WEST COAST OF AFRICA--RICHARD'S FIRST CONSULATE.
In his "Wanderings in West Africa" (2 vols., 1863), Richard describes
the whole of his jurisdiction, which was several hundred miles of
coast. The ship, after leaving Madeira and Teneriffe, goes to Bathurst
on the West Coast, to Sierra Leone, Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Cape
Palmas, Half Jack, Grand Baltam, Axim, Elmina, Cape Coast Castle,
Salt Pond, Winnebah, Accra, Addah, Quitta, Bagadah, Agwey, Whydah,
Lagos, Bonny, Fernando Po, and Old Calabar, one station beyond. He
ends up with--"Arriving in these outer places is the very abomination
of desolation. I drop, for a time, my pen, in the distinct memory of
having felt uncommonly suicidal through that first night at Fernando
Po."
It would not suit this book to have large copyings from his works,
but I think I should give two which are especially useful--one a
description of the Sierra Leone negro, and another on the richness of
the Guinea Coast, about which I shall have something to say later on in
1881.
[Sidenote: _The West African Negroes._]
"We parted with our consumptives at Madeira; we leave our Africans
at Sierra Leone. For this race there is a descending scale of
terminology: 1, European; 2, civilized man; 3, African; 4, man--the
Anglo-Americans say, 'pussum'--of colour; 5, negro; 6, darkie; 7,
nigger, which last, is actionable. Many a £5 has been paid for the
indulgence of _lèse majesté_ against the 'man and a brother;' and
not a few £50 where the case has been brought into the civil courts.
Captain Philip Beaver was justified in declaring that he would 'rather
carry a rattlesnake than a negro--who has been in London.' Not so Mr.
Hazelface, into whose soul or countenance _soggezzione_, or shame,
never entered--for was he not of the Almighty Negroes? And shall not
the most dishonest of Negroes in these days stand before Kings? The
second, our Gorilla, or Missing Link, was the son of an emancipated
slave, who afterwards distinguished himself as a Missionary and a
Minister. His--the sire's--name has appeared in many books, and
he wrote one himself, pitying his own 'poor lost father,' because,
forsooth, he died in the religion of his ancestors, an honest
Fetishist. Our excellent warm-hearted, ignorant souls at home were so
delighted with the report of this Lion of the Pulpit, that it was much
debated whether the boy Ajáí had not been providentially preserved for
the Episcopate of Western Africa.
"These individuals are out of their _assiettes_. At home they will
devour, perforce, _Kankey_ and bad fish, washing them down with
_Mimbo_ and _Pitta_--native and palm wine, and hop-less beer--here
they abuse the best of beef, long openly for 'palaver sauce' and
'palm-oil chop,' and find fault with their champagne. At home they
will wear breech-clouts and Nature's stockings, only. Here their
coats are superfine Saxony, with broadest of silk velvet collars. The
elongated cocoa-nut head bears jauntily a black pork-pie felt, with
bright azure ribbons, and a rainbow necktie vies in splendour with the
loudest of waistcoats from the land of Moses and Son; the pants are
tightly strapped down to show the grand formation of the knee, the
delicate slimness of the calf, the manly purchase of the heel, and the
waving line of beauty that distinguishes the shin-bone.[1] There are
portentous studs upon a glorious breadth of shirt, a small investment
of cheap, gaudy, tawdry rings sets off the chimpanzee-like fingers,
and when in the open air, lemon-coloured gloves invest the hands,
whose horny reticulated skin reminds me of the scaly feet of those
cranes which pace at ease over the burning sand, for which strong
slippers are not strong enough for us; whilst feet of the same order,
but slightly superior in point of proportional size, are tightly
packed into patent-leather boats, the latter looking as if they had
been stuffed with some inanimate substance, say the halves of a calf's
head.
"It is hardly fair to deride a man's hideousness, but it is where
personal deformity is accompanied by conceit. Once upon a time we all
pitied an individual who by acclamation was proclaimed the ugliest man
in the B---- army, which is not saying a little. 'Poor E----!' his
friends would exclaim; 'it's no matter if a chap's plain, but _he_
is revolting,' and they commiserated him accordingly. Once, however,
he was detected by his chums looking into a shaving-glass, and thus
soliloquizing: 'Well, E----, I declare you'd be a deuced handsome
fellow if you had but a better nose.' The discreet chum, of course,
spread the story, and from that moment our compassion departed.
"No one, also, is more hopeless about the civilization of Africa than
the semi-civilized African returning to the 'home of his fathers.' One
feels how hard has been his own struggle to emerge from barbarism.
He acknowledges in his own case a selection of species, and he sees
no end to the centuries before there can be a nation equal even to
himself. Yet in _England_, and in _books_, he will cry up the Majesty
of African kings; he will give the people whom he thoroughly despises
a thousand grand gifts of morals and industry, and extenuate, or
rather ignore, all their faults and shortcomings. I have heard a
negro assert, with the unblushing effrontery which animates the negro
speechifying in Exeter Hall, or before some learned society, that--for
instance, at Lagos, a den of thieves--theft is unknown, and that men
leave their money with impunity in the store-house, or on the highway.
After which, he goes home, 'tongue in cheek,' despising the facility
with which an Englishman and his money are parted.
"Our Africans left the ship without, on our part, or probably on
theirs, a single regret. Not so with the Mandengas. The honest and
manly bearing of these Moslems--so wonderful a contrast with those
caricatures in pork-pie and peg-topped broadcloth--had prepossessed me
strongly in their favour. We shook hands, and in broken Arabic bade
each other a kindly Allah-speed.
[Sidenote: _The Black Man is raised above the White Man._]
"The white man's position is rendered far more precarious on the coast
than it might be, _if the black man were always kept in his proper
place_. A European without stockings or waistcoat, and with ragged
slops hanging about his limbs, would not be admitted into the cuddy;
an African will. Many of the fellows come on board to make money by
picking a quarrel. And what does one think of a dusky belle, after
dropping her napkin at Government House, saying to her neighbour,
'Please, Mr. Officer-man, pick up my towel'? Or of such a dialogue as
this? The steward has neglected to supply soup to some negro, who at
every meal has edged himself higher up towards the top of the table,
and whose conversation consists of whispering into the ears of an
adjacent negro, and of hyæna-like guffaws.
"'I say, daddee, I want _my_ soop; all de passengers, he drink 'im
soop; _me_ no drink _my_ soop: what he mean, dis palaver?'
"The words are uttered in a kind of scream; the steward cannot help
smiling, and the nigger resumes--
"'Ah, you laff! And for why you laff? I no laff; no drinkee soop!'
"Here the dialogue ends, and the ladies look their acknowledgments
that travelling does throw us into strange society.
"From the moment of our arrival, 'negro palaver' began. A _cause
célèbre_, which will be referred home, had just been brought to a
close. Mr. M----, a civilian official in the colony, after thrice
warning out of his compound a troublesome negro and a suspected thief,
had applied a certain _vis à tergo_, and had ejected the trespasser,
not, however, with unnecessary violence. In England the case would
have been settled by a police magistrate, and the fine, if any,
would have been half a crown. At Freetown the negro, assisted by his
friends or 'company,' betakes himself to a lawyer. The latter may be a
mulatto, possibly a pettifogger, certainly a moneyless man who lives
in a wretched climate for the pure purposes of lucre; his interest is
of course to promote litigation, and he fills his pockets by what is
called 'sharp practice.' After receiving the preliminary fee of £5,
he demands exemplary damages. The consequence was that Mr. M---- was
lightened of £50.
[Illustration: THE MAN WHO WINS.]
