount Horeb, where Moses smote 
 the rock and the waters gushed out, as Dr. Bonar 
 states, that the true Mount Sinai is now called Serbal, 
 and describes the luxuriant valley adjoining as follows : 
 “ Leaving Serbal or the true Mount Sinai, the next 
 turn to the left brought us to a thousand noble palms in 
 a lovely hollow like a garden, ‘ a palm grove islanded 
 amid the waste.’ Here we pitched our tents, and 
 exquisite were the changes of starlight and moon- 
 light as we wandered amongst those ancient trees, 
 where the host of Israel must surely have found rest 
 at the base of Sinai.” This must be the wady 
 Feiran ” so beautifully described by Bartlett, he says : 
 ‘‘ How blissful is the sudden change to wady Feiran ! 
 most like a poet’s dream it burst upon us. The cliffs 
 still towering indeed bare and perpendicular, but 
 instead of a gravelly valley, there arose, as by encliant- 
 ment, tufted groves of palm and fruit trees. Presently 
 a stream of running water, rushing through the tarfa- 
 trees, led us on to the shade and the unequalled verdure 
 of the valley of Feiran. 
 
 ‘‘There in the heart of the wilderness of rock and 
 sand, when weary of the stunted bush and nauseous 
 scanty pool, I pitched my tent beneath a group of 
 palms which bent to slielter it ; the spring came down 
 the valley, and rippling among green sedges, formed a 
 
 From ilio Hebrcv' iiK.nt-hoy, javpared meat. 
 
23 
 
 small transparent basin at the foot of a fragment of 
 limestone rock fallen from the mountain wall above, 
 and was decorated like a natural altar with the freshest 
 foliage. The camels were scattered about the bowery 
 thickets, cropping the thick blossom with avidity, and 
 the Arabs revelled around. 
 
 My oasis of palms was not a solitary group, on 
 stepping out from my tent I was in an almost tropical 
 wilderness. In the palm groves of Egypt, the stumps 
 are trimmed and straight, but here this most graceful 
 of trees is all untended ; its boughs spring direct from 
 the earth and form tufts and avenues and over-arching 
 bowers, through which sunlight falls tremblingly on the 
 shaded turf Among them some few branches shooting 
 upright, lift high above the rest their lovely coronel of 
 rustling fans and glowing branches of dates. Some 
 droop to the ground like wavy plumes, others form 
 mossy alleys resounding with the song of birds. The 
 wind plays over the rustling foliage with the gentlest 
 murmurs ; fig, pomegranate and acacia mingle their 
 foliage with the palm, and here in its season is seen the 
 waving com. Where else did Israel grow the corn 
 that was ordered to be offered with their meat-offerings 
 to the Lord ? ” Lev. ii, 14.* 
 
 The children of Israel had at that time been some two 
 years in the wilderness, and they returned again to 
 Kadesh at the end of thirty-eight years more, where 
 
 ^ ]\Ir. Forster in his “Travels to Mount Sinai,” says “ The wady 
 Feiran is tlie only spot in the peninsula of Sinai where water-springs 
 run like rivers — where the ruins of an ancient city exists, or where 
 corn (lid, or ever could grow. The stream of wady Feiran, flowing 
 from iMount Iloreh, runs now for six miles througli the vjdley.” 
 
 A recent traveller to explore iMount Sinai, the Kev. F. W. Holland, 
 in 1878, says, “ On leaving Jebel Musa (the mount of Moses) 
 I examined every pass leading northwards, whicli might have afforded 
 a road for the cliildren of Israel on their journey to Kadesh, and 
 found that the AVady el Ain and AVady el Ataya, as d(3scril)ed by 
 ]>aron Koller in 1840, affords a broad and easy road, and is the oitly 
 2 >os 6 ihh route that the Israelites with their vast numbers could have 
 taken in their journey northwards.” 
 
24 
 
 Miriam the sister of Aaron died ; after which Aaron 
 died on Mount Hor, and subsequently Moses on Mount 
 Nebo, in sight of the “ Promised land.” 
 
 The following extract is from the author of ‘Hhe 
 Book and its Story,” “ Stones crying out.” ‘‘It is 
 easy to perceive what made Solomon call for the 
 assistance of Hiram to build the Temple of Jerusalem 
 • — a monarch with an income of nearly £400,000 a 
 day (?) commanded the riches and the service of the 
 known world. The Queen of Sheba gives us an 
 admiring portrait of the great king she had travelled 
 so far to see, the attendance of his ministers and their 
 apparel. The whole equipment of his court overcame 
 her with surprise and wonder, and left no more spirit 
 in her. ‘ Forty thousand stalls for horses for his 
 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen ’ made up the 
 measure of his magnificence (l Kings, iv, 2G).’ If he 
 went on a royal progress it was in snow-white raiment 
 riding in a chariot of cedar, decked with silver and 
 gold and purple ; his body guard the tallest and 
 handsomest of the sons of Israel also arrayed in Tyrian 
 purple, their long black hair, according to Josephus, 
 “ s[)rinkled freshly every day with gold dust.” 
 
 “It is said by the Abyssinians that the forty-fifth 
 Psalm was not composed by David or ever sung by 
 him, but was sung as ‘ a song of loves ’ before Solomon 
 on the reception of the Queen of Sheba at Jerusalem, 
 and that King Hiram and his daughter were present, 
 also Solomons Queen, the daughter of Pharoah, and 
 that the words “ O God ” in the 6th verse should have 
 been translated “ O King,” as she is supposed to be ad- 
 dressing Solomon. They also aver that the Song of 
 Solomon, so called in the Bible, was the Queen of Sheba’s 
 song to the ladies of Solomon’s court, &c. '^fliey further 
 state that Solomon took the Queen of Sheba to wife, 
 
 ' The llehrcw word arhahn signifies four not forty^ wliieh agrees 
 witli 2 Chronicles, ix, 25 : “And Solomon had four thousand stalls 
 for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.” (see also 
 1 Kings, X, 2G). 
 
25 
 
 for he loved many strange women.” ‘ Mr. Salt saw a 
 very old MS. papyrus of the Song of Solomon written 
 in the Geeze character at an Abyssinian monastery. 
 “ The Queen of Sheba was converted from heathenism 
 to the Jewish faith at Jerusalem (they go on to relate), 
 and had a son by Solomon, who was named Menelec : 
 with this son she returned to her own country, and 
 after some time sent him back to Jerusalem to be in- 
 structed by his father. Menelec, having been anointed 
 and crowned King of Ethiopia in the temple at Jeru- 
 salem, and having also at his inauguration assumed or 
 added the name of David to that of Menelec, returned 
 to Azeb, the Queen, with a colony of Jews, amongst 
 whom were many learned doctors of the law, and par- 
 ticularly one of each tribe from whom the present 
 Umbaras, or supreme judges, three of whom always 
 attend the king, are thought to be descended. Azarias, 
 the son of Zadoc the priest, tliey say, was one of the 
 number, and he brought with him a Hebrew copy of 
 the law which was committed to his custody as high 
 priest, and which was burnt with the church of Axum. 
 
 A most remarkable legend connected with a Talisman ic 
 ring, left as a heir-loom by a certain Devonshire knight 
 (Sir Warwick Tonkin) who lately died at Teignmouth, 
 has come to the knowledge of the editor, and as it 
 ))ears somewhat upon the chronological history of 
 Abyssinia, and is so curious in itself, — after making 
 every enquiry into the circumstances, and finding 
 from the late Sir Warwick Tonkin’s Physician and 
 Solicitor at Teignmoutli, that the fiicts connected with 
 the possession of the ring itself and its reputed history 
 were undoubtedly true, — liedierewith gives tlie Legend 
 as related to liim a few days since. 
 
 A gentleman who has seen this famous ring describes 
 it to be of opal in two colours, with hieroglyphic or 
 
 ^ There is a very ciiihjus story told in the Koran, viz., that Solomon, 
 by a stratagem, discovered the (^iieen of Sheba’s legs to l)e covered 
 M'ith hair, and that before he married her she had the hair removed by 
 a depilatory ! (see page 28G of Sale’s “Koran,” with foot note.) 
 
 D 
 
20 
 
 Sinaltic characters engraved on it, the part for the 
 finger being white, the crown or button, rose colour, 
 but both cut from one and the same stone. The Leofend 
 
 o 
 
 states that it was once the property of the Queen of 
 Sheba, and was given to Solomon as a sacred Talisman 
 with other royal gifts bestowed on that favoured 
 monarch, consequent upon this Abyssinian Queens 
 celebrated journey from Axum to Jerusalem, loncj 
 time cujo!' 
 
