Retracing our steps, we made the chief Sensensé's village, and persuaded him to guide us. The short cut led through a forest and a swamp, which reeked with nauseating sulphuretted hydrogen. We avoided it on return by a détour. After a short hour's walk we ascended a banana-grown hillock, upon which lay the ruins of the little mining-village Abesebá. A few paces further, through a forest rich in gamboge and dragon's blood (not the D. draco), in rubber and in gutta-percha (?), where well-laden lime-trees gave out their perfume, placed us upon the great south-eastern reef. It was everywhere drilled with pits, and we obtained fine specimens from one which measured twenty feet deep. Several of them were united by rude and dangerous tunnels. I have heard of these galleries being pierced in other places; but the process is not common, and has probably been copied from Europeans.
On March 1 was held a formal palaver of headmen and elders. The Akankon concession had been bought by Messieurs Bonnat and Wyatt from Sensensé of the fetish, whose ancestors, he declared, had long ruled the whole country. The rent, they say, was small—$4 per mensem and 15 pereguins (135l. [Footnote: Assuming at 9l. the pereguin, which others reduce at 8l. and others raise to 10l.]) per annum—when operations began. I have heard these gentlemen blamed, and very unjustly, for buying so cheap and selling so dear—17,000l. in cash and 33,000l. in shares. But the conditions were well worth the native's acceptance; and, if he be satisfied, no one can complain. The apparently large amount included the expenses of 'bringing out' the mine; and these probably swallowed a half. When Sensensé received his pay, a host of rival claimants started up. In these lands there is no law against trespass; wherever a plantation is deserted the squatter may occupy it, and popular opinion allows him and his descendants the permanent right of using, letting, or selling it. I do not think, however, that this rule would apply to a white man.
Sensensé's claims were contested by three chiefs—Kofi Blay-chi, Kwáko Bukári, who brought an acute advocate, Ebba of Axim, and Kwáko Jum, a fine specimen of the sea-lawyer; this bumptious black had pulled down the board which marked the Abesebá reef, and had worked the pits to his own profit. After many meetings, of which the present was our last, the litigants decided that hire and 'dashes' should be shared by only two, Sensensé and Kofi Blay-chi. Energetic Jum, finding his pretensions formally ignored, jumped up and at once set out to 'enter a protest' in legal form at Axim.
The crowd of notables present affixed their marks, which, however, they by no means connected with the 'sign of the Cross.' We witnessed the document, and a case of trade-gin concluded an unpleasant business that threatened the Apatim as well as the Akankon concession. I repeat what I have before noted: too much care cannot be taken when title to ground in Africa is concerned. And a Registration Office is much wanted at head-quarters; otherwise we may expect endless litigation and the advent of the London attorney. Moreover, the people are fast learning foreign ideas. Sensensé, for instance, is nephew (sister's son) to Blay-chi, which relationship in Black-land makes him the heir: meanwhile his affectionate uncle works upon the knowledge that this style of succession does not hold good in England.
The eventful evening ended with a ball, which demanded another distribution of gin. The dance was a compound affair. The Krumen had their own. Forming an Indian file for attack, they carried bits of board instead of weapons; and it was well that they did so, the warlike performance causing immense excitement. The Apollonians preferred wide skirts and the pas seul of an amatory nature; it caused shrieks of laughter, and at last even the women and wees could not prevent joining in the sport. Years ago I began to collect notes upon the dances of the world; and the desultory labour of some months convinced me that an exhaustive monograph, supposing such thing possible, would take a fair slice out of a man's life. I learnt, however, one general rule—that all the myriad forms of dancing originally express only love and war, in African parlance 'woman-palaver' and 'land-palaver.' However much the 'quiet grace of high refinement' may disguise original significance, Nature will sometimes return despite the pitchfork; witness a bal de l'Opéra in the palmy days of the Second Empire.
The Kruman ball ended in a battle royal. The results were muzzles swollen and puffed out like those of mandrills, and black eyes—that is to say, blood-red orbits where the skin had been abraded by fist and stick. As they applied to us for justice and redress, we administered it, after 'seeing face and back,' or hearing both sides, by a general cutting-off of the gin-supply and a temporary stoppage of 'Sunday-beef.'