"These vindictive cases are endless; half an hour's chat will bring
out a dozen, and, as at Aden, the Sons of the White Cliff have nothing
to do but to quarrel and to recount their grievances. A purser of the
African S.S. Company, finding a West Indian negro substituting dead
for live turkeys, called him a 'tief.' The 'tief' laid an action for
£1000, and the officer was only too happy to escape with the retainer,
three guineas. The same, when a black came on board for a package,
sent him off to the quarter-deck; the fellow became insolent, when
a military man present exclaimed, 'If you gave _me_ that cheek, I'd
have you overboard!' The negro put off, took two of his friends as
witnesses, procured an affidavit that the white man had threatened
him, and laid an action for defamation of character, etc.; damages
£50--a favourite sum. Despite a counter oath, signed by two or three
English officers, one of them a colonel, to the effect that no bad
language had been used except by the plaintiff, whose insolence had
been unbearable, the defendant was compelled to make an apology, and
to pay £15 costs. Another told me that for raising a stick to an
insolent servant, he was 'actioned' for £50, and escaped by compromise
for £12. When the defendant is likely to leave the station, the _modus
operanda_ is as follows:--A writ of summons is issued. The lawyer
strongly recommends an apology for the alleged offence and a promise
to pay costs, warning the offender at the same time that judgment will
go against him if absent by default. Should the defendant prudently
'stump up,' the thing ends; if not, a _capias_ is taken out, and
the law runs its course. A jury is chosen. The British Constitution
determines that a man must be tried by his peers. His peers at Sierra
Leone are perhaps a dozen full-blooded blacks, liberated slaves,
half-reformed fetishmen, sometimes with a sneaking fondness for the
worship of Shángo, and if not criminals in their own country, at least
pauper-clad in dish-clouts and palm oil. To see such peers certainly
'takes pride down a peg,' as the phrase is; no use to think of that
ancestor who 'came over' with the Conqueror, or that Barony lost in
the days of the Rebellion.
"No one raises the constitutional question, 'Are these half-reclaimed
barbarians my peers?' And if he did, justice would sternly answer
'Yes!' The witnesses will forswear themselves--not like our
porters, for half a crown, but _gratis_, because the plaintiff is a
fellow-tribesman. The judge may be 'touched with the tar-brush,' but
be he white as milk, he must pass judgment according to verdict, and
when damages are under £200, there is no appeal.
"Sierra Leone contains many sable families--Lumpkins, Lewis, Pratt,
Ezidio, Nicols, Macarthy, are a few of their patronymics,--against
whom it is useless for a stranger to contend and come off scot and
lot free. Besides these, there are seventeen chief and two hundred
minor tribes, whilst a hundred languages, according to M. Koelle,--one
hundred and fifty, says Bishop Vidal--are spoken in the streets of
Freetown. All are hostile to one another; all combine against the
white man. After the fashion of the Gold Coast, they have formed
themselves into independent republics, called 'companies.' These set
aside certain funds for their own advancement, and for the ruin of
their rivals. The most powerful and influential races are the Aku and
the Ibo.
"If the reader believes that I have exaggerated the state of
things at Sierra Leone, he is mistaken; the sketch is under rather
than overdrawn. And he will presently see a confirmation of these
statements in the bad name which these liberated Africans bear upon
the whole of the western coast.
"At breakfast we had been duly primed with good advice, viz. not
to notice impudence, and to turn our shoulders--the severest
punishment--upon all who tried their hands at annoyance. We rowed to
the Government landing, a rickety, slippery flight of wooden stairs,
which is positively dangerous at night, or when the waves dash against
the jetty. We were careful to carry no luggage; porters fight for the
job, and often let the object of emulation drop into the water. One
of our mail-bags received this _baptism de Sierra Leone_ last night.
On such occasion a push or poke is a forbidden luxury; the man might
fall down--you have certainly injured him internally--you must pay
exemplary damages."
[Sidenote: _Richard inaugurates a Better State of Things._]
Two stories are related about Richard. I do not vouch for them, but
they sound likely. One was, that when he arrived in Africa, he found
that the negroes were in the state above described, assuming the
upper hand, and treating the white men as an inferior race. They
were summoning them before tribunals on the most trivial pretext,
forwarding complaints home to pander to different people, which a man
who had lived in India, and had passed something like twenty-two
years in black countries, was not the least likely to stand. A day
or two after his arrival at his post, a very dandified-dressed and
full-blooded nigger walked into the Consulate, the window of which
was not far from the ground, clapped Richard on the back in the most
jovial manner, with his disagreeable "yah-yah" laugh. "How do, Consul?
Come to shake hands--how do?" holding out his black paw, as if he were
a condescending Royalty. There were some other Englishmen waiting
about for different business, looking curiously to see what was going
to be the attitude of the new Consul. He looked at the bumptious and
loud-mannered nigger, with a quiet stare of surprise, and then shouted,
"Hi, Kroo-boys, here; throw this nigger out of the window, will you?"
The Kroo-boys, his canoemen (of six oars), rushed in, delighted with
the commission, and flung him out. It was only a roll of three or four
feet--but no niggers in black coats and button-holes came to clap the
new Consul on the back after that, nor did they summon him before the
Tribunal.
Another story told was, that the merchants on the West Coast were
sorely put to inconvenience by the Captains of ships steaming in,
discharging their cargo, and steaming off again without giving the
merchants time to read and answer to their correspondence. Commerce,
therefore, was at a very low ebb, because the merchants were a
fortnight behind the world, there being only two steamers a month
at that time. They asked Richard in a body, if there was no means
of helping them. Richard got out the contracts, and saw that they
said "that the Captain of a ship should stop at the port _eighteen
hours' daylight_ for that very purpose." The next ship that came in,
the Captain came and looked into the Consulate in a jovial way, and
said, "Now, Captain, hurry up with my papers; I want to be off; going
to clear out." Richard looked up at him with a surprised stare, and
drawled out lazily, "Oh, you can't go, for I have not finished my
letters!" "Oh, damn your letters, Sir! I'm off." "Stop a bit," said
Richard; "let us have a look at your contract?" He pulled it out of
the drawer. "The contract says that you shall stop here eighteen
hours' daylight, to give the merchants an opportunity of receiving and
answering their correspondence, otherwise commerce would be ruined,
the merchants being a fortnight behind the world." "Oh yes," he said,
"but nobody has ever enforced that; the Consuls have never bothered us
about that!" "Ha," said Richard, "more shame for them! Now, are you
going to stay?" "No, sir, not I!" "Very well, then; I am going up to
the Governor's, and I am going to shot two guns. If you go out _one
minute_ before your eighteen hours' daylight expires--mind, I shall go
up there and stay myself--I shall send the first gun right across your
bows, and the second slap into you. Mind, I am a man of my word. Good
morning!" He did not go out till half an hour after his eighteen hours'
daylight; and as long as Richard was there none of them ever did.
"The Sierra Leone man is an inveterate thief; he drinks, he gambles,
he intrigues, he over-dresses himself, and when he has exhausted
his means, he makes Master pay for all. With a terrible partiality
for summoning and enjoying himself thoroughly in a court of law, he
enters into the spirit of the thing like an attorney's clerk; he
soon wearies of the less exciting life in the wilder settlements,
where debauchery has not yet developed itself; home sickness then
seizes him, and he deserts, after probably robbing the house. He is
the horror of Europeans; the merchants of the Gaboon river prefer
forfeiting the benefits of the African Steam Ship Company to seeing
themselves invaded by this locust tribe, whose most beautiful view
is apparently that which leads out of Sierra Leone. At Lagos and
Abeokuta, Sierra Leone has returned to his natural paganism, and
has become an inveterate slave-dealer, impudently placing himself
under native protection, and renegading the flag that saved him from
life-long servitude. Even during the Blackland's short stay, the
unruly, disorderly character of the man often enough showed itself by
fisticuffing, pulling hair, and cursing, with a mixture of English and
African ideas, that presented a really portentous _tout ensemble_.