 It appears that tlie Devonshire knight, to wliom it 
 lielonged, upon his denth bed stated that lie had placed 
 this precious ring (an old fimily heir-loom) in the 
 secret drawer of an old Spanish cabinet, a great many 
 years since, forgetting the secret of opening the 
 drawer ; and his soliciting now residing at Teignmouth, 
 upon naming the circumstance to a gentleman engaged 
 by the Court of Chancery to take an inventory of the 
 effects of the deceased knight, after thinking and 
 working for some time, at length succeeded in dis- 
 covering the spring and opening the secret depository, 
 where lie found the casket containing the ring, together 
 with four manuscripts of its history — written, one in 
 old Hebrew characters on papyrus, one in Latin, one in 
 Frencli, and one in English. The Hebrew manuscript 
 was found to be in a very defaced condition, appearing 
 very old and worm-eaten : the inner casket was of cork, 
 elaborately carved and gilded. The translation of the 
 manuscript Avas nearly as follows : — 
 
 When the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon 
 at Jerusalem, as recorded in chapter x of the 1st book 
 of Kings, amongst other gifts, she presented the king 
 Avith this magic opal ring, said to be possessed of ayoii- 
 derful poAv^er as a Talisman. The ring aaois pkxced in 
 the king’s house or treasury ad Jernsalem, and at tlie 
 time of the Babylonian captivity, Avas carried to the 
 Assyrian court at Babylon, and deposited Avith the 
 sacred A^essels taken from the Temple ; but after the 
 feast of Belshazzar, and the hand-Avriting on the Avail, 
 upon the decree of Cyrus, Ezra carried it back, together 
 
27 
 
 with the holy vessels of the temple to JeiTisalein (see 
 l)Ook of Ezra vii, 11 to 23), where it remained in 
 charge of the High Priest, and was deposited in the 
 shrine of the New Temple with other sacred Jevdsh 
 treasures until the fall of Jerusalem and sacking of the 
 Temple under Titus ; when a lloimin soldier got pos- 
 session of the rinir, but not knowincr its PTeat value, 
 alter sp>encling all his booty, he offered it to his com- 
 rades. However, not finding a customer, he went to a 
 Jewish Tlabbi, who, knowing that the soldier had taken 
 it from amongst the ti’easures of the Holy Temple, and 
 the famous tradition attached to its virtue, became the 
 fortunate possessor, and it remained in his family for a 
 long period ; but when the Jews were sorely persecuted 
 in the early part of the Christian era at Home, this 
 ring was sent by the Ihibbi, in whose possession it then 
 was, as a propitiatory offering to the Pope to intercede 
 for his people, and it remained a.s a heir-loom at the 
 Vatican until the reign of Clement VII, when that 
 Pontiff* sent it, from his own sacred finger, to Cardinal 
 Wolsey to be worn as a charm in the King of England’s 
 presence, with a promise that if the Cardinal could 
 succeed with Henry VIII in restoring England to the 
 Catholic faith, he, the Pope, would redeem the ring, 
 and name AVolsey as his successor at Home. Wolsey 
 failed in his mission, the ring had evidently lost its 
 virtue ! (its Genius propably being an Abyssinian Jevv^, 
 or Spirit of the Agow caves, and dead against the 
 Pope) ; and at the death of the Cardinal it remained 
 with the monks of Leicester Ab])ey, until the monas- 
 teries were suppressed. By some means not stated, it 
 passed into the hands of one of the ancestors of the 
 said Devonsliire knight, and has Ijeen handed down as 
 a lieir-loom in his family ever since that period.” 
 
 The infant lieiress of tlie late knight is a ward in 
 Cliancery, and this celebrated ring liaving got into 
 Chancery, we will leave it there with its wonderful 
 history, until it can be ascertained how it came into 
 the possession of >Sir Warwick Tonkin’s ancestors ! 
 
28 
 
 The Queen of Sheba was the first sovereign of the 
 Abyssinian or Axumite Empire, according to the 
 ancient records of the Abimasd She went to Jerusalem 
 in or about the year B.C. 992. She reigned twenty- 
 five years after her return to Axum, and left the crown 
 to Menelec. At her death a synod of Abyssinian 
 Bishops took place, when it was decreed in conclave 
 that henceforth Menelec and his heirs male for ever 
 should reign over Abyssinia, and it is believed that the 
 present Menelec, the King of Shoa, in South Abyssinia, 
 is a true agnatic descendant of King Solomon by the 
 Queen of Sheba, and that Jolin the King of Northern 
 Abyssinia has no legitimate title whatever to the 
 sovereignty of any part of the kingdom.” ^ 
 
 The following letter from John o’ Groat's Journal 
 also of the 20th November, 1873, will, although at 
 this late jDeriod, be read with interest, shewing that 
 the country is not so unhealthy as supposed. 
 
 FIGHTING ON THE WEST AFPvICAN COAST. 
 EEPULSE OF THE ASHANTEES. 
 
 Tlie important news which was expected from the 
 Gold Coast has just been received. 
 
 “On the 14th October Sir Garnet Wolseley proceeded 
 with great secresy with all his available force from 
 Cape Coast Castle to Elmina, and after some desultory 
 but difficult fighting in the bush, burned several 
 villages whicli were in the habit of harbouring and 
 assistiim the Ashantees. When the mail left it was 
 
 O 
 
 believed tliat the Ashantees intended to retreat, and 
 steps were being taken to intercept them. 
 
 A long letter, dated October 17th and 22nd, in 
 Monday’s Evenincj StaiKlard gives details of the above- 
 
 1 Tlio. Alniiiii is the j^veat Kigli Priivst of tlie Abyssinians. 
 
 2 news from Al)yssiiiia informs us tliat Ring floliii has cle- 
 fcab'd jMcnclcc, and is about to declare Avar against Kgypt, and that 
 Lord LeaconslieJd lias recommended the KliedRe to annex all the 
 Avest coast of the Ked Sea doAvii to Cape Giiardafoi. 
 
29 
 
 named movements. Describing the march from Elniina 
 through the bush to the various villages, the corres- 
 pondent says that when the forces approached Essar- 
 man and the Ashantee camp, and expected serious 
 opposition, the Houssas were sent out to skirmish in 
 front, which duty they apparently do very fairly, but 
 when they come to close quarters we learn that they 
 prove but sorry allies. They turn and run, then halt, 
 and discharge their pieces in any direction whence 
 sounds of firing proceed. Of these and the West 
 Indian auxiliaries the correspondent says not one in 
 ten took aim, and half the rifles were fired in the 
 air, rendering the position of their friends somewhat 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 The Ashantees were attacked on the right and left, 
 while a steady attack in front was also kept up. On 
 both wings of the advance a heavy fii’e was kept up. 
 Although the enemy was in force it was impossible to 
 ascertain his strength. From the bushes where they 
 lay concealed, the Ashantees fired upon our men as 
 they approached, and it was most fortunate that they 
 used slugs instead of bullets, as the former will not 
 penetrate at over fifty yards. Thus Lieutenant Graves 
 was hit in the leg with three slugs, but none of them 
 ])enetrated the thick flannel gaiters which he wore, 
 merely brushing the flesh, altliough fired quite close by. 
 The shots of the enemy were replied to by a heavy 
 fire into the bush in which they were concealed, and 
 the Houssas were by no means particular at whom they 
 fired, banging away miscellaneously in the direction of 
 any shots, whether by friend or foe. Fortunately, their 
 aim was utterly wild, or we should have had a heavy 
 list of casualties. 
 
 The marines and the blue jackets made their way 
 steadily on, wasting no ammunition, and Captain Free- 
 mantle now got a gun and the rockets to play upon the 
 village which lay in the hollow in the heart of the wood. 
 The natives were here in force, keeping up a heavy 
 fire from under the eaves in the roofs. Advancing to 
 
find a l^etter place for the gun, Captain Freeinantle and 
 Captain Bullen were fired upon by a body of men who 
 started suddenly from the trees. Captain Bullen was 
 struck by a slug, which fortunately hit his compass- 
 case, which was slung by a strap round his neck, smash- 
 ing the compass, but fortunately doing no further 
 damage. Captain Freeinantle was hit by a slug, which 
 passed right through his arm. He at once tied a hand- 
 kerchief round it, and continued directing the service 
 of the gun. 
 
 In the meantime the Houssas, with Colonel M’Neill, 
 had gained ground in the bottom of the valley, when 
 the Colonel received a severe wound in the arm, the 
 missile being a jagged one, cutting out a large piece of 
 flesh, and severing two arteries. Fortunately medical 
 aid was at hand, and the bleeding was stopped, but the 
 Colonel had fainted from loss of blood. 
 
 A combined movement was now made upon the 
 village, which was then deserted by its defenders, and 
 was at once set on fire. There was only one capture 
 made, and that of a rather amusing character. Captain 
 Crean, in passing near, hurrying, heard a child cry. He 
 rushed in and brought out a little fellow of nearly 18 
 months old, who had been forgotten in the flight. His 
 first alarm being over, he was soon installed amongst 
 the marines. He did not seem alarmed, but got on 
 the ground in their midst eating biscuits and looking 
 at them with his great solemn eyes as if meditating 
 upon the whiteness of their faces and the irregularity 
 of their garb. He has been l^rought over and is at 
 present in Captain Crean’s house. 
 
 The little army then set out for Amguna, which was 
 reached after a march of nearly two hours through a 
 thick bush. This vilLage was destroyed, the natives 
 having previously decamped. Here the inain body 
 rested, and a reinforcement of marines from the 
 gunboat Deccan having come ashore near Akim, which, 
 with Akikimfoo and Ampierc, was visited and fired. 
 This enterprising march into the bush, the corres- 
 
poiident says, will h.ave a very great effect on the 
 Ashantee and neighbouring tribes. In proportion as 
 onr allies will be eladed, the Ashantees will be depressed. 
 
 Another lesson this affair has taught is tliat it is 
 n]')on white troops alone that we must depend. The 
 endurance of onr men under such a trying march and a 
 tropical heat is seen in the fact that although they had 
 had but little rest the night previous, they marched on 
 this occasion fourteen miles, and twenty of the marines 
 who vvent on from Anquana to Amperie, twenty-two 
 miles. Only two men fell out of the ranks, one from 
 sunstroke, the other with fits, but not through 
 fatigue.” 
 
 Sir G. Wolseley has issued the following proclama- 
 tion: — “ To all the tribes and people on the Gold Coast. 
 
 ‘‘ Know ye that certain chiefs have harboured 
 Ashantees and other enemies of the tribes in alliance 
 with her Majest}^ and have supplied them with 
 munitions of war and other stores, whereupon I duly 
 summoned them to appear before me. They neglected 
 to attend to my summons ; they consulted with the 
 Ashantee enemy now at Mampon. On Tuesday last I 
 moved from heie upon them and pursued them. They 
 fancied they could meet me in the bush. In the bush 
 they were beaten and destroyed. Essarman, Anquana, 
 Aikimfoo, and Ampuine are now charred ruins, d'here- 
 fore, l)eing unwilling that any tribe should be exposed 
 to a like late from ignorance of my power to punish, I 
 Avarn all men of what will befall those who are faithless 
 to their country and to their alliance with her 
 Majesty. — October 24, 1873.” 
 