I cannot leave this rich and unhappy Akankon mine without a few reflections; it so admirably solves the problem 'how not to do it.' The concession was negotiated in 1878. In April 1881 Cameron proceeded to open operations, accompanied by the grantee and four Englishmen, engineers and miners. He was, however, restricted to giving advice, and was not permitted to command. The results, as we have seen, were a round shaft made square and a cross-cut which cut nothing. As little more appeared likely to be done, and harmony was not the order of the day, my companion sent the party home in June 1881, and followed it himself shortly afterwards. Since that time the Company has been spending much money and making nil. The council-room has been a barren battle-field over a choice of superintendents and the properest kind of machinery, London-work being pitted, for 'palm-oil' in commission-shape, against provincial work. And at the moment I write (May 1, 1882), when 7,000l. have been spent or wasted, the shares, 10s. in the pound paid up, may be bought for a quarter. I can only hope that Mr. Amondsen, who met me at Axim, may follow my suggestions and send home alluvial gold.
Cameron's most sensible advice concerning the local establishment required for Akankon was as follows:—
He laid down the total expenditure at 21,000l. per annum, including expenses in England. This sum would work 100 tons per diem with 350 hands (each at 1s. hire and 3d. subsistence-money) and sixteen cooks and servants. The staff would consist of six officers. The manager should draw 800l. (not 1,200l.), and the surgeon, absolutely necessary in case of accidents, 450l. with rations. This is the pay of Government, which does not allow subsistence. The reduction-officer and the book-keeper are rated at 500l., and the superintendent of works and the head-miner each at 240l. The pay of carpenters and other mechanics, who should know how to make small castings, would range from 180l. to 150l. The first native clerk and the store-keeper would be paid 100l.; the time-keeper, with three assistants, 70l. and 65l. The manager requires office, sitting-room, and bedroom, and the medico a dispensary; the other four would have separate sleeping-places and a common parlour. Each room would have its small German stove for burning mangrove-fuel; and a fire-engine should be handy on every establishment. All the white employés would mess together, unless it be found advisable to make two divisions. The house would be of the usual pitch-pine boarding on piles, like those of Lagos, omitting the common passage or gallery, which threatens uncleanness; and the rooms might be made gay with pictures and coloured prints. The natives would build bamboo-huts.
Cameron, well knowing what ennui in Africa means, would send out a billiard-table and a good lathe: he also proposed a skittle- or bowling-alley, a ground for lawn-tennis under a shed, an ice-machine and one for making soda-water. Each establishment would have its library, a good atlas, a few works of reference, and treatises on mining, machinery, and natural history. The bulk would be the cheap novels (each 4d.) in which weary men delight. In addition to the 'Mining Journal,' the 'Illustrated,' and the comics, local and country papers should be sent out; exiles care more for the 'Little Pedlington Courant' than for the 'journal of the City,' the 'Times.'
Gardening should be encouraged. The vegetables would be occros (hibiscus) and brinjalls, lettuce, tomatoes, and marrow; yam and sweet potatoes, pumpkins, peppers and cucumbers, whose seeds yield a fine-flavoured salad-oil not sold in London. The fruits are grapes and pine-apples, limes and oranges, mangoes and melons, papaws and a long list of native growth. Nor should flowers be neglected, especially the pink and the rose. The land, fenced in for privacy, would produce in abundance holeus-millet, rice, and lucern for beasts. There would be a breeding-ground for black cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, and a poultry-yard protected against wild cats.
The routine-day would be as follows: At 5.15 A.M. first bell, and notice to 'turn out;' at 5.40 the 'little breakfast' of tea or coffee, bread-and-butter, or toast, ham and eggs. The five working-hours of morning (6-11 A.M.) to be followed by a substantial déjeuner à la fourchette at 11.30. Each would have a pint of beer or claret, and be allowed one bottle of whisky a week. Mr. Ross, the miner, preferred breakfast at 8 A.M., dinner at 1 P.M., and 'tea' at 5 P.M.; but these hours leave scant room for work.
The warning-bell, at 12.45 P.M., after 1 hr. 45 min. rest, would prepare the men to fall in, and return to work at 1 P.M.; and the afternoon-spell would last till 5.30. Thus the working-day contains 9 hrs. 30 min. Dinner would be served at any time after 6 P.M., and the allowance of liquor be that of the breakfast. An occasional holiday to Axim should be allowed, in order to correct the monotony of jungle-life.
March 4 was a sore trial to us both. We 'went down' on the same day and by our own fault. We had given the sorely-abused climate no chance; nor have we any right to abuse it instead of blaming ourselves. The stranger should begin work quietly in these regions; living, if possible, near the coast and gradually increasing his exercise and exposure. Within three months, especially if he be lucky enough to pass through a mild 'seasoning' of ague and fever, he becomes 'acclimatised,' the consecrated term for a European shorn of his redundant health, strength, and vigour. Medical men warn new comers, and for years we had read their warnings, against the 'exhaustion of the physical powers of the body from over-exertion.' They prescribe gentle constitutionals to men whose hours must do the work of days. It is like ordering a pauper-patient generous diet in the shape of port and beef-steaks; for the safe system, which takes a quarter of a year, would have swallowed up all our time. Consequently we worked too hard. Our mornings and evenings were spent in collecting, and our days in boating, or in walking instead of hammocking. Indeed, we placed, by way of derision, the Krumen in the fashionable vehicle. And we had been too confident in our past 'seasoning;' we had neglected such simple precautions as morning and evening fires and mosquito-bars at night; finally, we had exposed ourselves somewhat recklessly to sickly sun and sweltering swamp. Four days on the burning hill-side completed the work. My companion was prostrated by a bilious attack, I by ague and fever.