"With respect to the relative position of Japhet and Ham--perhaps I
had better say Ham and Japhet--at Sierra Leone, I may remark that
English ultra-philanthropy has granted at times _almost all_ the
wishes of the Ethiopian melodist--
'I wish de legislator would set dis darkie free,
Oh, what a happy place den de darkie world would be!
We'd have a darkie parliament
An' darkie code of law,
An' _darkie judges on de bench_,
Darkie barristers and aw'!'
"I own that 'darkie' must be defended, and well defended, too, from
the injustice and cruelty of the class whom he calls 'poor white
trash.' But protection should be within the limits of _Reason_. If
the white man is not to be protected against the black man, why
should the Jamaica negro be protected against the coolie? Because he
requires it? I think not. Though physically speaking and mentally
weaker than his rival, he can hold quite enough of his own--as Sierra
Leone proves--by combination, which enables cattle to resist lions.
Displays of this sentiment on the part of the whites must, of course,
be repressed. Do so freely, but not unfairly. England, however, is
still in the throes of her first repentance. Like a veteran devotee,
she is atoning for the coquetries of her hot youth. But a few years
ago she contracted to supply the Spanish colonies for thirty years
with four thousand eight hundred slaves per annum, and she waged wars
and destroyed Cities for a traffic which Cardinal Cibo, at the end
of the seventeenth century, on the part of the Sacred College, to
the Congoese missionaries, denounced as 'a pernicious and abominable
abuse.' For this, and for the 2,130,000 negroes imported into the West
Indian estates between A.D. 1680 and A.D. 1786, Britannia yet mourns,
and, Rachel-like, will not be comforted, because those niggers are
not. What the inevitable reaction shall be, _quien sabe?_
[Sidenote: _Method of protecting the Negro._]
"I do not for a moment regret our philanthropy, even with its terrible
waste of life and gold. But England can do her duty to Africa, without
cant and without humbug.[2] She can contend with a world in arms,
if necessary, against the injurious traffic, but she might abstain
from violently denouncing all who do not share her opinions upon the
subject. Anti-slavery men have hitherto acted rather from sentiment
than from reason; and Mr. Buckle--alas! that we should hear from him
no more--may be right in determining that morality must not rule,
but be ruled by intellect. Let us open our eyes to the truth, and
eschewing 'zeal without knowledge,' secure to ourselves the highest
merit--perseverance in a good cause when thoroughly disenchanted
with it. We have one point in our favour. The _dies atra_ between
1810-1820, when a man could not speak or write what he thought upon
the subject of slavery, is drawing to a close. Increased tolerance now
permits us to express our opinions, which, if in error, will wither
like the grass in an African day; if right, will derive fresh increase
from time.
"There are several classes interested in pitting black man against
white man, and in winning the day for him, _coram publico_. An
unscrupulous missionary--it is the general policy of the English
propagandist to take violent parts in foreign politics--will for his
own ends preach resistance to time-honoured customs and privileges,
which the negro himself has conceded.[3] An unworthy lawyer will
urge a lawsuit, with a view to filling his pockets; a dishonourable
Judge or police Magistrate will make a name for philanthropy at the
expense of equity and honour; a weak-minded man will fear the official
complaints, the false-memorializings which attend an unpopular
decision, and the tomahawking that awaits him from the little army of
negrophiles at home. But the worst class of all is the mulatto, under
which I include quadroon and octaroon. He is everywhere, like wealth,
_irritamenta malorum_. The 'bar-sinister,' and the uneasy idea that he
is despised, naturally fill him with ineffable bile and bitterness.
Inferior in point of _morale_ to Europeans, and as far as regards
_physique_ to Africans, he seeks strength in making the families of
his progenitors fall out. Many such men visiting England are received,
by virtue of their woolly hair and yellow skin, into a class that
would reject a fellow-countryman of similar, nay, of far higher,
position; and there are amongst them infamous characters, who are
not found out till too late. London is fast learning to distinguish
between the Asiatic _Mir_ and the _Munshi_. The real African,
however--so enduring are the sentimentalisms of Wilberforce[4] and
Buxton--is still to be understood.
[Sidenote: _Teaching Fair Treatment for the Negro._]
"It is hardly fair to pull down one system without having another
ready in its stead. I therefore venture to suggest certain steps
toward regenerating--diffidently, though, on account of the amount of
change to be made in--our unhappy colony, which for years has been
steadily declining.
"Creoles, as children of liberated Africans are called here, should
be apprenticed for seven years, with superintendents to see that they
clear the soil, plant, and build; otherwise the apprenticeship would
be merely nominal. For the encouragement of agriculture, I would
take a very heavy tax from small shopkeepers and hucksters, who, by
virtue of sitting upon a shady board, before a few yards of calico
and strings of beads, call themselves merchants. Another very heavy
tax--at least £100 per annum--upon all grog-shop licences, very few of
which should be issued in the colony. Police magistrates are perfectly
capable of settling disputes amongst these people, and of dealing out
punishment to the offenders; moreover, in all cases the fines should
go to the Crown, not to the complainant: in civil cases, however,
there might be an appeal home for the benefit of the litigious. This
measure would wipe off at one sweep inducement to engage in actions
which the presence of a judicial establishment suggests, and which
causes such heart-burning between Europeans and Africans. I would not
allow a black jury to 'sit upon' a white man, or _vice versâ_; and, in
the exception of a really deserving mulatto, I would rather see him
appointed Lord Lieutenant or Secretary of Ireland than acting Governor
or Secretary at Sierra Leone.
"I am convinced that something of the kind will be done, when the
_real_ state of affairs in this unfortunate colony is ventilated in
England. There are men who are always ready to let bad alone, and to
hold that--
'What has answer'd so long may answer still;'
but the extension of Steam Navigation, and the increased number of
travellers and visitors, will not allow progress, for want of a little
energy, even at Sierra Leone, to be arrested.
"It is supposed that women, being less exposed than men, can better
resist the climate of Sierra Leone. I believe the fact to be the
contrary; in many cases the German missionaries have lived, whilst
their wives have died. Here lie three Spanish Consuls, who in four
years fell victims to a climate which has slain five Captains-General,
or Governors, in five years. A deserted cemetery, without flowers or
whitewash, is always a melancholy spectacle. This was something more.
The grass and bush grew dense and dank from the remnants of mortality,
and the only tree within the low decaying walls was a poisonous
oleander. Another sense than the eye was unpleasantly affected; we
escaped from the City of the Slain, as from a slave-ship or from a
plague hospital.
"Servants in shoals presented themselves, begging 'mas'er' to take
them down coast. In vain. The Sierra Leone man is handier than his
southern brother; he can mend a wheel, make a coffin, or cut your
hair, operations which in other places must remain wanted. Yet no
one, at least if not a perfect greenhorn on the coast, will engage
him in any capacity. In civility and respectfulness, he is far below
the Brazilian or the Cuban _emancipado_. He has learned a 'trick or
two;' even a black who has once visited Sierra Leone is considered as
spoiled for life, as if he spent a year in England.
"An unexpected pleasure was in store for me. Lagos contains, as has
been said, some eight hundred Moslems, but not yet two thousand, as
it is reported. Though few, they have already risen to political
importance; in 1851, our bravest and most active opponents were those
wearing turbans. Among these are occasionally found 'white Arabs.'
One had lately died at Ekpe, a village on the 'Cradoo waters,' where
the ex-king Kosoko lives, and, though a Pagan, affects the Faith.
I was presently visited by the Shaykh Ali bin Mohammed El Mekkáwi.