:]2 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 From 11 7/ /V/'//iV^y'’.s‘ Ahtwnarl: for 1880. 
 
 “ (fOLD Coast Colony. — This colony comprises the coast of tlie 
 Gulf of Guinea from 2° 40' AV. to 1° 10' E. of Greeuwi(4i extending’ 
 inland to an average distance of 50 miles, calculated to include an 
 area of 16,G20 square miles anel a })opnlation of over 520,000. It was 
 formerly possessed hy the Dutch as well as the British ; hut in 1872 
 all the forts and settlement belonging to the Netherlands Government 
 were transferred to Great Britain. 
 
 The amount of Public Kevenue for 1878, was £105,091 
 „ „ Expenditure ditto 68,410 
 
 Imports from United Kingdom for 1878 557,717 
 
 Total Exports to United Kingdom for 1878 499,682 
 
 (iovfirnor — The Hon. T. Ussher, C. jM.G. 
 
 Prkdfe S^urretarij — K. K. Barrow, Esq. 
 
 Lund. Goruntor — C. Camer'>n Lees, C.M.G. 
 
 Colhrtor (did Tira.sinrr — Ilonble. (Jilbcnd T. Carter. 
 CJiu'f Ja-dirc — A^acant. 
 
 . 7-7 f Janies Alarshall, Esq., and 
 
 ruddie Judifex — ■< rpi i i L 
 
 '' ( Ihos. W . Jackson, Ls(p 
 
 Qi/gc/i’k A(h‘()Cfd(‘-—T]\os. AVoodcock, Escp 
 Cdlon i(d ASVvvvVor//— A’^acant. 
 
 F.rfraiiinl from the British Board of Trade Keturns, shmrlnii the 
 total rolne of the Preidoim Mdols imjiorted intu Great Brdain 
 from the BW Coart <f Afriim, far the i/earr 
 
 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 
 
 £140,908 £167,178 £131,447 £163,751 
 
 The amount of gold exported from the coast to Holland, Portugal, 
 and other jJaces, and that retained by the natives cannot be ascertained. 
 
83 
 
 The folio wing Pappy iras read hefore the Royal Geograpihlral Soeiefy 
 2Gth Jane 187G, hy Capt. J. S. Hay, on the District of Ahern or 
 Aliirn, in Africa. 
 
 “ During the late war between the Asantis and Djauhins, in the latter 
 part of 1875, I received orders from the Governor of the Gold Coast 
 to take command of the field-force sent up to the frontier of the llritish 
 Protectorate, to i)revent the neutrality of our territory being violated 
 by the Asantis, the Dj'aubins having been driven to take shelter in onr 
 territory at Akim. Starting from Accra, on the 17th of November, I 
 reached Kyebi, the ca})ital of Akim, after five days’ heavy march, 
 having walked 150 miles, chieily through mud and water, on the 21st ; 
 and here, during a i)eriod of three months, I had occasion to make my 
 lieadipiarters. Having thus had ample oi)portunity to make myself 
 accpiaiiited with an interesting district, hitherto almost nnknown and 
 unexplored, I have undertaken to describe as clearly and briefly as 
 possible what I was able to obser\'e during my stay. 
 
 The district of Akim, in West Africa, lies between G° and 7° north 
 latitude. A series of mountain ranges, densel}" covered with primeval 
 forests, occu})y the Avhole extent, exce})t a small portion of the south- 
 east, and a still smaller portion of the western part. The towns and 
 villages are mostly situated on or near the tops of the hills. In the 
 larg(U* level district of the south-t'ast are only two small towns, viz., 
 ( Isanease and Asamang ; the remainder of that portion, with the ex- 
 ce]dion of a few sparsely scattered hunters’ huts, being totally 
 uninhabited. 
 
 Having described one of these towns I have described all, as they 
 scarcely vary at all in ai)pearance. As one wends one’s way through 
 the trackless forest, no outskirts or other sign mark the approach to a 
 scene of human life and habitation. We came upon them all at once, 
 without the slightest notice or indication. They are hidden from sight 
 by the primeval trees until they are actually reached. Tlu'y generally 
 consist of one long straggling street ; the houses are constructed of 
 bamboo frame-work, held together by wood-hbre, and thatched with 
 ])alm- and })laintain-leaf. The side walls are plastered with mud over 
 the frame-work, and very rarely have windows or apertun'S. They are 
 entered by a side door, b'ading into a courtynrd, Avhere the culinary 
 operations, such as th(*y are, are })erformed ; the rooms, which are very 
 small and Ioav, being distributed on tin; three; sides of the courtyard. 
 In the centre of the toAvn there is gemerally a hdish-tree, supposed to 
 be inhabited ley the local deities ; and two trcics, one at each end, witli 
 rude benches or logs of wood at their feet, wlu're the kings and chieds 
 hold their “ })alavers ” and receptions. 
 
 Tlie whole country is well watered, the priiici[)al rivers being (1) 
 the Parem, (2) the Densu, (8), the l>om[)()ng, (4) the Pompong. The 
 channels of these rivers are never dry, receiving constantly a sujiply of 
 water from the mountain rang(;s, and being also fre(piently swollen by 
 rain. Owing to the presence of numerous small Avaterfalls and shoals, 
 E 
 
34 
 
 they would only be navigable by light canoes, though these even are 
 not used by the natives, who have no commerce, and are too indolent 
 to create any. 
 
 Having thus described the leading features of the geographical 
 position of Akim, I now come to the second part of the subject, viz., 
 the characteristics of its soil, its timber-woods, mineral and vegetable 
 produce, and peculiarities of climate. Tlie entire country of Akim is 
 cmriferous in a high degree ; the natives, however, are too ignorant and 
 too lazy to work the gold properly, and content themselves with 
 digging circular holes, from sixteen to twenty feet deep, to obtain it, 
 in the sha})e of small nuggets and dust — the latter being also found in 
 the rivers and watercourses, where I have myself seen them washing it. 
 The country is honeycombed in some parts witli these gold-holes, which 
 make wadking a dillicult and sometimes dangerous operation. The 
 soil is a heavy, tenacious red clay ; <piartz strata and red sandstone 
 cropping up in every direction. The country is rich in timber-woods, 
 Avhich groAV to immense height and girth ; some I have myself seen over 
 two hundred feet high. The forests being left in their primeval state, 
 all cultivation is rendered inpossible. AVith a very small amount of 
 activity and intelligence, hoAvever — Avere the forests cleared in the 
 neighbourhood of the toAvns — the soil is so rich as to be capable of 
 groAving cotton, rice, ginger, and coffee (not to speak of other products), 
 in any quantity. As it is, in spite of the sloth of the natives, the 
 palm-tree flourishes luxuriantly, and Avere it cultivated in plantations, 
 the oil Avould prove a rich staple of commerce Avith the Coast. The 
 tol)acco-plant groAvs also in rank luxuriance, untended and unused ; 
 the natives purchasing from the Coast for their OAvn consumption 
 sujAplies of the javpared leaf sent from America. 
 
 In the neighl30urhood of Begoro, the most northerly toAvn in the 
 district, are innumerable gum-trees and india-rubbers ; and both might 
 prove a fertile source of Avealth, liad the natives enough human intelli- 
 gence and industry to avail themselves of the treasures AAdiich Nature 
 shoAvers upon them Avith so lavish a hand. 
 
 The climate of Akim is throughout the year humid. During the 
 three months of my stay there (from XoA^ember to January), in AAdiat, 
 by comparison, is called the dry season, no day passed Avithout rain, 
 Avhich generally commenced in the afternoon, accompanied by heavy 
 thunder and lightning. 
 
 I come noAV to tlie third and concluding section of my subject, 
 viz., tlie personal appearance, habits, manners, and religion of the 
 natives. Tlie men are generally of medium height, and the Avomen 
 Avell formed, but short ; of lighter colour than tlie coast tribes, Avith 
 1 ess of the negro type. The males are of slight build, but capable of 
 undergoing groat fatigue Avhen they choose ; but they are so incor- 
 rigibly idle, and so addicted to drunkenness Avhenever they obtain rum 
 in suhicient (quantities, that they for the most qiart leave all the Avork 
 to the Avonien, Avho forage for their food, collect liranches for fuel, and 
 Avash the gold from the streams, Amongst the men I have fre(|uently 
 
35 
 
 noticed an extraordinary growtli or enlargement of the cheek-hones 
 under the eyes. These, take the form of horns on each side of tlie 
 nose, and so long do they become, that I have seen instances in 'which 
 the man had to squint violently in order to see at all. The growth 
 begins in childhood. The skin is not broken in any -svay, hut seems 
 to stretch over the horns like a glove. This })henonienon is, I believe, 
 l)eculiar to the tribe, having noticed it in no other. 
 
 Food . — They are very partial to palm-oil (which, however, they can 
 rarely obtain, as they are too idle to cultivate it), taking it in the 
 form of soup, with snails’ or monkey’s’ flesh. Their ordinary dish is 
 called “ Tou-fou,” and consists of green plantains boiled and beaten to 
 a pulp by a bough, in the hollow of a cotton tree, a little e-old water 
 being mixed 'with them. Of this they consume enormous (luantities, 
 after whieh they frequently fast for twenty-four hours. They some- 
 times road the plantains over a wood fire. 
 