'I thought you were at least fever-proof,' says the candid friend, as if one had compromised oneself.
Alas! no: a man is not fever-proof in Africa till he takes permanent possession of his little landed estate. Happily we had our remedies at hand. There was no medico within hail; and, had there been, we should have hesitated to call him in. These gentlemen are Government servants, who add to their official salaries (400l. per annum) by private practice. For five visits to a sick Kruboy six guineas have been charged; 5l. for tapping a liver and sending two draughts and a box of pills, and 37l. 10s. for treating a mild tertian which lasted a week. The late M. Bonnat cost 80l. for a fortnight. Such fees should attract a host of talented young practitioners from England; at any rate they suggest that each mine or group of mines should carry its own surgeon.
Cameron applied himself diligently to chlorodyne, one of the two invaluables on the Coast. We had a large store, but unfortunately the natives have learnt its intoxicating properties, and during our absence from Axim many bottles had disappeared. I need hardly say that good locks and keys are prime necessaries in these lands, and that they are mostly 'found wanting.'
I addrest myself to Warburg's drops (Tinctura Warburgii), a preparation invaluable for travellers in the tropics and in the lower temperates. The action appears to be chiefly on the liver through the skin. The more a traveller sees, the firmer becomes his conviction that health means the good condition of this rebellious viscus, and that its derangement causes the two great pests of Africa, dysentery and fever. Indeed, he is apt to become superstitious upon the subject, and to believe that a host of diseases—gout and rheumatism, cholera and enteric complaints—result from, and are to be cured or relieved only by subduing, hepatic disturbances. My 'Warburg' was procured directly from the inventor, not from the common chemist, who makes the little phialful for 9d. and sells it for 4s. 6d. Some years ago a distinguished medical friend persuaded Dr. Warburg, once of Vienna, now of London, to reveal his secret, in the forlorn hope of a liberal remuneration by the Home Government. Needless to say the reward is to come. I first learnt to appreciate this specific at Zanzibar in 1856, where Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton used it successfully in the most dangerous remittents and marsh-fevers. Cases of the febrifuge were sent out to the Coast during the Ashanti war for the benefit of army and navy: the latter, they say, made extensive use of it. I have persistently recommended it to my friends and the public; and, before leaving England in 1879, I wrote to the 'Times,' proposing that all who owe (like myself) their lives to Dr. Warburg should join in relieving his straitened means by a small subscription. At this moment (June 1882) measures are being taken in favour of the inventor, and I can only hope that the result will be favourable.
The 'drops' are composed of the aromatic, sudorific and diaphoretic drugs used as febrifuges by the faculty before the days of 'Jesuits' bark,' to which a small quantity of quinine is added. Thus the tincture is successful in many complaints besides fevers. Evidently skilful manipulation is an important factor in the sum of its success. Dr. Warburg has had the experience of the third of a century, and the authorities could not do better than to give him a contract for making his own cure.
The enemy came on with treacherous gentleness—a slight rigor, a dull pain in the head, and a local irritation. 'I have had dozens of fevers, and dread them little more than a cold,' said Winwood Reade; indeed, the English catarrh is quite as bad as the common marsh-tertian of the Coast. The normal month of immunity had passed; I was prepared for the inevitable ordeal, and I flattered myself that it would be a mild ague, at worst the affair of a week, Altro!
Next morning two white men, owning that they felt 'awful mean,' left Granton, walked down to Riverside House, and at 8 A.M. embarked upon the hapless Effuenta. The stream rapidly narrowed, and its aspect became wilder. Dead trees, anchored by the bole-base, cumbered the bed, and dykes and bars of slate, overlaid by shales of recent date, projected from either side. The land showed no sign of hills, but the banks were steep at this season, in places here and there based on ruddy sand and exposing strips of rude conglomerate, the cascalho of the Brazil. This pudding is composed of waterworn pebbles, bedded in a dark clayey soil which crumbles under the touch. On an arenaceous strip projecting from the western edge the women were washing and panning where the bottom of the digging was below that of the river. This is an everyday sight on the Ancobra, and it shows what scientific 'hydraulicking' will do. After six hours of steaming, not including three to fill the boiler, we halted at Enfrámadié, the Fanti Frammanji, meaning 'wind cools,' that is, falls calm. It is a wretched split heap of huts on the left bank, one patch higher pitched than the other, to avoid the floods; the tenements are mere cages, the bush lying close to the walls, and supplies are unprocurable. In fact, the further we go the worse we fare as regards mere lodgings; yet the site of our present halt is a high bank of yellow clay, which suggests better things. There is no reason why this miserable hole should not be made the river-depôt.