The Reverend man was fair of face, but no Meccan; he called himself
a Máliki, as indeed are most Moslems in this part of El Islam, and
I guessed him to be a Morocco pilgrim, travelling in the odour of
sanctity. He was accompanied by the Kazi Mohammed Ghana, a tall and
sturdy Hausa negro, with his soot-black face curiously gashed and
scarred; he appeared to me an honest man and a good Moslem. The
dignitaries were accompanied by a mob of men in loose trousers, which
distinguished them from the Pagan crowd; one of them, by trade a
tailor, had learned to speak Portuguese in the Brazil.
"Very delightful was this meeting of Moslem brethren, and we took
'sweet counsel' together, as the Missionaries say. The Shaykh Ali
had wandered from Tripoli southwards, knew Bornu, Sokatu, Hausa, and
Adamáwá, the latter only by name; and he seemed to have suffered but
little from a long journey, of which he spoke favourably. He wished
me to return with him, and promised me safe conduct. I refused,
with a tightening of the heart, a little alleviated, however, by
the hope that Fate may spare me to march at some future day through
Central Africa homewards. And in that hope I purified my property,
by giving the _zakat_, or legal alms, to the holy man, who palpably
could not read or write, but who audibly informed his followers that
'this bondsman' is intimately acquainted with _kull'ilm--omnis res
scibilis_."
N.B.--Benin was a great object of interest, and I quote these few
remarks anent the Niger for geographers, and then proceed to the
_gold_, in which millions are interested.--I. B.
"Benin was visited by Captain Thomas Wyndham in 1553, and in 1823,
Belzoni of the Pyramids left his bones near its banks.
"After Lagos we came to the Oil Rivers, and direct connection of the
Bonny river with the true Niger is still a subject of geographical
speculation: I hope to solve the problem, despite all its difficulties.
"It is opined that the Niger falls into the Gulf of Guinea by a great
delta, the Rio del Rey being the eastern, and the Great Rio Formoso,
or Benin,[5] being its western limits. There are twenty-five streams
which discharge themselves into this Great Bight, six of which are Oil
Rivers--a disagreeable week's trip. This remarkable hypothesis, right
in the main, whilst wrong in detail, and characterized at the time as
'hazardous and uncertain,' was probably suggested by native testimony,
the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea being well known to French traders.
It is hard indeed to comprehend how an intelligent sailor could pass
by these shores without suspecting them to be the delta of some great
stream. Caillié, the much-abused discoverer of Timbuktu, wrote in 1828
these remarkable words: 'If I may be permitted to hazard an opinion
as to the course of the River Dhioliba, I should say that it empties
itself by several mouths into the Gulf of Benin.'
"It is directly connected with the twenty or thirty millions of people
in the Sudan; the centres of trade are upon the stream, yet the long
and terrible caravan march of four months still supplies articles more
cheaply than we can afford to sell them, _viâ_ the Niger.
GOLD IN AFRICA.
"'Slave of the dark and dirty mine:
What vanity has brought thee here?'
----LEYDEN.
"'Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold;
Molten, graven, hammer'd, and roll'd;
Heavy to get and light to hold.'
----HOOD.
[Sidenote: _West African Gold._]
"I lost all patience with Cape Coast Castle. Will our grandsons
believe that in these days a colony which cannot afford £150 per
annum for a stipendiary magistrate, that men who live in a state of
poverty, nay, of semi-starvation, are so deficient in energy as to
be content with sitting down hopelessly, whilst gold is among their
sands, on their roads, in their fields, in their very walls? That
this Ophir--that this California, where every river is a Tmolus and
a Pactolus, every hillock is a gold-hill--does not contain a cradle,
a puddling-machine, a quartz-crusher, a pound of mercury? That half
the washings are wasted because quicksilver is unknown, and that pure
gold, selling in England for £3 17_s._ to £4, is here purchaseable for
£3 12_s._? I shout with Dominie Sampson, 'Prodi-gious!'
"Baron Humboldt first announced the theory that gold is constant in
meridional ranges of the paleozoic and metamorphic formations. In this
he was followed by Sir R. Murchison, and he was followed by Professor
Sedgwick. The latter 'has no faith whatever in the above hypothesis,
though it led to a happy anticipation,' which followed erroneous
premises. He continues, 'What we seem to know is, that gold is chiefly
found among paleozoic rocks of a quartzose type,' and, moreover, that
'some of the great physical agencies of the earth are meridional, and
these agencies _may probably_--and in a way we do not comprehend--have
influenced the deposit of metals on certain lines of bearing.' He
thinks, however, it would be a 'hypothetical misdirection' to say that
a quartzose paleozoic rock cannot be auriferous, because its strata is
not north and south, and that 'experience must settle this point.' The
supporters of the meridional theory may quote as instances East Africa
Ghauts, the Oural Mountains, the Sierra Nevada of California--which
included the diggings in British Columbia--the Australian Cordillera,
the New Zealand ranges, and the Western Ghauts of India. On the other
hand, there are two notable exceptions--the Central Indian region,
in which Sir R. Martin and others, as long as thirty years ago,
were convinced that the natives washed for gold; and, still more
remarkable, the highly productive African chain, which, for want of a
better name, we still call the Kong Mountains.[6]
"The fact is that gold is a superficial formation, and has been
almost universally distributed over the surface of earth's
declivities. This want of depth Sir R. Murchison is fond of
illustrating by the hand with the fingers turned downwards; they
represent the golden veins, whilst the palm denotes the main deposit.
It is the contrary with other metals. Gold-placers, therefore, are
now rare, except in newly explored or exploited lands of primitive
formation, where it is common, nay, almost universal; the article,
whose utility was early recognized, soon disappeared from the older
workings. The Californian digger, provided with pick, pan, and shovel,
made $10 per diem in 1852; in 1862 he still makes $2.50, and in
1872 he probably will make $0. The anciently auriferous countries,
especially Arabia, have been stripped of their treasure, perhaps
before the dawn of what is called true history;[7] and if they linger
in Sofala, it is by reason of the people's ignorance;[8] they never
traced the metal to its matrix.
"Setting aside the vexed question of the identity of Ophir and Sofala,
and the fact that in early times gold was brought down from the
eastern regions of the upper Nilotic basin, Western Africa was the
first field that supplied the precious metal to Europe. The French
claim to have imported it from Elmina as early as A.D. 1382. In 1442,
Gonçales Baldeza returned from his second voyage to the regions
about Bojador, bringing with him the first gold. Presently a company
was formed for the purpose of carrying on the gold trade between
Portugal and Africa; its leading men were the navigators, Lanzarote
and Gilianez, and the great Prince Henry did not disdain to become
a shareholder. In 1471 João de Santarem and Pedro Escobar reached a
place on the Gold Coast, to which, from the abundance of gold found
there, they gave the name of Oura da Mina, the present Elmina. After
this a flood of gold poured 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 hemisphere, English,
French, and Dutch adventurers hastened to share the spoils.
"The Portuguese, probably foreseeing competition in the Atlantic
waters, but sure of their power in the Indian seas, determined, about
the middle of the sixteenth century, to seek gold, of which those who
preceded them had heard, in Eastern Africa. The Rev. Father João dos
Santos, of the order of San Domingo, has left us, in his 'History
of Eastern Ethiopia,' a detailed account of the first disastrous
expedition. According to him, Dom Sebastian was scarcely seated on the
throne of Portugal[9] before he sent to Sofala an expedition under
command of Francis Baretto, who 'penetrated into Macoronga,'[10]
and 'Maniça,' discovered mines of gold in these kingdoms, of which,
by his prudence and valour, he made himself master. Baretto, having
successfully passed through, despite a harassing warfare, the
territories of the Quiteva or sovereign of Sofala, who fled from
his capital, Zimboe, and having contracted with the Moorish or Arab
Sultan[11] of Maniça a treaty of amity, which included the article
that the King of Chicanga should admit the strangers to trade
throughout his territories for gold dust and other merchandise,
reached at length the goal of his ambition. His proceedings are told
as follows:--[12]
"'The Portuguese were enchanted at having, in so short a time,
concluded a treaty of such advantage to their sovereign, and so
beneficial to the realm; they, moreover, flattered themselves with
the hope of acquiring a store of gold, with which to return enriched
to their country; but when they saw what toil was requisite for
extracting this precious metal from the bowels of the earth, and the
danger incurred by those who worked in the mines, they were speedily
undeceived, and no longer regarded their fortunes as instantaneously
made. At the same time, they were induced to reflect that the labour
and risk of digging the gold from the abysses whence it is drawn, are
such as to stamp that value on it which it bears from its consequent
rarity.