 Marriage Customs . — These are curious and interesting. They 
 are, of course, polygamists ; and a man is counted rich in propor- 
 tion to the number of his wives. Instead of receiving a dowry 
 from the family of the bride, the candidate pays a priee to the 
 father, varying from .£5 to £10 in gold-dust, besides “dashes” of 
 cloth and rum. The only exception to this rule is the reigning chief 
 of the district, who has the power to command a daughter of any man 
 without the customary payment. The present king of Eastern Akim 
 has about thirty ; but some of these are well-stricken in years, it 
 being the custom when a king ascends the “ stool” for him to retain 
 the i)rincipal wives of his predecessor. The present King, who, in 
 accordance with the line of succession, succeeded as uncle, has a 
 number of the late King’s wives in the harem. A daughter 
 of the royal family in all the tribes can propose to any man, 
 and he cannot refuse to accept her — generally on pain of 
 death. When a princess chooses a peasant, wliich is sometimes the 
 case, the latter is at once made a chief, lie is, like the rest, allowed 
 to take other wives ; but if the princess conceives a dislike to any of 
 them she has merely to order him to send them away, and he is coni- 
 ])elled, on pain of death, to obey. They have also the privilege of 
 divorcing their husbands, without api)earing before any tribunal, 
 presenting them simply with a i)iece of white clay as a token of 
 dismissal. 
 
 With the exception of the few who are engaged in hunting, and 
 who stay out for a week or more in the forests on the bare chance 
 of shooting a leopard or deer, the large bulk of the male population 
 follow no regular occupation, but dawdle or sleep about the towns and 
 A'illages 'while the women are at work.” 
 
 lleligion . — “ . . . Long before the Christian doctrine was brought 
 to their country they entertained a clear and remarkably developed idc'a 
 of the one supreme God, whom they held to be the Creator and 
 Preserver of all things, who is omnipresent in the visilfle tirmamejit, 
 which they consider as a part of his immense and boundless being. 
 
3G 
 
 He ivS all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-hearing, but invisible to man in 
 bis personal form. Tleing witbont either birth or death, be is neither 
 old nor young. He is the father, and earth the mother, of the 
 nniverse. If he kills, nobody can save ; if he saves, nobody can kill. 
 He determines nnchangeahly and irrevocably the fate of every indi- 
 vidual before his birth ; hence the proverb or adage of the Chwee 
 peo])le : “Fate is an nnchangeahle determination.” They call him 
 Anyaiilwponrj^ a name never given to any of the minor deities, nor 
 pronounced in the plural form.” 
 
 . . . The chief duty of the })riests is to bring sacrifices on certain 
 days of the week to their respective great fafi'ilics, and to accomi)any 
 each with the ai)propriate prayers appointed for the occasion, in which 
 they have to be thoroughly conversant. Their usual sacrifices consist 
 of Imllocks, sheep, goats, and palm wine. The beasts thus offered 
 must be without Ijlemish or si)ot ; and if they are females, must not 
 be in a state of pregnancy. There are places of sacrifice in the 
 dwellings or courtyards of the iiriests Avhere they offer only drink- 
 offerings ; l)ut other offerings, which are always connected with drink- 
 offerings, are brought to the respective localities or habitations of the 
 fetivshes. These places are never approached, not even by the priests, 
 without a sacrifice, Avhich is offered on an altar of unhewn stones. 
 On the day of offering, the priest is to a1)stain from Avonian, and from 
 all animal food. Should he happen to touch either, Avhether wittingly 
 or unwittingly, he is polluted and rendered unht to offer a sacrifice on 
 that day. These priests are not allowed to marry a AvidoAV, and are 
 strictly prohibited to touch a dead body. After attending the funeral 
 custom of a friend or relative, a priest must be sanctified in the 
 evening Avith consecrated Avater, to be sprinkled over him three times 
 by himself or by another priest of his order. 
 
 THE GOLD COAST MIXES OF WASSAU. 
 
 ATsit to the Gold Fields of AVassau. 
 
 Exracts from a Paper read before the Royal Geographical Society, 
 Alay, 1878, by J. A. Skertchla', Esq., F.R.G.S., giAung an 
 account of a visit to AVassau in 1877. 
 
 (From the Journal of the Royal Geoyraphkal Focicti/, 187S.) 
 
 “ .Vt the time of our arriA%al there Avere upAvards of G,000 men and 
 Avomen at Tac(iuah all engagA'd in Avorking the gold. The auriferous 
 m(‘t:d is found in a series of parallel reefs, descending at about the 
 angle of forty-five, encased by Avails of hard (juartz and psendo-cpiartz 
 
 ^ Tlic.se ()nlinjince.s seem very much to resemble the Jewish rites and ceremonies 
 named in Ijcvitieus, and iioint to an ancient connection or communication with 
 the Abys.sinian Jews. — Editor, 
 
37 
 
 of a riuldy grcas}^ look. Tliesc reefs have keen -woikeil from very 
 early times, the country for miles around being honeycombed with 
 holes and washing pits. Of geology and mineralogy the natives have 
 not the slightest idea, since we continually come across shafts put 
 down in the most absurd positions. Indeed it required a very sharp 
 eye to detect tlie deserted shafts in many ])laces, for they Avere sunk 
 close alongside the path ; or, indeed, in the old patlnvay itself, so that 
 one had to traA^el by a series of zig-zags between the pits. These 
 shafts are quite curiosities in themselves, being in some cases as mucli 
 as eighty feet deep and about two feet in diameter, sunk as straight as 
 if they had been bored Avith a huge auger, and in not one of them Avas 
 there a single stick of timbering. 
 
 The mouths of the old shafts Avere in many cases covered loosely 
 Avith fallen branches or leaves, so that the uiiAA^ary traveller stepping 
 upon them Avould suddenly find himself precii)itated to the bottom, 
 or, as Avas generally the case, into the accumulated Avater, Avhich, in 
 some cases, rose to Avithin a fcAv feet of the surface. The shafts are 
 dug by means of a small hoe, shaped somcAAdiat like an Indian 
 l)assoolah, the iron being about tAvo inches broad and four or six 
 inches long. The Avorkman s([uats on his hams and scrapes the sandy 
 earth into a small calabash, Avhich, Avhen tilled, is draAvn up to the 
 surface by his companions. The shaft is just large enough to alloAV 
 th(3 miner to turn round in, and means of ascent and descent are 
 afforded by holes cut in the sides into Avhich the miner inserts his 
 toes, after the fashion of the old chimm‘y-SAA"eepers’ boys AAdien 
 ascending a chimney. Of course having no laimps, and bailing, 
 except on a A^ery small scale, being impossible, operations have to be 
 suspended as soon as AA^ater is reached, and indeed but little can be 
 done at all during and shortly after the rainy season. In alluAual 
 ground the gold is found in and beneath a stratum of blue clay, 
 resting upon a substratum of hard rock, or in a layer of gravel. In 
 some districts the Avhole of tlie sandy gravel beloAV the surface-soil is 
 auriferous. 
 
 AVlu're reefs are Avorked they have either been struck by sheer luck 
 Avhen sinking a sliaft, or are outcr(qA])ing reefs Avorked doAViiAvards 
 from tlie surface to Avater-level. The latter is the case at Tacquah, 
 Avhere the strike of the reefs runs along the side of a hill dipping 
 toAvards the Avest at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The head 
 and foot Avails are composed of syenite as hard as flint, through Avhich 
 tlie natives are unable to })enetrate, so that, unless, the reef itself is 
 Avide enough to alloAv a man to Avork in it, Avith clboAAm’oom on each 
 side, they can do nothing Avith it. The shafts run doAvn Avith the reef 
 at an angh; of forty-five degrees, and at Tac<[uah are about forty feet 
 dee}). The tools employed are hammers, generally of European 
 manufacture, about 2 lbs. in Aveight, and chisels made by natha^ 
 blacksmiths from the commonest bar-iron, tenq)ered bap-hazard by 
 being })lunged into cold AAaitei'. Others use chisels fixed into Avoodeii 
 handles, like gouges, and Avith these rude implements, aided by the 
 
88 
 
 light of a palm-oil lamp, with a jnece of rag for wick, they work in 
 gangs of two or three day and night. At Tacrpiah there are rude 
 ladders constructed of bamboo as means of access, and the mouths of 
 the shafts are covered Avith a shed. l>y Avorking all day tAvo men can 
 cut out about a cubic foot of the reef. The quartz is i)laced in a 
 calabash, Avhich is tied upon a handkerchief and sent up to the 
 Avorkmen at the surface. These convey it to their homes, and set 
 about the ])rocess of pounding it Avith hammers until it is reduced to 
 pOAvder. This, again, is placed on a slab of syenite or granite about 
 tAvo feet S(j[uare, resting at an angle sloping from the operator on a 
 crutch of three sticks, held together by AAdiat sailors Avould term a 
 grommet of rope. A handful of the pounded stone is placed upon the 
 slab and rubbed fine Avith a stone shaped liked a baker’s roll, to Avhich 
 a slight rotatory motion is communicated as it is rubbed hackAvards 
 and foi'Avards on the slab. The ground quartz is caught in a calabash 
 l)laced at the loAver edge of the large slab, and, as a rule, it takes the 
 Avholc night to grind doAvn a cubic foot of stone, it being the custom 
 for the miners performing this branch of labour to Avork all night, 
 enlivening the time Avith songs and fre(pient potations of trade gin. 
 
 The accumulated dust is carefully SAvept together, and the floor 
 carefully gone OA^er, so that every particle of the auriferous quartz is 
 gathered up, and every three months or so the floor of the grinding- 
 shed is hoed up and Avashed or “ panned ” off. 
 
 The miners come in the dry season to AYassau from all parts of the 
 Gold Coast, and CA^en so far as Monrovia and Lagos, AAdiile many 
 arrive from the interior. What becomes of the gold dust is more than 
 I am able to say ; hut it is certain that the quantity Avhich makes its 
 Avay doAvn to the European factories is no criterion of the quantity 
 raised. A large percentage is buried in the floors of the huts of the 
 miners, A\dio like to accumulate the precious dust in this manner, 
 though its acquisition is of no more real use to them than are the 
 hoartls of the miser. It is true the natives have but feAV AAmnts to 
 supply — gin, cloth, tobacco, and poAvder being their principal articles 
 of purchase ; hut is strange that after the severe toil of the mines they 
 should he content to bury the gold in jars in the floors of the huts 
 during their lifetime, AAdiile at the death of the OAAUier the precious 
 modal is interred Avith him. A “resurrectionist” Avould he a lucrative 
 profession in West Africa, for there arc millions buried in the graves 
 of the chiefs and principal men, Avho during their Hats lived from 
 hand to mouth in aiiparent penury. 
 