On March 4 we set out in the 'lizard's sun,' as the people call the morning rays; our vehicle was the surf-boat, escorted by the big canoe. Enfrámadié is the terminus of launch-navigation; the snags in the Dries stop the way, and she cannot stem the current of the Rains. The Ancobra now resembles the St. John's or Prince's River in the matter of timber-floorwork and chevaux de frise of tree-corpses disposed in every possible direction. After half an hour we paddled past the 'Devil's Gate,' a modern name for an old and ugly feature. H.S.M.'s entrance (to home?) is formed by black reefs and ridges projected gridiron-fashion from ledges on either side almost across the stream, leaving a narrow Thalweg so shallow that the boatmen must walk and drag. During the height of the floods it is sometimes covered for a few hours by forty feet of water, rising and falling with perilous continuity.
Beyond 'Devil's Gate' a pleasant surprise awaited us. Mr. D. C. MacLennan, manager of the Effuenta mine, [Footnote: The name was given by M. Dahse; it is that of the first worker, Efuátá, a woman born on Saturday (Efua), and the third of a series of daughters (átá).] stopped his canoe to greet us. He was justly proud of his charge—a box of amalgam weighing 15 lbs. and carrying eighty ounces of gold. It was to be retorted at home and to be followed within a fortnight by a larger delivery, and afterwards by monthly remittances. The precious case, which will give courage to so many half-hearted shareholders, was duly embarked on the A.S.S. Ambriz (Captain Crookes); and its successor, containing the produce of a hundred tons, on the B. and A. Benguela (Captain Porter). Consequently the papers declared that Effuenta was first in the field of results. This is by no means the case. As early as November 1881 Mr. W. E. Crocker, of Crockerville, manager of the important Wásá, (Wassaw) mining-property, sent home gold—amalgam, and black sand [Footnote: I have before noticed this 'golden sea-sand.' It has lately been found, the papers tell me, on the coast about Cape Commerell, British Columbia. A handful, taken from a few inches below the surface, shows glittering specks of 'float-gold,' scales so fine that it was difficult to wash them by machinery. Mem. This is what women do every day on the Gold Coast. The Colonist says that a San Francisco company has at length hit upon the contrivance. It consists of six drawers or layers of plates punched with holes about half an inch in diameter, and covered with amalgam. The gold-sand is 'dumped in;' and the water, turned on the top-plate, sets all in motion: the sand falls from plate to plate, leaving the free loose gold which has attached itself to the amalgam, and very little remains to be caught by the sixth plate. So simple a process is eminently fitted for the Gold Coast.]—a total of sixty-eight ounces to twenty-five tons.
After an hour's paddling we sighted a few canoes and surf-boats under a raised clay-bank binding the stream on the left. This was Tumento (Tomento), our destination; the word means 'won't go,' as the rock is supposed to say to the water. The aspect of the Ancobra becomes gloomy and menacing. The broad bed shrinks to a ditch, almost overshadowed by its sombre walls of many-hued greens; and the dead tree-trunks of the channel, ghastly white in the dull brown shade, look to the feverish imagination like the skeleton hands and fingers of monstrous spectres outspread to bar thoroughfare.
We landed and walked a few yards to the settlement. A 'Steam-launch' sounds grandiose, and so does a 'Great Central Depôt'—seen on paper. And touching this place I was told a tale. Some time ago two young French employés, a doctor and an engineer, were sent up to the mines, and fell victims to the magical influence of the name. Quoth Jules to Alphonse, 'My friend, we will land; we will call a fiacre; we will drive to the local Three Provincial Brothers; we will eat a succulent repast, and then for a few happy hours we will forget Blackland and these ignoble blacks.' So they toiled up the stiff and slippery slope, and found a scatter of crate-huts crowning a bald head of yellow argil. Speechless with rage and horror at the sight of the 'Depôt,' they rushed headlong into the canoe, returned without a moment's delay to Axim, and, finding a steamer in the bay, incontinently went on board, flying the Dark Continent for ever.
We housed ourselves in Messieurs Swanzy and Crocker's establishment at Tumento. The climate appeared wholesome; the river brought with it a breeze, and we were evidently entering the region of woods, between the mangrove-swamps of the coast and the grass-lands of the interior.