"'These people have divers methods of extracting the gold, and
separating it from the earth with which it is blended; but the most
common is to open the ground, and proceed towards the spot where,
from certain indications, ore is supposed to abound. For this
purpose they excavate vaults, sustained at intervals by pillars, and
notwithstanding they make use of every possible precaution, it often
happens that the vaults give way, and bury the subterranean sappers
beneath their ruins. When they reach the vein in which the gold is
found, mixed with the earth, they take the ore as it is and put it
into vessels full of water, and by dint of stirring about the water
the earth is dissolved, and the gold remains at the bottom.[13]
"'They likewise take advantage of heavy rains, which, occasioning
torrents, carry before them whatever loose earth they meet in their
way, and thus lay open the spots where gold is embedded in the
ravines. This the Caffres collect, and wash with care to purify from
the grosser parts of its earthy admixture.
"'These people also, however unpolished they may seem, yet possess a
secret, peculiar to themselves, for discovering the gold concealed in
certain stones, which they likewise have the ingenuity of extracting,
constantly observing the same practice of washing it well to separate
all earthy particles from the metal, and thus rendering it equally
lustrous with that obtained from the earth. This gold is, however,
much cheaper than the other, either owing to its being more common, or
to its being obtained with more facility and at less expense than that
exfoliated from the bowels of the earth.
"'It is a mere matter of fact that this country is rich in gold and
silver mines, but these metals are not so easily obtained as is
imagined, for the Caffres are prohibited, under penalty of death and
the confiscation of their property, from discovering the site of the
mine, either to their neighbours, or to those who pass through their
country. When a mine is discovered, the persons finding it make wild
outcries, to collect witnesses round them, and cover the spot, above
which they place some object to denote the site; and far from being
susceptible to be prevailed upon by strangers to point out these
spots, they avoid encountering them as much as possible, for fear they
should even be suspected of such a deed.
"'The motive of the sovereign for enacting these prohibitory laws,
and for exacting a declaration to be made to the Court of all
mines discovered, is that he may take possession of them,[14] and
by preventing the Portuguese from becoming masters of one portion,
give no room for succeeding warfare on their part to seize on the
remainder.'
"The melancholy fate of Baretto's expedition deserves mentioning.
After passing through Zimbo,[15] where the Quiteva received him with
open arms, Baretto returned to Sofala. Being now on good terms with
the sovereigns of that place, and of Chicanga, he resolved to open
a road into the kingdom of Mongas, the dominions of the Monomotapa,
who opposed him with a large army. Baretto signally defeated the
'Caffres,' and reached Chicona, where he found no gold mines. An
artful native, however, buried two or three lumps of silver, which,
when discovered, brought large presents to the cheat and dreams
of Potosi to the cheated.[16] Baretto, in nowise disheartened by
discovering the fraud, left two hundred men in a fort at Chicona,
whilst he and the remainder of his force retired upon Sena, on the
Zambeze. The Caffres then blockaded the fort, and having reduced the
gallant defenders to a famine, compelled them to make a sortie, in
which every man was slain.
"The ruins of Maniça, north-west of Sofala, and west of and inland
from the East African ghauts, are described as being situated in a
valley enclosed by an amphitheatre of hills, having a circuit of about
two miles. According to Mr. M'Leod, the district is called Matouca
(the Matuka of Dr. Livingstone's map), and the gold-washing tribes
Botongos.[17] The spots containing the metal are known by the bare and
barren surface. The natives dig in any small crevice made by the rains
of the preceding winter, and there find gold dust. These pot-holes
are rarely deeper than two or three feet, at five or six they strike
the ground-rock. In the still portions of the rivers, when they are
low, the natives dive for nuggets that have been washed down from
the hills. Sometimes joining together in hundreds, they deflect the
stream, and find extensive deposits. Mr. M'Leod heard of mines four
to five hundred miles from Sofala, where the gold is found in solid
lumps, or as veins in the rocks and stones.
"The result of Dr. Livingstone's travels is, that whilst he found
no gold in the African interior, frequent washings were met with
in the Mashinga Mountains[18] and on the Zambeze river; no silver,
however, was met with, nor could the people distinguish it from
tin, which, however, does not establish its non-existence; he heard
from a Mashanga man, for the first time, a native name for gold,
_Dalama_.[19] The limits of the auriferous region are thus laid
down: 'If we place one leg of the compasses at Tete, and extend
the other 3° 30', bringing it round from the north-east of Tete by
west, and then to the south-east, we nearly touch or include all the
known gold-producing country.' This beginning from the north-east
would include the Marave country,[20] the now 'unknown' kingdom of
Abutua[21] placed, however, south of the Zambesi, and coming round
by the south-west, Mashona, or Bazizulu, Maniça, and Sofala. Gold
from about Maniça is as large as wheat grains, whilst that found in
the rivers is in minute scales. The process of washing the latter
is laborious. 'A quantity of sand is put into a wooden bowl with
water, a half-rotatory motion is given to the dish, which causes the
coarser particles of sand to collect on one side of the bottom. These
are carefully removed with the hand, and the process of rotation is
renewed until the whole of the sand is taken away, and the gold alone
remains.'[22] Mercury is as usual unknown. Formerly one hundred and
thirty pounds of gold were submitted to the authorities at Tete for
taxation, but when the slave-trade began, the Portuguese killed the
goose with the golden eggs, and the annual amount obtained is now only
eight to ten pounds.
"It is evident that gold is by no means half worked in Eastern Africa.
As in California, it appears to be found in clay shale, which for
large profits requires 'hydraulicking.' The South African traveller
heard that at the range Mashinga, the women pounded the soft rock in
wooden mortars, previous to washing; it is probably rotten quartz, and
the yield would be trebled by quicksilver and crushers.
"It is highly probable that the gold formations in those East
African ghauts, which Dr. Beke is compelling to become the 'Lunar
Mountains,' are by no means limited to the vicinity of the Zambeze.
In gold-prospecting, as every geologist knows, the likeliest places
often afford little yield and sometimes none. The author of 'The Lake
Regions of Central Africa' describes a cordillera which he struck,
about a hundred miles from the eastern coast, as primitive, quartzose,
and shaly; unfortunately time and health hindered him from exploring
it. The same writer, in 'First Footsteps in East Africa' (p. 395),
indicates such formation in the small ghauts, and on the western
side of that range he is reported to have found gold. What steps he
took do not appear; he was probably disheartened by the reflection
that all his efforts would be opposed by might and main in official
circles. Possibly he feared the fate of Mr. Hargreaves, of Australia,
who obtained a reward of £5000, when one per cent. of export would
have made him master of eight millions. Local jealousies at Aden
also certainly would have defeated his plans, if permitted to be
carried out; and the Court of Directors had already regarded with a
holy terror his proposals to build a little fort, by way of base upon
the seaboard near Berberah. Leaving, however, these considerations,
we are justified by analogy of formation and bearing in believing
that at some future time gold may be one of the exports from Eastern
Intertropical Africa.[23]
"Returning to Western Africa, we find in Leo Africanus, who is
supposed to have died about 1526, that the King of Ghana had in his
palace 'an entire lump of gold'--a monster nugget it would now be
called--not cast nor wrought by instruments, but perfectly formed by
the Divine Providence only, of thirty pounds weight, which had been
bored through and fitted for a seat before the royal throne.[24] The
author most diffuse upon the subject of gold, is Bosman, who treats,
however, solely of the Gold Coast.