 AVassau itself is situated hetAveen 5^10' and 5*^ 40' X. lat. and 
 betAA’-een lo25' and 2‘’20' AY. long. (See Alap.) 
 
 The country is hilly, the ranges aATraging about 400 feet, though 
 the OkaAve hills arc stated to be nearly double that edevation. Alost 
 of the ranges are quartzose, more so toAvards the north, those to the 
 south being basaltic. The forests abound Avith flue timber, some eight 
 feet in diameter ; but the Avant of means of trans])ort prevents their 
 being used except in the immediate vicinity. The average daily 
 
89 
 
 temperature is 75", that of the niglit G5" Tlie climate is exceedingly 
 moist, rain falling on the hills even in the height of the dry season on 
 the coast. The rainy season commences in May and lasts till the end 
 of August, Avheii the dry season commences. In Xovemher and 
 December ^VG have rain again, followed by the short dry season, which 
 continues till May.”^ 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM “ WANDERIXDS IX WEST AFRICA,” 
 
 Ry Capt. R. E. Rurtox, Her jMajesty’s Consul and Gold iNfedalist of 
 the Royal Geographical Society. 
 
 “ In several countries, as W.X.W. Dinkera, Tueful, Wasa (Wassau), 
 and especially Akim, the hill region lying due north of Accra, the 
 people arc still active in digging gold. The pits, varying from two to 
 three feet in diameter, and from twelve to fifty deep (thirty feet is an 
 extreme depth), are often so near the roads that loss of life has been 
 the result. “ Shoring up ” being little known, the miners are not 
 unfrequently buried alive. The stuff is drawn up by ropes in clay 
 pots, or calabashes, and thus a workman at the bottom widens the pit 
 to a pyriform shape ; tunnelling, however, is unknown. The ex- 
 cavated earth is carried down to be washed. Resides sinking these 
 holes, they pan in the beds of rivers, and in places collect quartz, 
 which is roughly pounded. 
 
 They (the natives) refuse to dig deeper than the chin, for fear of the 
 earth “caving in;” and quartz-crushing and the use of (|uicksilver 
 being unknown, they will not wash unless the gold appears to the 
 naked eye. . . 
 
 As we advance northwards from the Gold Coast the yield becomes 
 richer 
 
 It is becoming evident that Africa will some day equal half-a-dozen 
 Californias 
 
 Will our grandsons believe that in these days .... that this Ophir 
 — that this California, where every river is a Timolus and a Pactolus. 
 every hillock is a gold field — does not contain a cradle, a puddling- 
 machine, a quartz crusher, or a pound of mercury ] That half the 
 washings are wasted because (piicksilver is unknown, and that pure 
 gold, selling in England for T3 17s. to T4, is here purchasable for 
 
 ^ The river Ankoura, or Anl-oher, which falls into the .sea near Axim, or Axum, 
 is navigable for steam launches or surf boats as high up as Tomentau, a village 
 some 20 miles only from the town of Tarquah, or Tacquah, near the jn-incipal gold 
 mines lately conceded to the Gold Coast Company, said to be the richest mines in 
 the province of Wassau, and it is proposed to construct a tramway from these 
 mines to Tornenbiu. The Concession “ Swanzy & Co.,” lies about eight miles 
 beyond the Gold Coast Company’s Concessions near the village of Abosso. 
 
40 
 
 .£3 12s. 1 That whilst convict labour is attainalho, not a company has 
 been formed, not a surveyor has been sent for? I exclaim witli Dominie 
 Sampson — “ Pro-di-gions ! ” 
 
 Western Africa was tlie first field that siipidied the precious metal 
 to Europe. The French claim to have imported it from El Mimi as early 
 as A.D. 1382. In 1442 Goncales Paldeza returned from his second 
 voyage to the regions about Bojador, bringing with him the first gold.i 
 Presently a company was formed for the purpose of carrying on the 
 gold trade between Portugal and Africa. Its leading men were tlie 
 navigators Lanzarote and ( lilianez, and the great Prince Henry did 
 not disdain to become a member. In 1471 doao de Santarem and 
 Pedro Esculiar reached a jdace on the Hold Coast, to which, from the 
 abundance of gold found there, tliey gave the name of Oro de la 
 Mina, the present El iMimi. After this a flood of gold })Oured into the 
 lap of Europe, and at last, cupidity having mastered terror of the 
 Papal Bull, which assigned to Portugal the exclusive right to the 
 Eastern IIeniis})here, English, French, and Dutch adventurers 
 hastened to share the spoils.” 
 
 From the Liccrpool Daili/ Post.” 
 
 DLSCOVEIUES OF OOLD OX THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 
 
 “ Reports have reached us from time to time during the last few 
 months regarding these discoveries, and we are now able to state on 
 good information that the enormous richness of these old gold fifdds 
 has not in these re})orts been over-stated. 
 
 Renewed attention has been given to the subject, and we are glad 
 to know that to one of our African merchants, who has had a mining 
 engineer at work for upwards of twelve months, a prize has fallen of 
 l)robable untold value. 
 
 We shall watch the further development of the gold resources of the 
 Gold Coast Colony with great interest, not only for the opportuniti(?s 
 afforded to our colonies on the AVest Coast of Africa ; but for the 
 large and most important (question of the future su})ply of gold. It 
 will bo remembered what a vast impetus was given, a generation ago, 
 to our ex})anding trade by the discovery of gold in San Francisco and 
 Australia ; and it may be safely asserted that to those discoveries the 
 })resent generation owe^ very largely its comforts and its advancement 
 in everything fm* which the reign of Ibu’ jMajesty will be famous. 
 Bearing these facts in mind, and looking at the present depressed 
 
 ^ From the Rio D’Ouro. — The autlior of thi.s hrochure, Captain Peacock, had 
 charge of an exploring expedition to thi.s “Rio Donro ” in 18C0, having a French 
 Steam Frigate under his orders. They i)enetrated a c<,)nsidei-abla distance into 
 the Desert of Sahara, where no ship had been since the time of Prince Henry of 
 Portugal, some 400 years before. Ca])tain Peacock read a paper or narrative of 
 this interesting voyage before the “Devonshire Chamber of Agriculture,” in 
 Exeter, on the loth March, 1878, the Right Honorable the Earl Fortescue in Ihe 
 Chair. 
 
41 
 
 condition of onr commerce, and remembering also tlie yearly decreasing 
 supply of gold, we cannot but look upon these discoveries on the 
 Guinea Coast (whence the name of our well-known coin) as most 
 providential. We trust, therefore, that the results of the future will 
 not only fulhl the promise of the present to those directly interested, 
 but that it may, in some measure, be a new departure into an era of 
 returning prosperity to the country at large. 
 
 Angiist 30. — The morning papers to-day have news from Axim that 
 the French Gold INIining Company are working actively a large and 
 valuable vein of gold in Wassau, and that a raslt is expected. A 
 rush of the natives tliere would not do them any good, as the vein or 
 rather lode mentioned, which was well known of before, is at a depth 
 of 70 to 80 feet, rerpiiring machinery and scientific working. The 
 same vein traverses the mineral property leased to a large commercial 
 house on the West Coast, who are now preparing their machinery; then 
 Abbontuyakoox, leased to Dr. Horton ; then that of the French 
 Company above mentioned, and next Effuenta, leased to a Liverpool 
 and London Company, and about to be immediately worked ; as, 
 we believe, is also that of Abboxtuyakoox, a part of the ‘ Gold 
 Coast Mining Company’s’ concessions.” 
 
 THE WAS8AU GOLD MI^^ES. 
 
 From the African Times,” VoJ. 20, No. 217, September 1879 . 
 
 The Wassau Gold jMixes. — Preparations for working the Wassau 
 gold fields upon scientific principles, with ade(|uate machinery, are, we 
 understand, steadily })rogressing. We abstain at present from pub- 
 lishing all the details we have receive<l, and which point to a speedy 
 utilization of the rich stores of gold beyond the reach of the native 
 miners, unprovided with machinery, and conse(piently compelled to 
 limit their labours to veiy small depths. We look to the gold work- 
 ings, now universal, as fraught with most beneficial results for the 
 Gold Coast countries, because the profitable operations which are certain 
 in Wassau will stimulate to action in the other })rovinces, where there 
 is every reason to believe that tliere exist certain gold lodes that may 
 not be so surprisingly ricli as those of which samples have been 
 assayed from AVassau.” 
 
 “ Odohor Id, 1870 . — It is far from being an unimportant event as 
 regards AVest Africa that another Company — tliis time a Lritish one 
 — should liave been organised, and lie now about to commence 
 energetic mining o])erations upon the gold (piartz of AVassau. The 
 profitable working of the rich gold fields within the territories of the 
 F 
 
42 
 
 Gold Coast Colony will be productive of such great advantages to the 
 chiefs, the peoi)le, and the public revenue, which we desire to see 
 doubled or trebled in order that the nuich-wanted public works may 
 be executed, that we congratulate all classes — merchants, traders, 
 chiefs, and Libourers— on the advent of this important company in 
 their midst. It is only by companies and similar organisations, 
 operating under skilled management, and with a mod('rate yet sufii- 
 cient capital, that the hidden vvx'alth — the rich stores of gold — so great 
 that one fears to describe it as it really is for fear of being charged 
 with wild exaggeration, can be brought to light and utilised for the 
 benefit of those interested, and of the world at large, which is now 
 craving (as Lord Leaconslield lately showed in the House of Lords) a 
 yield of gold, from some source or other, that shall bring up the 
 present supply of al)out (Igliteen millions sterling per annum to the 
 tbirty-hve millions at which the supply stood a few years since. 8o 
 far as wo know at present it is only our long despised West Africa 
 that can make up this large deficiency of sixteen or seventeen millions 
 a year. And we fully believe she ca'n do it. Jhit there will be no 
 of mere labouring miners from xiustralia, California, or any other 
 I)art of the world, l)ecause capital to a limited amount and preliminary 
 arrangement must have their })lace in the operation of gold extraction 
 in Wassau. It will be seen at once that the tem})tation to a rush, 
 such as that to California and x'Vustralia, has been diminished by this 
 seven hundred millions of gold extracted by the natives from alluvial 
 deposits, common soil washings, and pits, which until Avithin the last 
 feAr years never exceeded tAventy or thirty feet in depth, because of 
 the irruption of AAaater and soil during the periodical tropical rains, 
 Avhich they found it difllcult to remove with their calabashes, their 
 only vehicle for this i)urpose ; and again, because, as they have never 
 understood anything about thuherhuj, or had means of preparing Avood 
 for this ])urpose, the sides of the holes fell in during the rainy season. 
 