At Tumento I met, after some twenty years, Mr. Dawson, of Cape Coast Castle. The last time it was at Dahoman Agbóme, in company with the Rev. Mr. Bernasko, who died (1872) of dropsy and heart-disease. He is now in the employment of the Tákwá, or French Company, and his local knowledge and old experience had suggested working the mines to M. Bonnat. Some forty years ago the English merchants of 'Cabo Corso' used to send their people hereabouts to dig; and more recently Mr. Carter had spent, they say, 4,000l. upon the works. He was followed by another roving Englishman, who was not more successful. The liberation of pawns and other anti-abolitionist 'fads' had so raised the wage-rate that the rich placers were presently left to the natives. We exchanged reminiscences, and he at once started down stream for Axim.
As we were unable to work, Mr. Grant proceeded to inspect the concession called 'Insimankáo,' the Asamankáo of M. Zimmermann. It is the name of the village near which Sir Charles Macarthy was slain: our authorities translated it 'I've got you,' as the poor man said to the gold, or the cruel chief to the runaway serf. Mr. Dawson, who is uncle by marriage to Mr. Grant, had also suggested this digging. Our good manager, now an adept at prospecting, found the way very foul and the place very rich. It was afterwards, as will be seen, visited by Mr. Oliver Pegler and lastly by Cameron.
Amongst the few new faces seen at Tumento were two 'Krambos,' Moslems and writers of charms and talismans. A 'Patent Improved Metallic Book,' which looked in strange company, contained their 'fetish' and apparently composed their travelling kit. Both hailed from about Tinbukhtu, but their Arabic was so imperfect that I could make nothing of their route. These men acquire considerable authority amongst the pagan negroes, who expect great things from their 'grígrís.' They managed to find us some eggs when no one else could. This Hibernian race of Gold Coast blacks had eaten or sold all its hens, and had kept only the loud-crowing cocks. The presence of these two youths convinced me that there will be a Mohammedan movement towards the Gold Coast. A few years may see thousands of them, with mosques by the dozen established upon the sea-board. The 'revival of El-Islam' shows itself nowhere so remarkably as in Africa.
At Tumento Cameron found himself growing rapidly worse. He suffered from pains in the legs, and owned that even when crossing Africa during his three years of wild life he remembered nothing more severe. In my own case there was a severe tussle between Dr. Warburg and Fever-fiend. The attacks had changed from a tertian to a quotidian, and every new paroxysm left me, like the 'possessed' of Holy Writ after the expulsion of 'devils,' utterly prostrate. During the three days' struggle I drained two bottles of 'Warburg.' The admirable drug won the victory, but it could not restore sleep or appetite.
Seeing how matters stood, and how easily bad might pass to worse, I proposed the proceeding whereby a man lived to fight another day. We were also falling short of ready money, and the tornadoes were becoming matters of daily occurrence. After a long and anxious pow-wow Cameron accepted, and it was determined to run down to the coast, and there collect health and strength for a new departure. No sooner said than done. On March 8 we left Tumento in our big canoe, passed the night at Riverside House, and next evening were inhaling, not a whit too soon, the inspiriting sea-whiffs of Axim.
The rest of my tale is soon told.
Cameron recovered health within a week, and resolved to go north again. His object was to inspect for the second time the working mines about Tákwá, and to note their present state; also to make his observations and to finish his map. He did not look in full vigour; and, knowing his Caledonian tenacity of purpose, I made him promise not to run too much risk by over-persistence. After a dîner d'Axim and discussing a plum-pudding especially made for our Christmas by a fair and kind friend at Trieste, he set out Ancobra-wards on March 16. He would have no Krumen; so our seven fellows, who refused to take service in the Effuenta mine, were paid off and shipped for 'we country.' The thirty hands ordered in mid-January appeared in mid-March, and were made over to Mr. MacLennan. My companion set out with faithful Joe, Mr. Dawson the stuffer, and his dog Nero. I did not hear of him or from him till we met at Madeira.
My case was different. I could not recover strength like my companion, who is young and who has more of vital force to expend. This consideration made me fearful of spoiling his work: a sick traveller in the jungle is a terrible encumbrance. I therefore proposed to run south and to revisit my old quarters, 'F.Po' and the Oil Rivers, in the B. and A. s.s. Loanda (Captain Brown), the same which would pick up my companion after his return to Axim.