"The first region which he mentions is Dinkira, under which were
included the conquered provinces of Wásá (our Wassaw, Wossa, Wasau,
Warsaw, etc.), Encasse and Juffer, each bordering upon one another,
and the last upon Commany (Commanda). There the gold is fine, but much
alloyed with 'fetishes,' oddly shaped figures used for ornaments,
and composed sometimes of pure mountain gold, but more often mixed
with one-third, or even half, of silver and copper and filled inside
with half weight of the heavy black earth used for moulding them. The
second was Acanny, the people of which brought the produce of their
own diggings and of their neighbours of Ashantee and Akim: it was
so pure and fine, that the negroes called all the best gold 'Acanny
Sika,' or Acanny gold. The third was Akim,[25] which 'furnished as
large quantities of gold as any land that I know, and that also the
most valuable and pure of any that is carried away from this coast;
it is easily distinguished by its deep colour.' The fourth and fifth
are Ashanti and Ananse, a small province between the former empire and
Dinkira. The sixth and last is Awine, our Aowin,[26] which formerly
used to export large quantities of fine and pure gold, and they
'being the civilized and the fairest dealers of all the negroes,' the
Dutch 'traded with them with a great deal of pleasure.' They were,
however, finally subdued by the Dinkiras.
"According to Bosman ('Letters,' vi.) 'the illustrious metal' was
found in three sites. The first and best was 'in or between particular
hills:' the negroes sank pits there, and separated the soil adhering
to it. The second 'is in, at, and about some rivers and waterfalls,
whose violence washeth down great quantities of earth, which carry
the gold with it. The third is on the seashore, near the mouths of
rivulets, and the favourite time for washing is after violent night
rains.[27] The negro women are furnished with large and small troughs
or trays, which they first fill full of earth and sand, which they
wash with repeated fresh water till they have cleansed it from all
its earth; and if there be any gold its ponderosity forces it to the
bottom of the trough, which if they find it is thrown into the small
tray, and so they go on washing it again, which operation generally
holds them till noon; some of them not getting above the value of
sixpence; some of them pieces of six or seven shillings, though not
frequently; and often they entirely lose their labour.'
"The gold thus dug is of two kinds, dust gold and mountain gold. The
former is 'fine as flour,' and the more esteemed because there is no
loss in melting. The latter, corresponding with our modern 'nugget,'
varies in weight from a farthing to two hundred guineas; it touches
better than gold dust, but it is a loss from the metal adhering to the
stone.
"The natives, in Bosman's day--and to the present time--were 'very
subtle artists in the sophisticating of gold.' The first sort was the
fetish before alluded to.[28] They also cast pieces so artificially,
that whilst outside there was pure gold thick as a knife, the interior
was copper, and perhaps iron--then a new trick and the most dangerous,
because difficult to detect. The common 'false mountain gold' was
a mixture of the precious metal with silver and copper, extremely
high coloured, and unless each piece was touched, the fraud passed
undetected. Another kind was an artificially cast and tinged powder
of coral mixed with copper filings; it became tarnished, however,
in a month or two. The official tests of gold were as follows:--If
offered at night or in the evening large pieces were cut through with
a knife, and the smaller nuggets were beaten with a stone, and then
tried as above. Gold dust was cast into a copper brazier, winnowing
with the fingers, and blown upon with the breath, which causes the
false gold to fly away. These are not highly artificial tests. Bosman,
however, strongly recommends them to raw, inexpert people (especially
seafaring men), whom he bids to remember the common proverb, that
'there is no gold without dross.' These greenhorns, it seems, tested
the metal by pouring aquafortis upon it, when ebullition or the
appearance of green proved it to be false or mixed. 'A miserable test,
indeed!' exclaims old Trunk-hose, justly remarking that an eighth or
tenth part of alloy would produce those appearances, and that such
useless and niceness, entailing the trouble of drying, and causing the
negroes to suffer, is prejudicial to trade.
"With respect to the annual export from the Gold Coast, Bosman reckons
it in peaceful times, when trade is prosperous, to be '23 tun.' The
7000 marks are disposed of as below.[29] Mr. Macqueen estimates
this exportation at £3,406,275. The English trade has now fallen to
£360,000 to £400,000 per annum.[30]
"The conclusion of Bosman's sixth letter may be quoted as highly
applicable to the present day. 'I would refer to any intelligent
metallist, whether 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
large 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. And I doubt not but if this country belonged to the
Europeans, they would soon find it to produce much richer treasures
than the negroes obtain from it; but it is not probable that we shall
ever possess that liberty here, wherefore we must be content with
being so far masters of it as we are at present, which, if well and
prudently managed, would turn to a very great account.'
"In several countries, as Dinkira, Tueful, Wásá,[31] and especially
Akim, the hill region lying due north of Accra, the people are still
active in digging gold. The pits, varying from two to three feet
in diameter, and from twelve to fifty feet deep, 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 excavated earth is carried down to be washed.
Besides sinking these holes, they pan in the beds of rivers, and in
places collect quartz, which is roughly pounded. The yield is very
uncertain, and the Chief of the district is entitled to one-third
of the proceeds. During the busy season, when water is abundant,
the scene must resemble that described by Dr. Livingstone, near the
gold-diggings of Tete. As in California and Australia, prices rise
high, and gunpowder, rum, and cotton goods soon carry off the gold
dust.
"During the repeated earthquakes of July, 1862, which laid waste
Accra, the strata of the Akim Hills were so much shaken and broken
up, that, according to report, all the people flocked to the diggings
and dispensed with the shafts generally sunk. There are several parts
of the Gold Coast where the precious metal is fetish, and where the
people will not dig themselves, though perhaps they would not object
to strangers risking their lives. One of the most remarkable is the
Devil's Hill, called by Bosman 'Monte da Diabo,' near Winnebah, in
the Aguna (Agouna) country. In his time, a Mr. Baggs, English agent,
was commissioned by the African Company to prospect it. He died at
Cape Coast Castle before undertaking a work which, in those days,
would have been highly dangerous. Some authorities fix the Seecom
river as the easternmost boundary where gold is found. This is so far
incorrect, that I have panned it from the sands under James Fort.
Besides which, it is notorious that on the banks of the Upper Volta,
about the latitude of the Krobo (Croboe) country, there are extensive
deposits, regarded by the people as sacred.
"The Slave Coast is a low alluvial tract, and appears to be wholly
destitute of gold.[32] According to the Rev. Mr. Brown, however,
a small quantity has been found in the quartz of Yoruba, north of
Abeokuta; but, as in the Brazil, it is probably too much dispersed to
be worth working. And the Niger, which flows, as will presently be
seen, from the true auriferous centre, has at times been found to roll
down-stream gold.[33]
"The soil of Fante-land and the seaboard is, as has been seen, but
slightly auriferous.
"As we advance northwards from the Gold Coast the yield becomes
richer. In Ashanti the red and loamy soil, scattered with gravel and
grey granite, is everywhere impregnated with gold, which the slaves
extract by washing and digging. It is said that in the market-place
of Kumasi there are sixteen hundred ounces' worth of gold--a treasure
reserved for State purposes. The bracelets of rock-gold, which the
caboceers wear on State occasions, are four pounds in weight, and
often so heavy that they must rest their arms upon the heads of their
slave-boys.