 ( )f late, hoAA^ever, tempted by increasing richness as they dc^scended, 
 they have, in some fcAV instances, ventured as Ioav as sixty feet — and 
 at one })it, now in the ])ossession of jMessrs. Swanzy, the Gold Coast 
 merchants, as Ioav as seventy feet. Lut these are excet)tions. The 
 general dei)th does not exceed tAventy to thirty for the reasons Ave have 
 above given.” 
 
 TIIL GOLL MIXIXG DISTRICTS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 (From the African Times,” February, 1880. fW. 21. No. 222) 
 
 “The future that A\^e desire for tlie Gold Coast Colony and its peoples, 
 moral, social, and economic, depends in so great a degree upon the 
 dcA^elopment of its rich inineral resources, that, independently alto- 
 
4.3 
 
 getlicr of our being personally interested in the work of development, 
 the operations already comiiK'nced, with those tliat are organized or in 
 l)rocess of organisation, app(‘al very strongly to our .sympathies and 
 greatly occipiy our mind. Wassail is such an advanced interior post 
 in the Gold Coast territories, that the introduction and permanence of 
 civilising influences there will make it a new jioint of departure 
 towards the remoter interior of efforts for the regeneration of the 
 countries lying lietween it and the hitherto totally unexplored Kong 
 iMountain range ; so full of promise to those who, like ourselves, look 
 through material results up to those higher ones of the increased well- 
 being of peoples ; and the diffusion among them of those great truths 
 which lead to an emancipation from the slavery of hoathonish super- 
 stitions, and the diffusion of principles that elevate human nature. It 
 is a noteworth}^ fact, that the great gold discoveries and workings of 
 the present age, do not lead, as in the olden times, and notably in 
 Mexico, Peru, and San Domingo, to the extii’iiatiun of peoples ; but 
 to the founding new States and communities, and the spread of a 
 civilization which, though alloyed at first by much that is evil, gives 
 promise of iiermanent results beneficial to the great conimonwealth of 
 nations. We hope to see the same process at work in Wassau and 
 the countries beyond, with an admixture, however, of the least 
 liossible amount of the evil from which it would l^e Utopian to expect 
 that it should be altogether freed. So far as we personally may 
 have power, we shall do everything possilile to minimise the evil aud 
 to increase the good. This will be, of course, no new thing with us, 
 as such has been the governing principle of the African Times, under 
 our solo management, during the past twenty years. There arc now, 
 or will soon h(^-, four organisations at work in A\’'assaii under European 
 management, -that of the French Company, under the title of the 
 African Gold Coast Coni])any ; that of the Elfuenta Gold IMines 
 Com])any ; and that of the Messrs. F. and A. Swanzy ; that of the “ Gold 
 Coast Mining Company,” now forming to work the “ Abbontuyakoon ” 
 iMiiies. These must, of course, be regarded as only the precursors of 
 far more extended operations in the same direction. Put even the 
 influence of a European staff' at four different mines, all working in 
 friendly accord, ought of itself, and must, we think, be powerful for 
 good. AVe hope the only rivalry lietween them will be, Avhich can 
 produce the greatest financial results, with the greatest amount of good 
 to their labourers, the country, and the jieople in general. It will 
 give us an immense amount of satisfaction to record the progress of 
 such good ; and we earnestly hope that tliose at the head of the 
 several mining operations Avill kee}) us well informed of all indications 
 of its being eff'ected.” 
 
44 
 
 “From the Mining Journal of Saturday, 13th March, 1880. 
 
 The ^liNES OF the British Gold Coast Colony. — The Earl of 
 Beaeonsheld gave it as Ids opinion in the course of a debate in the 
 House of Lords that no small })ortion of tlie distress with which the 
 country was last yc^ar afflicted proceeded from the diminished supply 
 of gold from California and Australia, where the mines noAV yield 
 less than twenty millions sterling per annum instead of thirty-five 
 millions heretofore. If what is stated he correct, and it seems to rest 
 on very high authority, the gold fields of West Africa are quite 
 callable of supplying the deficiency. Wassau, where several English 
 organisations have recently commenced work, the most recent of 
 which is the Gold Coast Mining Company (Limited), of Gresham 
 street, and which has just issued its prospectus, are preparing for 
 operations on what is declared to he the “gold fields of the world.” 
 The reports states that some 200 years ago the natives sold annually, 
 according to Capt. Burton’s extracts from Portuguese writers, over 
 half-a-million ounces of gold to the Dutch, Danish, and English 
 traders, and this supply has only dwindled to some half-a-million 
 pounds sterling a year, because they have no means of working at 
 any depth beyond at the utmost seventy feet. English enterprise 
 must develope the resources by regular scientific working, and there 
 can he no doubt about its doing this, when the success of the earlier 
 organised efforts shall have made the fact an incontrovertable one. It 
 is a remarkafile circumstance that the great gold fields of the Avorld 
 should be in possession of the ^Vnglo-Saxon race, almost to the exclusion 
 of all others. So long as California belonged to Mexico it was sterile 
 for tlie great human family as regards gold production, but absorbed by 
 tlie United States it poured its treasures out for the world’s use. 
 Australia followed suit. Xoav we see attention called and the enterprise 
 directed to the gold fields of Southern India and of West Africa, in 
 both cases with the expectation of a rich reward, and both in British 
 ])ossessions. Who can avoid believing in the ultimate universal 
 siqjremacy of this mighty race which thus monopolises the great gold 
 veins of the earth.” 
 
 Tli('. following is an Extract from the Mining Journal of Saturday, 
 IMarch 20th, with reference to the working of Gold Deposits 
 on the Coast of Guinea or Gold Coast of Africa. 
 
 (fold or Guinea Coast was for hundreds of years 
 the only source of the gold siq)ply for Euroi)e, and the >>urfaxe workings 
 
45 
 
 by the natives have continued to the present day. The reefs, which 
 the natives have only been able to attack with their rude tools, and 
 without machine, powder, or (quicksilver, are ncnc to he worked with 
 the scientific skill similar to that emqdoyed in the mines of Australia 
 and ('alifornia. Four com])anies have l)een established to 
 
 work the Tac(|uah Gold iNIines of Wassau, and we, therefore, expect 
 to hear in the future much more of this colony as a gold ])roducer, 
 whose present exq)orts of gold to England, according to the Hoard of 
 Trade returns, are £160,000 })er annum.” 
 
 There is little doubt but fifty times this amount or ui)wards will 
 figure in the Hoard of Trade returns of future years, for by all 
 accounts the q)recious metal is practically inexhaustible on this long 
 neglected part of the Hritish Dominions.” 
 
 “ Extracts from the Geological and iNIineralogical Keport upon the 
 Auriferous Formation of the Taecquah Range (AVassau) Hritish 
 Gold Coast Colony. 
 
 As Air. Paulus Daiise, General Resident Alanager of the 
 “ Effuexta Gold Mixes,” in his Report upon the Abboxtuyakoox 
 Gold Mixes owned by the Gold Coast Mixixg Compaxy, Limited, 
 states that the strata of this part of the Taecquah range has been 
 l)ractically proved by the shafts which the natives have sunk upon it 
 and 'svorketl, to be tlie same as in the neighbouring “ Effuenta,” and 
 in the French Company’s Mines, and as valuable, the following 
 extracts from his Report on “Effuenta,” which will aqiqdy in most 
 points with equal force to each property on the range, will be of 
 especial interest to the geoh^gist and mineralogist. 
 
 Tacquaii, at the foot of the Taciqiiah range of mountains, is the 
 largest town in AVassau, which country came under the Hritish Crown 
 in 1874. It is situated aliout 5^^ 20' X.L., and D.50' AF.L. The 
 Tacquah hills run from X.X.E. in a S.S.AAh direction, and are known 
 throughout, from tlie village of Arbowassu, nine miles X.X.E. of 
 Taecquah Town, to the small village of Tamso, about three miles S.S.AAh 
 of Tacquah, or for a length of twelve miles. 
 
 The depth of the gold-bearing strata is not yet known, as, until 
 now, even in the deejiest shafts, the bottom or bedrock has not been 
 touched ; and as gold is seven times heavier than gravel, the richest 
 beds must yet be found K'sting on the bedrock. 
 
 The opj)Osite range to the AVhX.Ay. of the Tacquah range is of pure 
 slate, and rather steep ; and as the continuation of this slate range is 
 naturally supposed to underlie the Taecquah formation forming the 
 bedrock, it must be exq)ected that the richest layers of gold will be 
 
4G 
 
 foinid resting on the Ijcnlrock, a couple of hundred feet below the 
 deepest present works. As tlie beds already touched have proved to 
 he so very rich, the imnicnce riclmess of the deeper beds can he 
 surmised from similar formations in other countries ; for example, in 
 Australia, California, and in the Cariboo INfines of British Columbia. 
 
