TO THE MINES OF ABOSU, OF THE 'GOLD COAST,' AND OF THE TÁKWÁ
('AFRICAN GOLD COAST') COMPANIES.
On April 6 I reached the Mine d'Or d'Aboassu, this being my second visit.
The first, on the previous Sunday, had been more interesting in the point
of anthropological than of geological study. The day of rest had been
devoted to a general jollification by most of the whites, and the blacks
had ably followed suit. The best example was set by the doctor attached:
he was said to have emptied sixty-two bottles of cognac during his
twenty-three days of steamer-passage. But, brandy proving insufficient, he
had recourse to opium, chloral, and bromide of potassium, a pint and a
half of laudanum barely sufficing for the week. I need hardly say where
the abuse of stimulants and opiates lands a man, either in Western Africa
or in England.
From the Abosu village and its abominations I turned sharp to the
north-west, and ascended the steep western flank of Abo Yáo, whose highest
point is 312 feet above sea-level. The distance from Crockerville is a
mile and three-quarters, or a mile in a straight line, and from Tákwá,
about six. M. Dahse increases the latter to nine miles, the difference of
latitude being three and a quarter miles, and of longitude four. My map
will be the first to correct these distances, which are exaggerated by the
native carriers to get more pay.
The summit of Abo Yáo commands an extensive view to the north. Here the
range of vision is about sixteen miles over the greenest of second
growths; and the whole is dotted with _buttes_ of red clay, somewhat lower
than 'On the Stone' (_Abosu_). It is easy to see that here again we have
an ancient archipelago, like that which formerly fringed the shore of
Axim, but of older formation. In fact, I should not expect to find a true
coast before entering the grassy zone north of the great belt of forest.
Each hill must carry at least one core of auriferous reef. The intervening
valleys, gullies, and gulches, seldom more than a hundred feet above
ocean-level, have been warped up by gradual deposition from the north, and
are doubtless full of rich alluvium. This might be worked by
steam-navvies, and washed upon the largest possible scale; the result
would be excellent ground for plantations.
I look upon Abosu as an eastern outlier of the greater Tákwá ridge. But
although the hill preserves the normal direction the reef lies almost at
right angles to it, crossing the upper end and striking from north 40º
west to south 40º east. I am unable to divine what caused this curious
dislocation. The gold matrix is still the Tákwá gneiss, rarely showing
visible metal. Possibly the present diggings have struck only a large
branch or a break.
Here mining-operations have been extensive, and about 1,800 tons of rich
stuff have already been brought to bank. The diggings begin with an open
cut of 110 feet; this leads to a tunnel in the rock partly timbered, by
which the lode with a dip of 41º is bisected. Eastward from the tunnel a
gallery has been driven 147 feet along the vein, and westwards there is a
similar passage of 202 feet. About 140 feet on either side of the tunnel
two rises, one 16, the other 12 feet long, are being driven up the slope
of the reef. On the hill-side above the tunnel a shaft 80 feet deep has
been sunk, but it has not struck the vein: for some peculiar reason the
bottom is made broader than the top; and the mining-captain has a shrewd
idea that, like the native pits of similar form, it may end by 'caving
in.' Again, a second tunnel has just been opened in the southern end of
the _butte_, the engineer hoping to find the main lode lying conformably,
or north with easting.
A little above the northern foot of the Abo Yáo the native workmen are
employed in making a large platform, or terrace, for stamps and other
machinery; now it is about 150 × 40 yards. As yet there is no power. A
large open shed of timber-posts, with a roofing of corrugated iron, stands
ready to receive the expected saw-mill. The only actual industry is
digging.
At Abosu the _personnel_ is lodged in bamboo-houses scattered over the
hill-side, and the settlement contrasts dismally with the orderly comfort
of Crockerville. M. Haillot, acting manager of Abosu and Tákwá, leads a
caravan-life between the two. Fortunately for him the distance is
inconsiderable. I here met Mr. Symonds, a Cornish miner, who has worked in
Mexico, and who speaks Spanish fluently, enabling him to converse with M.