Life on the coast was not unpleasant, despite the equinoctial gales which broke on March 19 and blew hard till March 25. I had plenty of occupation in working up my notes, and I was lucky enough to meet all the managers of the working mines who were passing through Axim. From Messieurs Crocker (Wásá), MacLennan (Effuenta), Creswick (Gold Coast Company), and Bowden (Tákwá [Footnote: Alias the African Gold Coast Company, whose shareholders are French and English. It has lately combined with the Mine d'Or d'Abowassu (Abosu), the capital being quoted at five millions of francs. Thus the five working mines are reduced to four, while the 'Izrah' and others are coming on (May 1882).]) I had thus an opportunity of gathering much hearsay information, and was able to compare opinions which differed widely enough. I also had long conversations with Mr. A. A. Robertson, lately sent out as traffic-manager to the Izrah, and with Mr. Amondsen, the Danish sailor, then en route to the hapless Akankon mine. Mr. Paulus Dahse, who was saved from a severe sickness by Dr. Roulston and by his brother-in-law, Mr. Wulfken, eventually became my fellow-passenger to Madeira, where I parted from him with regret. During long travel and a residence of years in various parts of the Gold Coast he has collected a large store of local knowledge, and he is most generous in parting with his collection.
But, when prepared to embark on board the Loanda, which was a week late, my health again gave way, and I found that convalescence would be a long affair. Madeira occurred to me as the most restful of places, and there I determined to await my companion. The A.S.S. Winnebah (Captain Hooper) anchored at Axim on March 28; the opportunity was not to be lost, and on the same evening we steamed north, regaining health and strength with every breath.
The A.S.S. Winnebah could not be characterised as 'comfortable.' Mr. Purser Denny did his best to make her an exception to the Starvation rule, but even he could not work miracles. She is built for a riverboat, and her main cabin is close to the forecastle. She was crowded with Kruboys, and all her passengers were 'doubled up.' A full regiment of parrots was on board, whose daily deaths averaged twenty to thirty. The birds being worth ten shillings each, our engines were driven as they probably had never been driven before, and the clacking of the safety-valve never ceased.
The weather, however, was superb. We caught the north-east Trade a little north of Cape Palmas, and kept it till near Grand Canary. On April 13, greatly improved by the pleasant voyage and by complete repose, I rejoiced once more in landing at the fair isle Madeira.
And now Cameronus loquitur.
Leaving Axim on March 16, I slept at Kumprasi and remarked a great change in the bar of the Ancobra River. During the dry season it had been remarkably good, but now it began to change for the worse; and soon it will become impassable for three or four days at a time. My surf-boat, when coming across it, shipped three seas. On my return down the river (April 15) the whole sand-bank to the west of the mouth had been washed away, forming dangerous shoals; the sea was furiously breaking and 'burning,' as the old Dutch say, and the waves which entered the river were so high that canoes were broken and boats were seriously damaged.
I stored my goods in the surf-boat, and set out in our big canoe early next morning. A string of dug-outs was next passed, loaded with palm-kernels, maize, and bananas; it appeared as if they were all bound for the market at Axim. I took specimens of swish and stone from 'Ross's Hill.' The top soil showed good signs of gold, and the grains were tolerably coarse. Here a floating power-engine would soon bare the reefs and warp up the swamp. Messieurs Allan and Plisson, who were floating down in a surf-boat, gave me the news that the steam-launch Effuenta had at last succumbed in the struggle for life.
I landed at Akromási, a village where the true bamboo-cane grows, and found the soil to be a grey sandy clay; there were many 'women's washings' near the settlement. Shortly before reaching the Ahenia River we saw the landing-place for the valuable 'Apatim concession.' They told me on enquiry that the stream is deep and has been followed up in a surf-boat for a mile or two. It may therefore prove of use to Mr. Irvine's property, Apatim.
At half-past five that evening I reached Akankon, and slept well at 'Riverside House.' Mr. Morris had begun levelling the ground and building new quarters for general use. I gave him some slips of bamboo and roots of Bahama-grass, as that planted had grown so well.
Next morning we got under way early (6.50) and proceeded up the river. The canoe-men, seeing pots of palm-wine on the banks, insisted upon landing to slake their eternal thirst. The mode in which the liquor is sold shows a trustfulness on the part of the seller which may result from firm belief in his 'fetish.' Any passer-by can drink wine à discrétion, and is expected to put the price in a calabash standing hard by. Beyond the Yengéni River I saw for the first and only time purple clay-slate overlying quartz. Collecting here and there specimens of geology, and suffering much from the sun, for I still was slightly feverish, I reached the 'great central depôt' at 4 P.M.
Tumento was found by observation to lie in N. lat. 4º 12' 20" and in W. long. (Gr.) 2º 12' 25". Consequently it is only eighteen direct geographical miles from the sea, the mouth of the Ancobra being in W. lat. 2º 54'. Some make the distance thirty and others sixty miles. The latter figure would apply only by doubling the windings of the bed.