 Tlie gravel beds also Avhic,h form the Tacfpiah Valley arc auriferous 
 throughout. Year after year, the u])per layers of these beds are 
 washed by the natives, without showing a diminution of the metal. 
 AVith proper pumping apparatus, it will Ijc very easy to sink shafts to 
 the Ijottom of the valley, where the gravel must without doubt be of 
 immense richness. 
 
 To wash these gravel beds, the water of the quartz-creek crossing 
 the range will be of the utmost advantage, as without great expense it 
 may be led along the slope of the range, and used in sluices for 
 washing purposes, and gold be taken out of the property, even before 
 the larger works, as stanq)ers, Ac., for working the auriferous rocks 
 are linished. The old native works extend along the whole length of 
 the property. Loolcing at the map, it will l)e seen that they are mostly 
 near the top of the range, and only now and then will a shaft be found 
 sunk near the valle}^ Tlte natlvrs hare no ptunps and do not me 
 ii'indhm^es, and therefore are not able to sink any deeper shafts on the 
 lower l)enches near the valley, where they would be obliged to make 
 ]n*eparations to keep the shafts clear of water, although they very Avell 
 knoAV that the richest part of the lode is near and even below the 
 level of the valley. For this reason, most of their shafts are very near 
 the top of the range, where they have only to fight against rain-water, 
 and have no trouble from ground- water. The whole property is 
 covered Avith forests, containing excellent timber of the largest size for 
 building purposes, and also any amount of Avood for burning charcoal, 
 the free use of the Avhole of Avhieh (as also of that on the adjacent 
 country) is secured l)y the Lease. 
 
 The richness of the more superficial part has been established by 
 the assay made by Afessrs. Johnson and Matliey, of 33 '750 ounces per 
 ton of 20 CAvt. of quartz, Avhich indicates, as Ijefore stated, exceedingly 
 greater richness beloAv, 
 
 (Signed) Paulus Daiise. 
 
 Front the “ AEining Journal, Railavay and Commercial Cazette” 
 of Sotnrdat/, April Srd, 1880. 
 
 “Important Strike in Gold Coast ATine. — The advices from the 
 AYest Coast by the last mail state that Alessrs. SAvanzy and Company 
 have made an important strike in their mine at AYassau. One piece 
 of 35 iiounds of quartz, Avhich Ave believe can lie seen at Alessns. 
 Swanzy's, Cannon Street, London, having been foi'Avarded by late 
 steamer, is said to be nearly one (Quarter gold.” 
 
47 
 
 “ AVc liad rocoivod intolligenco from Cape Coast hy the s.s. Biafra, 
 fifteen days ago, of a rich lode liavi ng been struck in preliminary 
 workings on the gold mining property of jNfessrs. F. and A. Swanzy 
 and Company near Tacipiah, AVassaii, but without iiarticulars. \\’'e 
 have now (31st i\larch) news from .Vxim, the seaport of AVassau, per 
 s.s. Jiamjadd, wliicli says : — 
 
 “ Alessrs. Swanzy and Company have made another very rich strike. 
 Their agent, who has Ijeen opening a new shaft, took out, a fortnight 
 since, a piece of quartz of thirfij-fii'e poiouls wc'djht, one qnarter port 
 of trhk-h fcos of pare [fold. I have seen it ; it is s[)lendid. It was 
 sent to England by the s.s. U to fro. A'esterday I received news that 
 they are still taking out ore of the same (piality.” 
 
 ^Vs tliis is from a fully dependable authority, we offm' our most 
 sincere congratulations to Alessrs. F. and A. Swanzy and Co. 
 
 The neighbouring properties of the “ Fffuenta Cold AEixes 
 CoiiPAXY, Limited,” and of tlie “ Cold Coa.st AIixixg Compaxy, 
 lamited,” having the same strata tliere is every reason to believe that 
 similar results will be obtained by them in their Avorkings Avhen they 
 get to the same depth, Avhicli is about eighty feet. Tliere is, Ave are 
 informed, already a sliaft open on the Cold Coast Mining Company’s 
 })roperty, about seventy feet deep, from Avhich some ricli ore has been 
 taken. The piece of ([uartz obtained, as aliove stated, by Alessrs. 
 SAvanzy, Avill, Ave liope, be acquired for the Covernment Aluseum of 
 Alines in Jerinyn Street, Avhich does not at present contain any good 
 specimen of AYest African gold quartz. — Afrleoa Timex.^^ 
 
 Exliacts fiom a Panqddet published after the return of Sir Carnet 
 AVolseley and our brave Army from thq Ashantee AVar, on the 
 Creat Gold Field of AAAst Africa. 
 
 “COLL and AVLST AFKICA have been more or less associated in tlie 
 minds of mercantile men from the time Avhen the Portuguese began 
 in 1471 to visit Avhat they api)ropriately named the Cold Coast — and 
 one particular sjjot thereon, El-Alina (the Aline), liecause of the 
 abundance of gold they obtained there. “After tliis a flood of gold 
 pouri'd into the lap of Euro[)e”^ fi’oni this small section of AVest 
 Africa, Avhich, until the discovery of gold in California and Australia, 
 continued to be the princi})nl source of siqqdy to the civilized Avorld. 
 
 From the records of the continuous stream of gold from AVest 
 Africa to Europe since that first Portuguese visit to the Gold Coast in 
 
 ^ Mr. Con.sul Burton’s ‘AVunderings in West Africa,” Vol. II, p. 107. 
 
48 
 
 1471, it lias been estimated tliat the quantity tliiis supplied by this 
 rich gold field lias been from .^!x to spvm liuiidrod millions of pounds 
 stprlinr/. El-iNfina alone, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 exported annually, according to “ Ilosman,” £3,000,000 of gold. At 
 a lat(*r ])eriod, iMr. ]\[c(^)u(‘en estimated the Gold Coast export at 
 £3,400,000 1 ) 01 * annum. 
 
 The Avhole of this gold was obtained liy the most superficial and 
 unscientific working, Avithin a very limited area between the lower 
 southern slopes of the Kong ^lountains and the sea-coast. The old 
 writer and most accredited authority as to the Gold Coast, “ llosman,” 
 says, A.i). 1700, with regard to this : “ I would rider to any intelligent 
 metallist, Avhether a vast deal of ore must not of necessity be lost 
 here, from which a great deal of gold might be separated, from want 
 of skill in the metallic art ; and not only so, but I firmly believe that 
 vast quantities of pure gold are left behind ; for the negroes only 
 ignorantly dig at random, without the least knowledge of the veins of 
 the mines.” Consul lJurton says, on the same subject, a.d. 1863 : 
 “ As quicksilver is not used, at least one-third must be Avasted ; or, 
 rather, I may say, it is preserved for a better day.” 
 
 The Kong IMountains, Ijefore mentioned, are a small equatorial range, 
 running nearly east and AA'est, their centre being oi)posite Cape Coast 
 Castle, about 300 miles distant in the interior, and in latitude about 
 10 degrees Xorth. The chain slojies ofi‘ as it apjnmches the Kiver 
 Kiger above Kabba ; and AA^estward toAA’ards the Atlantic Coast. A 
 1 Bristol merchant captain, Avdiose ship Avas lying during many months 
 off Grand llassam, reported that gold Avas distinctly visible in the 
 (piartz croi)})ing out there on the sea-coast. The entire length of the 
 range may be from 500 to 600 miles. All the gold found north of 
 this range as far as the Senegad counties, conies from the northern 
 versant of this rangt*, Avashed doAvn liy rains and rivers, and from 
 broken mountain si)urs. All the gold found south of this range, in 
 Ashanti, the Gold Coast territories, Ac., conies doAvn fiy floods and 
 rivers from the southern versant, principally in a south-AAX'stern direc- 
 tion, and from the (jiiartz s})urs Avhich extend in all directions to the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 From the sea-coast the land gradually ascends toAAands the Kong 
 ^rountains ; and higher on the slojies of the range, nuggets of consi- 
 derable size have been found, and many small ones are obtained. The 
 iindhoj Avould be more plentiful but for the restrictions and some 
 sujierstition regarding them. Every nugget found by the natives is 
 to be given to the king or some territorial chief. iNfany are, therefore, 
 re-l)uried, especially as gold is siqiposed to groAA’ in the ground from 
 them. J.eo Africanus, a.d. 1500, states that the King of Ghana had 
 an entire lump of native gold — a nugget of thirty i)ounds’ Aveight — 
 Avhich had been bored through and made a royal seat ; ami many 
 nuggets are still reported and delivered up of three or four pounds’ 
 Aveight, especially in Garnan, north-Avest of Kumasi ; Avhile “ the red 
 and loamy soil, scattered Avith gravel and grey granite, is everyAvhere 
 
49 
 
 impregnated with gold, whieli the slaves extract by digging and 
 washing.” 
 
 In the Gold Coast territories — now and since 1874, gold is still 
 sought and Avorked to a limited extent in the same superficial, imper- 
 fect, Avasteful manner as three or four hundred years ago. llosman 
 says the negroes sought for it “ in or hetAveen particular hills,” AAdiere 
 they sank small pits ; and about some “ rivers and AAaiterfalls ; and on 
 tlie sea-shore, near the mouths of rivulets, &c.” XoAAg as then, they 
 dig pits tAA^o or three feet in diameter, and mostly from eight to ten feet 
 deep, tliough sometimes thirty feet, AAudening the pits at the bottom. 
 The stulf is drawn up by ropes in clay pots or calabashes ; the excaA^ated 
 earth is carried aAA’-ay to be Avashed. As they do not understand or 
 practise shoring up their })its, the miners are not unfrequently buried 
 alive Avhenever they attempt the deeper holes before mentioned, Avhich 
 they therefore very rarely do. When the pits thus fall in, it is 
 said that the “Fetish” prohibits further search. 
 