Plisson. He was one of our fellow-passengers, and he rejoiced exceedingly
to see me. He and his youngster, Mr. Mitchell, who suffers from
chest-complaint, praised the prospects of the mine, but did not enjoy
their pay being cut for passage and the system of ration-money. Another
unwise plan adopted by the French Company is to stipulate upon twenty
working-days, each of ten hours per mensem, in default of which salaries
undergo proportional deduction. This makes the miner work even when he is
unfit for exertion. White labour, however, is confined to superintendence
and to laying out and building tunnels. A Swiss, M. Schneuvelly, acts as
general superintendent, and he is assisted by two French _ouvriers_. The
hands are chiefly Krumen. The style of working is decidedly 'loafy,' and
the pipe is touched at all hours and in all places.
North of Abosu lies the Dahse concession, a square of 1,000 fathoms, to be
worked by an Anglo-German company. I know it only by hearsay and by seeing
it upon the owner's map.
M. Haillot invited me to be his guest, and I spent my day in the mine.
Next morning (April 8) we retraced our steps towards Tákwá, halting by the
way at the northernmost establishment on the ridge, the 'Gold Coast Mining
Company (Limited).' This concession, an area of 1000 x 500 fathoms, on the
west of the hill-height, does not as yet show much progress; and the works
seem to have increased but little since last year. There are two shafts
and two tunnels to strike the lode. The ore brought to grass was not in
large quantities, although I had heard to the contrary. The stone is said
to be abnormally rich, yielding seven ounces of gold to the ton; but I did
not think it richer than its neighbours, and I suspect that it will have
to be rated at one-seventh. The manager's house, also on the west of the
hill, consists of one large room of plankage, raised on posts and
thatched. The brothers Gowan, who are working exceedingly hard, and Mr.
Kenyon, who is leaving for England, were the only white men I saw. The
hands are chiefly Kruboys and the artificers Sierra Leonites. Since Mr.
Creswick's departure for Europe some changes have been made. Mr. Growan,
the acting manager, has transferred the future works to a higher level,
and has fitted up a reduction-office where there is, at present, nothing
to reduce. Crucibles and chemicals are ranged round a long room with an
iron roof. The tenant has borrowed a mortar-box, two stamp-heads, shoes,
and dies, and has fitted them with wooden stems and cam-shafts. He
proposes to drive them by two-man power, in order to crush three tons of
ore per diem and to test a new patent amalgamator.
I breakfasted with the scanty staff and then walked down the western
valley to the Tákwá establishment, the oldest of the new mining-industries
in the Protectorate. I place the African Gold Coast Company, by
calculation, in N. lat. 18º 20' and W. long. (Gr.) 1º 57'
40". It is therefore fifteen direct geographical miles from Tumento
instead of thirty; twenty-seven (not sixty) from Axim, and thirty-five
from Dixcove, formerly supposed to be the nearest port. This position will
make an important difference in sundry plans and projects which were made
under old and erroneous ideas of its topography. At present the cost of
transport from Tumento to Effuenta is 6_d._ for 10 lbs., 8_d._ to Tákwá,
and 10 _d._ to Abosu.
The head of the valley shows a single stream, the Babeabárbawo or Tákwá
rivulet, rising close to the works of the Gold Coast Company. It is
swollen by small tributaries from either side; and, just below the
settlement, an eastern dam with a small sluice has been thrown across the
valley of the Franco-English company. As there is plenty of water in and
near the mine, they should cut at once this abominable dam, which forms a
pestilential swamp, the cess-pool of the neighbourhood. The Tákwá
settlement, a line of bamboo and swish huts well built enough, lies, like
a hamlet in Congo-land, along the winding road. It is bare of trees, but
here and there a shaft yawns before the doors. M. Dahse makes the
population before 1879 to have been 6,000 souls, and in 1881 about 3,000.
I should reduce the latter figure to 600, and propose for 1882, before the
May emigration, 1,500 to 1,600. The people are Coast-men and islanders of
every tribe, with a fair sprinkling of dissolute ruffians, 'white
blackmen,' from Sierra Leone and Akra, drunken Fanti policemen, and
plundering Haussa soldiers. The ex-manager of the Effuenta mine says, in
allusion to his early residence there, 'So wird Einem das Leben daselbst
zu einer wahren Hölle;' and he rightly describes the peculiar industries
of these true infernal regions as 'Schnappskneipen, Spielhöllen und
Schlimmeres.' Almost every house combines the pub. and the agapemone: all
the chief luxuries of the Coast-'factories' are there, and the 'blay'
(basket) of Sierra Leone comes out strong. Brilliant cottons and kerchiefs
hang from the normal line; there is pomatum for the lucky dandy and tallow
for the miner down in his luck; whilst gold-dust is conjured from pouch or
pocket by pipes and tobacco, needles and thread, beads, knives, and other
notions.