This ascent of the river convinced me more than ever that Enfrámadié is the proper terminus of its navigation. I passed the next day at Tumento, which proved to be only half the distance usually supposed along the Ancobra bed from its mouth. The time was spent mainly in resting and doctoring myself. At night the rats, holding high carnival, kept me awake till 3 A.M.; and I heard shots being continually fired from a native mine whose position was unknown. The natives now know how to bore and blast; consequently thefts of powder, drills, and fuses become every day more common. My first visit (March 20) was to the Insimankáo concession. I left the surf-boat behind, and put my luggage into small canoes hired at Tumento, myself proceeding in the large canoe. We shoved off from the beach at 8.50 A.M. The Ancobra had now, after the late rains, a fair current instead of being almost dead water; otherwise it maintained the same appearance. The banks are conglomerate, grey clay and slate; gravel, sand, shingle, and pebbles of reddish quartz, bedded in earth of the same colour, succeeding one another in ever-varying succession. Only two reefs, neither of them important, projected from the sides.
After an hour and a half paddling we reached the Fura, which I should call a creek; it is not out of the mangrove-region. The bed is set in high, steep banks submerged during the rains; and the narrowness of the mouth, compared with the upper part, made it run, after the late showers, into the Ancobra like a mill-race. In fact, the paddlers were compelled to track in order to make headway. After ten minutes (=200 yards) we reached a landing-place, all jungle with rotting vegetation below. I do not think that as a waterway the Fura Creek can be made of any practical use; but it will be very valuable for 'hydraulicking.' Canoes and small surf-boats may run down it at certain seasons, but the flow is too fast and the bed is too full of snags and sawyers to be easily ascended.
At the landing-place I mounted my hammock and struck the path which runs over level ground pretty thick with second-growth. The chief Bimfú, who met me at Tumento, had broken his promise to guide me, and had neglected to clear the way. On a largish creek which was nearly dry I saw a number of 'women's washings.' Then we passed on the right a hillock seventy to eighty feet high, where quartz showed in detached and weathered blocks. Beyond it were native shafts striking the auriferous drift at a depth of eight to ten feet. A few yards further on the usual washings showed that the top soil is also worth working.
Another half-hour brought us to about a dozen native shafts in the usual chimney shape. They were quite new and had been temporarily left on account of the rise of the water, which was here twenty-four feet below the surface. The top soil is of sandy clay, and the gold-containing drifts, varying in thickness, they told me, from two to four feet, consisted of quartz pebbles bedded in red loam. The general look of the stratum and the country suggested an old lagoon.
An hour and a half of hammock brought me from the landing-place of the Fura Creek to the village of Insimankáo. Rain was falling heavily and prevented all attempts at observation. The settlement is the usual group of swish and bamboo box-huts nestling in the bush. A small clean bird-cage, divided into two compartments, with standing bedstead, was assigned to me. Next morning I walked to the Insimankáo mine by a path leading along, and in places touching, the bank of the Fura Creek, which runs through the whole property. After thirty-three minutes we reached the 'marked tree.' Here the land begins to rise and forms the Insimankáo Hill, whose trend is to north-north-east. Mr. Walker calls it Etia-Kaah, or Echia-Karah, meaning 'when you hear (of its fame) you will come.' It is the usual mound of red clay, fairly wooded, and about 150 feet high; the creek runs about 100 yards west of the pits. The reefs seemed to be almost vertical, with a strike to the north-north-east; and the walls showed slate, iron-oxide, and decomposed quartz. The main reef [Footnote: Mr. O. Pegler (A.R.S.M.) describes it as a 'very powerful reef outcropping boldly from a hill at a short distance from the native village, the strike being north-north-east to south-south-west, and the vein having a great inclination. At the crest of the hill it presents a massive appearance, and is many feet in width—in some places between twenty and thirty feet. This diminishes towards the native pits, and there the vein diverges into two portions, both presenting a decomposed appearance, the casing on both foot and hanging wall having a highly talcose character.' This engineer also washed gold specks from the loose soil. Finally, he notes that the massive quartz-outcrop is homogeneous and crystalline, giving only traces of gold, but that the stone improves rapidly with depth.] was from eight to ten feet thick, and I believe that there are other and parallel formations. But the ground is very complicated, and for proper study I should have required borings and cross-cuts.
There were two big rough pits called shafts. I descended into the deeper one, which was fourteen to fifteen feet below ground. The walls would repay washing on a large scale; and the look of the top soil reminded me of the descriptions of old California and Australia when there were rushes of miners to the gold-fields, carrying for all machinery a pick, a pan, and a tin 'billy.'