"In Gyaman, the region to the north-west of the capital, the ore is
found in large nuggets, sometimes weighing four pounds. The pits are
sunk nine feet in the red granite and grey granite, and the gold is
highly coloured. From eight to ten thousand slaves work for two months
every year in the bed of the Barra river. There, however, as on the
Gold Coast, the work is very imperfect, and in some places where
the metal is sacred to the fetish, it is not worked at all. Judging
from analogy, we might expect to find the precious metal in the
declivities inland and northwards from Cape Palmas, and in that sister
formation of the East African ghauts, the 'Sierra dol Crystal.' The
late Captain Lawlin, an American trader settled on an island at the
mouth of the Fernão Vaz, carried to his own country, about the year
1843-44, a quantity of granular gold, which had been brought to him
by some country-people. He brought back all the necessary tools and
implements to the Gaboon river, but the natives became alarmed, and he
failed to find the spot. Finally, according to the tradition of native
travellers, the unexplored region called Rúmá,[34] and conjecturally
placed south of the inhospitable Waday, is a land of goldsmiths,
the ore being found in mountainous and well-watered districts. It
is becoming evident that Africa will some day equal half a dozen
Californias.
"Mungo Park supplies the amplest notices of gold in the regions
visited by him north of the Kong Mountains. The principal places are
the head of the Senegal river and its various influents; Dindiko,
where the shafts are most deep, and notched, like a ladder; Seronda,
which gives two grains from every pound of alluvial matter;[35] Bambuk
and Bambarra. In Kongkadu, the 'mountain land,' where the hills are
of coarse riddy granite, composed of red feldspar, white quartz, and
black shale, containing orbicular concretions, granular gold is found
in the quartz, which is broken with hammers; the grains, however, are
flat. The diggings at present best known are those of Mandina-land.
The gold, we are told, is found not in mines or veins, but scattered
in sand and clay. They vary from a pin's head to the size of a pea,
and are remarkably pure. This is called _sana manko_, or gold-powder,
in contradistinction to _sana birro_, or gold-stones--nuggets
occasionally weighing five drachms. In December, after the harvest
home, when the gold-bearing _fiumaras_ from the hills have shrunk, the
Mansa or Shaykh appoints a day to begin _sana ku_--gold washing.
"Each woman arms herself with a hoe, two or three calabashes, and a
few quills. On the morning before departure a bullock is slaughtered
for a feast, and prayers and charms are not forgotten. The error
made by these people is digging and washing for years in the same
spot, which proves comparatively unfruitful unless the torrent shifts
its course. They never follow the lead to the hills, but content
themselves with exploring the heads of the watercourse, which the
rapid stream denudes of sand and clay, leaving a strew of small
pebbles that wear the skin off the finger-tips. The richest yield is
from pits sunk in the height of the dry season, near some hill in
which gold has been found. As the workers dig through the several
strata of sand and clay, they send up a few calabashes by way of
experiment for the women, whose peculiar duty it is to wash the stuff,
and thus they continue till they strike the floor-rock. The most
hopeful formation is held to be a bed of reddish sand, with small dark
specks, described as 'black matter, resembling gunpowder,' and called
by the people _sana mira_, or gold-rust; it is probably titeria. In
Murray's edition of 1816, there are illustrations of the various
positions, and a long description (vol. i. p. 450, and vol. ii. p.
75) of the style of panning. I will not trouble the reader with it,
as it in no way differs from that now practised on the Gold Coast and
Kafirlands. There is art in this apparently simple process. Some women
find gold when others cannot discover a particle; and as quicksilver
is not used, at least one-third must be wasted, or rather, I may say,
it is preserved for a better day.
"The gold dust is stored in quills, stopped with cotton, and the
washers are fond of wearing a number of these trophies in their
hair. The average of an industrious individual's annual collection
may be two slaves. The price of these varies from nine to twelve
_mankali_,[36] each of 12_s._ 6_d._, or its equivalent in goods, viz.
eighteen gun-flints, forty-eight leaves of tobacco, twenty charges
of gunpowder, a cutlass, and a musket. Part of the gold is converted
into massive and cumbrous ornaments, necklaces, and earrings, and when
a lady of consequence is in full dress, she bears from £50 to £80. A
proportion is put by to defray expenses of travelling to and from the
coast, and the greater part is then invested in goods, or exchanged
with the Moors for salt and merchandise.
"The gold is weighed in small balances, which the people always carry
about with them, and they make, like the Hindus, but little difference
between gold dust and wrought gold. The purchaser always uses his
own _tilikissi_, beans, probably, of the Abrus, which are sometimes
soaked in Shea butter, to increase their weight, or are imitated with
ground-down pebbles. In smelting gold, the smith uses an alkaline
salt, obtained from a ley of burnt corn-stalks. He is capable, as even
the wildest African tribes are, of drawing fine wire. When rings--the
favourite form in which the precious metal is carried coastward--are
to be made, the gold is run without any flux in a crucible of
sun-dried red clay, which is covered over with charcoal or braize. The
smith pours the fluid into a furrow traced in the ground, by way of
mould. When it has cooled, he reheats it, and hammers it into a little
square ingot or bar of the size required. After a third exposure to
fire he twists with his pincers the bar into a screw shape, lengthens
out the ends, and turns them up to form a circle.
"It must now be abundantly evident to the reader, that the great
centre of West African gold, the source which supplies Manding to
the north and Ashanti to the south, is the equatorial range called
the Kong. What the mineral wealth must be there, it is impossible to
estimate, when nearly three millions and a half of pounds sterling
have usually been drawn from a small parallelogram, between its
southern slopes and the ocean, whilst the other three-quarters of the
land--without alluding to the equally rich declivities of the northern
versant--have remained as yet unexplored. Even in northern Liberia,
colonists have occasionally come upon a pocket of $50, and the natives
bring gold in from the banks of streams.
"Mr. Wilson[37] remarks upon this subject, 'It is best for whites
and blacks that these mines should be worked just as they are. The
world is not suffering for the want of gold, and the comparative
small quantities that are brought to the sea-coast keep the people in
continual intercourse with civilized men, and ultimately, no doubt,
will be the means of introducing civilization and Christianity among
them.'
"I differ from the reverend author, _toto cœlo_. For such vain hope
as that of improving Africans by European intercourse, and for all
considerations of an 'ultimately' vaguer than the sweet singer
of Israel's 'soon,' it is regrettable that active measures for
exploitation are not substituted. And if the world, including the
reverend gentleman and Lord John Russell, are not suffering for the
want of gold, there are those, myself for instance, and many a better
man, who would be happy at times to see and to feel a little more of
that 'vile yellow clay.'"
[1] This is pure chaff--they are woefully defective in all these
points; but being ignorant they dress so as to show off what an
Englishman would improve or conceal.--I. B.
[2] "Of late it has become the fashion for the Missionary and the
Lecturer to deny, in the presence of Exeter Hall, the African's
recognition of the European's superiority. 'The white man,' writes Mr.
Robert Campbell, a mulatto, 'who supposes himself respected in Africa
_because_ he is white, is grievously mistaken.' I distinctly assert the
reverse, and every one who has studied the natural history of man must
have the same opinion. The same egregious nonsense was once propounded
before the Ethnological Society--where with some ethnology there is no
anthropology--by another 'African.' And yet the propounder, the late
Mr. Consular Agent Hansen, whose death, by-the-by, was an honour, and
the only honour, to his life, had shaved his wool, and at the time was
wearing a wig of coal-black hair like a Cherokee's. Is imitation no
sign of deference?"
[3] "And not only the missionary, but also the sex which, I am told,
has a Mission. I was at Florence in 1850, when our fair countrywomen
added not a little to its troubles by dividing into two factions, the
Italian and the Austrian. Some wore Rational colours, others went so
far as to refuse waltzes proposed to them by partisans of the hostile
nation."