The northern part of this veritable 'Nigger Digger's Delight' is now
comparatively deserted: some chief died there, and the people have crowded
into the main body of the settlement. The village of Kwábina Angu, King of
Eastern Apinto, is now joined to Tákwá. I could not distinguish the
'Palast' of King Kwámi Enimill, who rules western Wásá, and whose capital
is Akropong.
M. Haillot had preceded me in a hammock, and welcomed me to his quarters.
He occupied one of the three or four raised plank-houses; another lodged
Dr. Burke, and a third M. Voltaire, Mr. Carlyon, another young Cornishman,
who came out with us, and sundry French _ouvriers_. A large bamboo-house
had been built for a general restaurant: it became a barrack during the
'Ashanti scare,' and now it is quite unused. Standing farther back are the
very respectable tenements of the same material, with broad verandahs,
occupied at times by Mr. Ex-missionary Dawson and family. The negro
quarters are mostly in the Tákwá village.
The 'Father of the African Mines,' dating from 1878, lies on the northern
third of the celebrated Tákwá ridge, and its concession embraces an area
of 1000 x 2000 fathoms. The rich auriferous reef is the backbone of a long
narrow line of hill whose diameter ranges between 1,000 feet to 600 where
it is pinched. The lode strikes to the north-north-east with a dip of 47º
west. The angle of underlay, I may remark, greatly varies in these Gold
Coast reefs; some are nearly vertical (82º), others are moderately
inclined (20º to 50º), and others run almost flat. The richest part, not
including the broken-off ore, is from eighteen inches to two feet broad.
It is decidedly more than 'one to two hundred years old,' as reported home
by a scientific official on the spot. The 'coffins,' or abandoned native
diggings, must date from at least two centuries ago. The natives scraped
off the gold-bearing stone till the water drove them out. The formation is
upper Silurian or lower Devonian, a transition to gneiss, but not highly
metamorphic. No fossils have yet been found: if any exist they would be
microscopic. Where talcose it is bluish, and shows streaks of 'black
sand,' titaniferous iron. The grey sand washes to white. There are
pot-holes which have been filled with either a pudding or a breccia of
quartz. In places the gneiss has been so little changed by heat and
pressure that it forms arenaceous flags and shales. It suggests a deposit
in some ancient lagoon, alternately fresh and salt. A hard fissile slate
of purple colour is based upon the ground-rock of grey granite; there is
also a modern clay-slate, which lies unconformably to the older, and
through it the great veins of gneiss and quartz seem to pass. The alluvial
detritus, which fills up the valleys to their present level, is formed by
the diluvium of the hills: in parts these bottoms show strata, from one to
three feet thick, of water-rolled pebbles bedded in clay. Here and there
the couch must be a hundred feet deep, and the whole should be raised for
washing by machinery. These strata were apparently deposited in a lagoon
of more modern date.
The gold is sometimes visible in the gneiss; and I have seen pieces whose
surface is dotted with yellow spots resembling pyrites. It is often in the
form of spangles called float-gold and flour-gold. Select specimens have
yielded upwards of eight ounces to the ton. If the blanketings and first
tailings be properly treated, it should afford an average of at least an
ounce and a half per ton. Treating a hundred tons a day gives a sum of
30,000 per annum; and, assuming 6_l_. of gold to the ton, we have a total
of 180,000_l_. The working of this section of the mine should not exceed
30,000_l_. a year, which leaves a net gain of 150,000_l_.
The _Bergwerke_ consist of four tunnels driven into the lower part of the
western hill-side, further down than the bottom of the abandoned native
workings. They are eccentrically disposed in curves and other queer
figures. All abut upon galleries running in sections along the lode-line,
and intended ultimately to connect. The total length may be a thousand
feet. Being cut in the gneiss, they require no timbering; but the floors
are little raised above the level of the rivulet, and water percolates
through roofs and walls. The latest tunnel has been driven past the new
gallery, and has struck a second lode; this has never been worked by the
natives, and stoping to above the springs may be found advisable.