The Insimankáo concession contains 1,000 fathoms square; the measurements being taken from a 'marked tree' on the north-western slope of the hill with the long name. The position is N. lat. 5º 18' 15" and the long. W. (Gr.) 2º 14' 03". West of the centre the Fura Creek receives a small tributary. Mr. Walker took fair samples from the well-defined reef and the outcropping boulders, whose strike is from north-north-east to south-south-west. He notes that the land Egwira, which lies between Wásá and Aowin, was long famous for its mining-industry, and that it appears in old maps as a 'Republick rich in gold.' We heard of the Abenje mine on the same reef, four to five miles east of Insimankáo; and he declares that it has been abandoned because the population is too scanty.
I left this mining property convinced that working it will pay well. The only thing to be guarded against is overlapping the French concession of Mankuma, which lies immediately to the east.
From the mine I walked back to the village, breakfasted, and returned in the canoes to the sluice-like mouth of the Fura Greek. I then ascended the Ancobra, in order to inspect the Butabué rapids, said to be the end of canoe-navigation. We passed on the right a reef and a shallow of conglomerate, washed out of the banks and forming a race; there is another reef with its rip at Aroásu. In the early part of the afternoon we got to the village of Ebiásu, which means 'not dark.' Here the equinoctial showers began to fall heavily, and I was again obliged to sleep without observations. The village is built upon a steep bank of yellow clay, with rich red oxides; it stands forty feet above the present level, and yet at times it is flooded out.
Leaving Ebiásu next morning, I found the banks of sand, clay, and small pebbles beginning to shelve. We passed over slaty rocks in the bed; and the depth of water was often not more than three feet. Women's washings were seen on the left bank, and the river had risen after they had been worked. We could not approach them on account of the reefs and the current. The opposite bank, about five minutes further up, is of soft sandstone; and here a native tunnel of forty to fifty feet had been run in from the river to communicate with a shaft. My men were nervous about leopards, and I had to encourage them by firing my rifle into the hole. The normal formation continued, and here the land is evidently built by the river; there are few hills, and the present direction of the bed has been determined by the rocks and reefs, the outliers of the old true coast. These features may have been lower than they are now, and owe their present elevation to upheaval. Immature conglomerate—that is, a pudding of pebbles and hardened clay—seems to have been deposited in the synclinal curve of the bed-rock, principally slate. Overlying both are the top soil and the sands, the latter often resembling the washed out tailings of stamped rock.
Passing the village Abanfokru, I found myself amongst the extensive concessions of the French, who have taken the alluvial grounds for washing and working. M. Bonnat's map gives the approximate positions and dimensions; and the several sites are laid down by M. Dahse. I shall have more to say about this section on my return.
Navigation now becomes more intricate and difficult, owing to rocks and reefs, rips and rapids. A large stony holm about mid-stream is called Eduásim, meaning 'thief in river.' I need not repeat from my map the names of the unimportant settlements. At the mouth of the Abonsá the bed widens to nearly double, and the north-easterly direction shifts to due north. This great drain, falling into the left bank, lies between five and six miles above the Fura Creek. I shall have more to say about it when describing my descent. Two miles further north brought us to the beginning of the rapids, which apparently end the boat-navigation. The only canoes are used for ferrying; I saw no water-traffic, and there were no longer any fish-weirs. Moreover, the country has been deserted, I was told, since the arrival of strangers. The natives have probably been treated with little consideration. A quarter of an hour's hauling, all hands being applied to the canoe, took us about fifty yards over the Impayim rapid, whose fall is from four to five feet deep. Immediately after the Butabué influent on the right bank the bed bends abruptly east, and we reached the far-famed rapids of that name. Here the whole surface, as far up as the eye can see, is a mass of rocks and of broken, surging water. The vegetation of the banks, bound together by creepers, llianas, and rattans, is peculiarly fine. I landed upon one of the rocks, sketched the Butabué, whose name none could explain, and returned down stream to the 'great central Depôt,' Tumento.
I can say little about the River Ancobra above the rapids, except that it resumes its course from the north-north-east and the north, apparently guided by the hills. The sources are now only a few miles distant, but the stream is unnavigable, and they must be reached on foot. The late M. Bonnat walked up by a hunter's path, now killed out, to the ruins of Bush Castle, which Jeekel calls Fort Ruyghaver. He there secured possession of the rich Asamán mines, which the work was intended to defend. There is some fetish there, and the place is known as the burial-ground of the kings. I was also told that four or five marches off a cache of treasure, described to be large, had been made during the Ashanti-Gyáman war, and had been defended by the usual superstitions. Fetish may have lost much of its power on the coast; in the interior, however, it is still strong, and few white men live long after being placed under its ban.