 There aatts some considerable activity in the Akim Hills, north-AA^est 
 of Accra, after the earchquakes of 1862, when the strata Avere partially 
 shaken and liroken up. People flocked to the diggings, and utilized 
 the broken strata Avithout sinking any pits. It Avas no doubt to this 
 district that Sir John Glover alluded, at the bampiet given in liis 
 honour by the Mayor of Liverpool, Avlien he came home after tlie 
 Ashanti War. 
 
 The total sea-coast length of these 1 British Gold Coast countries, 
 from the River Assinee to the River Volta, is about 220 miles. It is 
 chiefly in tlie Avestern and north-Avestern portion that the gold has 
 been Avorked, although, as Consul Purton very truly says, “ it is 
 notorious that on tlie banks of tlie Upper Wlta, about Kroboe, there 
 are extensive deposits, regarded by the people, a.d. 1862, as ‘ Feti.-!?/,’” 
 — that is, that they are prohibited from being Avorked, by super- 
 natural beings. 
 
 iMany of tlie sujiposed richest deposits have been thus preserved 
 entire for modern scientific Avorking. They have been “ 7dV/.s//.” To 
 dig there Avas a certain loss of life. Consul Burton instances one 
 particular place AAdiich had always lieen It aatxs ahvays Avell 
 
 knoAvn, being on the sea-coast. Bosnian calls it “ Monte de Uiablo,” 
 or Devil’s Hill. The natives call it “ iSIampiadu.” 
 
 Such is the country noAV aAvaiting scientific development of its 
 unsurjiassed gold resources. 
 
 Consul Burton Avinds up his notice of this gold country in the fol- 
 loAA'ing Avords : “It must iioav be abundantly evident to the reader that 
 the great centre of West African gold, the source Avhich supplies 
 ‘ iManding to the north and Ashanti to the south, is the equatorial 
 range called the Koxg.’ What the mineral Avealth must be there it is 
 impossible to estimate, Avhen nearly three and a half millions of 
 POUNDS STERLING have annuaily beiai draAvn from a small parallelogram 
 betAveen its soutliern slopes and the ocean, Avliile the other three- 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 quarters of the land, without alluding to the equally rich declivities 
 of the northern versant, have remained as yet unexplored.” 
 
 And yet the British Government, when it had conc^uered Ashanti, 
 and had, therefore, all this country to the summit of the Kong 
 ^fountains virtually at its command, withdrew its forces within eight 
 and forty hours from Kuniasi (or Coomassie), and has allowed Ashanti 
 to reconstitute itself as an independent barbarous PoAver, Avithout 
 having done anything toAvards exploring these Avondrous gold forma- 
 tions, or exacting securities for entire future freedom of access to the 
 “Kong” by explorers. 
 
 With similar continued neglect and lack of appreciation of the 
 value of tliese golden lands, the British Government has not yet com- 
 menced the formation of roads from the sea-coast to the interior, 
 AAdiich, Ijy affording ready access, AA'ould have led to the obtaining of 
 such additional eAudences of mineral AA^alth as must have induc(Hl 
 extensive gold AA^orkings that Avould, ere this, have begun to pour 
 another “flood of gold into the lap of Europe.” We could understand, 
 though Ave could but de})lore, this lack of ai)preciation Avdiile the Gold 
 Goast territories Avere only 2>rot(’ctcd territories ; ” but noAV that they 
 have become a British colony, that inertia ought to give Avay to zealous 
 activity. Great Britain needs daily, more and more, ncAV and extended 
 markets for its industrious and enterprising people. The old Konians, 
 of AA’liom Ave may be looked upon as successors as regards the AVorkVs 
 empire, understood the absolute necessity and great adA antage of good 
 roads ; and if the British GoA^ernment Avere at all animated by their 
 spirit, several firm, solid, enduring trunk roads to the interior, as Avell 
 as one uniting the AAdiole of the Coast toAvns, Avould, ere this, have 
 been in course of construction. That no such roads are forming does 
 not, however, in any Avay preclude the opening of that great source of 
 Avealth AAdiich the Gold Coast Colony possesses in its undeveloped gold 
 resources, A\diich may Avell be regarded as almost boundless. If roads 
 do not lead to gold mining, gold mining AA’ill lead to the construction 
 of roails. When the English peoide see their Avay to advantage, they 
 are accustomed to de})end on their oaaui action, and not to AA^ait for 
 action on the part of unap])reciative Governments and Governors. 
 The iieAv flood of gold is only deferred, not prevented, by Adminis- 
 trative inertia.” 
 
 “ The contents of this rich natural treasure-house of gold 
 
 MUST, AND AVILL, FIND THEIR AVAY TO ENGLAND.” 
 
51 
 
 P. s. 
 
 NOTES ON THE AFRICAN PYTHON, Ac. 
 
 2'o the Editor of the Miiiiiij Journal. 
 
 “ Sir, — You were good enough to puhlisli a paper of niiiie on the 
 Gold Coast of Africa, in the Supplement to the MinuKj Juunidl^ as to 
 the known size of the African Python, Ac. My brother, T)r. Peacock, 
 M.D., R.X., of Gloster, measured the skin of one for me, now in the 
 Gloster iMuseiim, and found it to be 14 feet 7 inches long and 12 
 inches across, and A. Gunther, Es(|., the Superintendent of the 
 Zoological Department of the British Museum, kindly writes me that 
 “tlie largest African Python skin in the British jMuseum is 16 feet 
 long and 17 inches across.” Bosnian, who was many years resident 
 at Elmina during the last century, states that he has seen one 22 feet 
 long ; and this I can well believe. The monstrous serpents we read of 
 in some zoological works are doubtless as fabulous as that of the one 
 which is said to have disputed the invasion of the Roman army under 
 Regulus, on the hanks of the River Bragada. Pliny has the credit of 
 saying it was 120 feet long ! and was said to have been conquered by 
 using a battering ram ! but it is more than probable that some reporter 
 took the liberty of prefixing a unit before the 20, and it is not unlikely 
 to have been an ordinary jiython brought from Ophir liy Hanno or 
 some Carthagenian captain from the Gold Coast. Goldsmith, in his 
 “ History of Animated Nature,” tells some strange stories of serpents 
 in South America, Java, Ac., from 36 to 50 feet long ! but I must 
 confess that in all my voyages to South America, and other tropical 
 regions, Africa included, I liave never seen or Imard of any serpent or 
 l)ython exceeding 20 feet ; and although I Itaro heard of their 
 swallowing the bodies of negroes, goats, antelopes, and smaller animals 
 wltoln, which we can readily believe, I never heard of one that 
 swallowed an elephant or a buffalo ! Poor Goldsmith was easily 
 imposed upon by travellers, and Wentworth, Carli, Father Fuile, 
 Casaubon, and others no doubt knew Oliver’s weak point. 
 
 I sent a copy of the Muiitiy Journal with my “ Paper ” to Sir 
 Garnet AYolseley, and received the following civil acknowledgment on 
 January 28th, viz : — 
 
 “ Head Quarters, Camp Sutah, 
 
 i)ecember 30th, 1873. 
 
 “ Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency, Sir Garnet Mhilseley, to 
 thank you for the very interesting article on the Gold Coast, which 
 you have sent him. 
 
 His Excellency has read it with the greatijst })leasure and interest. 
 
 (Signed) F. Maurice, Private Secretary.” 
 
 To George Peacock, Esq., f.r.g.s., Regent House, Starcross. 
 
52 
 
 Before concluding tliis letter allow me to remark that I can hardly 
 believe the telegram said to have come from Sir Garnet as to £200,000 
 to be genuine. I think it more likely to be £5,000,000, with the 
 above sum as an annual tribute, for no doubt there is any amount of 
 gold to be procured in this cxtraordlnanj country. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 George Peacock, f.r.g.s. 
 
 Kegent House, Starcross, Devon, 
 
 February 10 th, 1874.” 
 
 Extract from the African Times for April, 1880. 
 
 “ One of the highest gold mine authorities who has visited the East 
 Indian gold fields, of which so much has lately been said, and who 
 has also visited those in AVassau, has stated his belief that where those 
 East Indian mines yield one ounce of gold, the AVassau ones will yield 
 five ounces at least to the companies that may be working them, 
 should the operations be skilfully and carefully conducted. 
 
 The African Gold Coast Company (Limited), kiionui more 
 familiarly as the French Company, the seat of the directorate being in 
 Paris, is reported to have a large (piantity of valuable ore extracted, 
 say 1,000 tons, valued at above £20 sterling per ton, ready for the 
 “ stamper,” whicli it was hoped ^vould be in jdace by the 1st Alay 
 next after which it was calculated that regular remittances of gold 
 could be made. 
 
 jMessrs. AV. and A. Swanzy’s staff of Europeans, ndtli large 
 (quantities of machinery, tools, provisions, Ac., sailed from Liverpool 
 by the steam-ship A'olta in Alarcli last. ADanwhile, report from the 
 Coast says that the agent left in charge of their mineral ])roperty had 
 been opening a new shaft or pit thereon, and had found and despatched 
 to England some (quartz of very great richness. 
 
 The Effuenta Gold AIines Company (Limited). — The manager and 
 mining engineer, and others of the Euroq)(3an staff of the Efiiienta 
 Gold Alines Conioany (Limited), had arrived out at Effuenta, vdiich 
 adjoins the S.A,. extremity of the French Comq)any’s 'svorkings. 
 They had made a road up the hill, preqiared temporary dwellings for 
 themselves and their sixty labourers, had selected, after careful survey, 
 the spot at which to establish their ’svorks and commence operations, 
 and M^ere just about to begin their tunnel into the hill. 
 
 The Gold Coast AIining Company (Limited) — the last organization 
 formed, and which will v^ork the Abl)ontuyakoon pro])erty, next 
 adjoining the N.E. extremity of the French Comq)any’s lands — muII, 
 we are informed, commence active operations without delay. There is 
 a shaft of 70 feed deep already oq)en on the qnoperty, from vdiich very 
 rich ore has been brought up, so tliat speedy realization is expected by 
 this company.” 
 


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