Ventilation is managed by means of the old abandoned native shafts. A very
large quantity of ore is brought to bank. I found it hard to form an
estimate, because it was in scattered heaps overgrown with vegetation; but
I should not be surprised if it amounted to 5,000 tons. This means that
want of proper machinery has resulted in a dead capital of from 20,000_l_.
to 30,000_l_.
A space has been cleared on the level of the trams uniting the mouths of
the tunnel, and here will be placed the 'elephant-stamps' actually on
their way out. They have now two batteries, each of six head, worked by
the same shaft: the steam-engine, as usual, is the Belleville. The
material is bad; the gratings, on the levels of the dies, have been
smashed by the stones bombarding them, and the ill-constructed foundations
of native wood are eaten by white ants. Yet they have done duty for only
eighteen months. The sludge was treated in fancy amalgamators, especially
in one with a pan and revolving arms, probably evolved out of the inner
consciousness of some gentleman in Paris. The result was discharging
upwards of 1,500 lbs. of mercury into the valley below. A little amalgam
was obtained, and proved that the rock does contain gold--a fact perfectly
well known for centuries to the natives.
The history of the 'African Gold Coast' Mine in the hands of
Franco-English shareholders has already been noticed. M. Bonnat preferred
reworking the old native diggings to the virgin reefs lying north and
south of them. Some of the latter can be worked for years without pumping;
on the others the plant will be expensive. But the Company, instead of
mining, has gone deeply into concession-mongering, and their grants are
scattered broadcast over the country. One of them, the 'Mankuma,' near
Aodua, the capital of Eastern Apinto, extends twenty-six miles, with a
depth of 500 yards on either bank of the Ancobra River above the mouth of
the Abonsá influent. These gigantic areas will give rise to many lawsuits,
and no man in the country has power to make such a grant. The ownership of
the land is vested in a 'squirearchy,' so to speak, and only the
proprietors have a right to sell or lease. When gold is worked the
'squire' takes his royalty from the miner, and he or his chiefs must in
turn pay tribute to the 'king.' Hence the money may pass through three or
four hands before reaching its final destination.
These indiscriminate concessions will be very injurious to the future of
the Protectorate, and should be limited by law. At present the only use is
to sell them to syndicates and companies, and so to pay a fictitious
dividend to the _actionnaires_. Evidently such a process is rather on the
'bear and bull' system of the stock-market than legitimate mining.
I was well acquainted with the late M. Bonnat, a bright, cheery little
Frenchman of great energy, some knowledge of the Fanti, or rather the
Ashanti, language, and perfect experience of the native character. Born at
a village near Macon, he began life as a cook on board a merchant ship; he
soon became agent to some small French trading firm, and then pushed his
way high up the unexplored Volta River. Here the Ashantis barred his
passage, and eventually took him prisoner as he attempted to cross their
limits; he was carried to Kumási, where he remained in confinement for
three years. When the war of 1873-1874 set him at liberty he passed
through Wásá to Europe, and by his local information, and that gathered in
captivity, he secured the public ear for the gold-mines. His later
proceedings are well known, and some of their unfortunate results are best
unrelated.
I met M. Bonnat last in June 1881; he was then going up to Tákwá in
company with Messieurs Bowden and Macarthy, and I was canoeing down the
Ancobra on my way home. He was suffering severely from a carbuncular boil
on the thigh, which he refused to have properly opened. His death, which
occurred within a fortnight, is usually attributed to pleuro-pneumonia,
but I rather think it was due to blood-poisoning. He had been exposing
himself recklessly for some months, and two drenchings in the rain brought
him to his end; yet there are people who remember his visit to the
forbidden fetish-valley of Apatim. The father of the modern gold-mines,
the Frenchman who taught Englishmen how to work their own wealth, lies
buried at Tákwá; I did not see his tomb.
The two French mines, Tákwá and Abosu, have at last agreed to join hands
and to become one. The capital has been fixed at 250,000_l_., and Paris
will be the head-quarters. Mr. Arthur Bowden, the manager, has been sent
for to, and has now returned from France: it is to be hoped that his
extensive experience will instil some practical spirit into the new
Directory.