[4] "Such cant I hold to be in their mouths who talk of the 'sin and
crime' of slavery. As the author of 'Six Years in the West Indies' (a
brave book, considering the date of its publication, 1825) truly says,
that the spirit of Christianity tends to abolish servitude is clear,
that it admits of servitude is even still clearer. The Authorized
Version of the Bible, like the Constitution of the United States,
very prudently shirks the word 'slave,' and translates by 'servants'
the δοῡλοι [Greek: douloi], or bondsmen, whom St. Paul enjoins to be
subject to their κυρίοι [Greek: kourioi], or masters, and elsewhere
δοῡλος [Greek: doulos], a chattel, is opposed to ἐλεύθερος [Greek:
eleutheros], a freeman. How astonished St. Athanasius and St. Augustine
would have been, had the idea of an 'underground railway' been
presented to them! What fulminations they would have showered upon the
inventor of the idea!"
[5] "I quote the above _memoriter_. If correct, the limits of the
Nigrotic delta thus given are totally incorrect. The Rio del Rey is
wholly unconnected with the Niger; even the nearer Calabar and Cross
rivers do not flow from it. The same is the case with the Benin river;
its source was placed by Mr. Beecroft in the highlands to the westward
of the Niger."
[6] "A similar imperfect generalization is the old theory that gold
pertains not to islands. Malachi wore a collar of Irish gold, probably
from Wicklow. It has been found in Cornwall and other parts of England,
and in Scotland; and there are few Californians who do not believe that
Queen Charlotte's Island will form rich diggings.
"Another remark has lately been made, which pretends to no more than to
discover a curious coincidence. The Oural chain lies 90° west of the
Australian diggings, and the Californian Sierra Nevada 90° west of the
Oural. But, on the other hand, the fourth quadrantal division falls
into the Atlantic between Western Africa and the Brazil; and Eastern
Africa, a highly prolific metallic region, is 20° west of the Oural,
and 120° east of California."
[7] "I allude to the Hammæum littus of Pliny, which appears to coincide
with the modern Hazramaut. Perhaps, however, the gold of Arabia is not
wholly exhausted: it is difficult to believe that the rude appliances
of savages and barbarians can extract anything but the coarsest
particles from the dirt.
"Some years ago an English traveller, who had seen gold dust brought
to Cairo from the coast of Western Arabia, north of Yambu, applied to
Dr. Walne, then her Majesty's Consul, for facilities of exploring the
place. The sage reply of that official was that gold appeared to be
becoming too common. Other officials, equally sage, have since made the
same remark."
[He alludes to Lord John Russell, who, when he offered to send a
million a year home if he were made Governor of the Gold Coast, said,
"Gold was getting too common."--I. B.]
[8] "In Eastern, as in parts of Western Africa, the natives have a
curious superstition, or, rather, a distorted idea of a physical fact.
They always return to the earth whatever nuggets are found, under the
idea that they are the seed, or mother of gold, and that, if removed,
the washing would be unprofitable. They refuse to dig deeper than
the chin, for fear of the earth 'caving in;' and quartz-crushing and
the use of quicksilver being unknown, they will not wash, unless the
gold appears to the naked eye. As late as Mohammed Ali Pasha's day an
Egyptian expedition was sent up through Fayzoghlu in search of the
precious metal, brought down by the eastern tributaries of the Nile;
it failed, because the ignorant Turks expected to pick up ounces
where they found only grains. There are many traditions still extant
in Egypt, of mysterious travellers floating down the Nile in craft
of antique build, accompanied by women of blackest colour, but with
Grecian or Abyssinian features, and adorned with rings, collars, and
bracelets of pure gold, in shape resembling those found in the tombs of
ancient Egypt."
[9] "Dom Sebastian, grandson of Don João III., was born July 20th,
1554, and at three years of age ascended the throne of Portugal. His
subsequent romantic history is well known."
[10] Mr. Cooley ('Geography of N'yassi,' p. 16) has confounded the
'Mucaranga' with the 'Monomoezi.' Captain Burton ('Lake Regions of
Central Equatorial Africa,' pp. 228, 289) found the Wakaranga, a people
wholly distinct from the Wanpamwezi; the former being a small tribe
living near the Tanganyika Lake, south of the Wajiji. Mr. Cooley still,
I believe, keeps his own opinion, and persists in writing these tribal
names with an initial, M or Mu, which, being an abbreviation of _mtu_,
a man, signifies only the individual."
[11] "In the 'Periplus,' attributed to Arrian (A.D. 64-210), chap.
xvi., we are told that Rhapta, probably Kilwa (Quiloa), and the
adjacent regions were held by colonists from Muza, _i.e._ Bandar
Musa, near Aden. Gold is not mentioned amongst the exports, which are
confined to ivory, rhinoceros' horns, and tortoiseshell."
[12] "Dos Santos, 'History of the Ethiopians,' book ii. chap. i.-iii."
[13] "The reader will remark that at all times, and in all places, gold
has been washed or procured in the same way--a fair instance, like the
general similarity of rude stone implements from England to Australia,
of the instinctive faculty in mankind."
[14] "The same was the practice of the Indian Rajahs. Whenever a ryot
discovered either treasure or gold _in situ_ he was most cruelly
treated, to compel him to confess and to give up what he had secreted.
As, of course, he had secreted a part of his _trouvaille_ it was a
hard struggle between his cupidity and the ruler's bastinado. About
1840, some peasants near Baroda, in Guzerat, found lumps of gold, which
they carried before his Highness the Gaikwar, and received in return a
terrible flogging. The Hindú, with that secretiveness which has ever
been his shield against the tyranny of rulers and conquerors, resolved
for the future to keep his good fortune to himself. The quality of
gold which from time to time has appeared amongst these people, made
the shrewder sort of European suspect. But the inertness, or, rather,
the terror of new things, that possessed the then rulers of the land;
'threw cold water' upon all attempts to trace the diggings, which,
accordingly, were worked by the people till the present year. This is
the simple history of 'gold mining in the Deccan.'"
[15] "Barros, describing the ruins of Zimbo, mentions an inscription
over the gateway of a fort built with well-cut stones and no lime,
whose surface was twenty-five palms long and a little less in height.
Around this building, which, like the Ka'abah, might have been a
pagan Arab temple, are bastions--also of uncemented lime--and the
remainder of a tower, seventy feet high. The inscription was probably
in the Himyaritic character, as 'Moors well versed in Arabic' could
not decipher it. This was repeated to Mr. Lyons M. M'Leod ('Travels
in Eastern Africa,' vol. i. chap. x.) at Mozambique. Dr. Livingstone
('Travels in South Africa,' chap. xxix.) discovered Zumbo in lat.
15° 37' 22" S., long. 30° 32' E., about 8° W.N.W. of Kilimani. At
the confluence of the Loangwe and Zambeze, he found the remains of a
church, a cross, and a bell, but no date and no inscription. The people
of Rios de Sena also state that there are remains of large edifices
in the interior; unfortunately they place them at a distance of five
hundred leagues, which would lead them nearly to the equator north, and
to the Cape of Good Hope south.
"Dr. Livingstone ('Travels in South Africa,' chap. xxx.) explains the
word Monomotapa successfully, I think, to mean the 'Lord' (_mone,
muene, mona, mana,_ or _morena_, are all dialectic varieties,
synonymous with the Kisarahili _muinyi_, which means master, sir,
_kyrios_, etc.), and 'Mtapa,' the proper name of the chief. The ancient
Portuguese assigned to the Monomotapa the extensive regions between the
Zambeze and the Limpopo rivers, 7° from north to south. The African
traveller, however, is not so successful in explaining the corrupted
term, Monomoizes, Monemuiges, and Monomaizes--for which see _Journal of
Royal Geographical Society_, vol. xxix. pp. 166 _et seq._
"Dr. Beke ('On the Mountains forming the Eastern Side of the Basin of
the Nile,' p. 14) defends, against Mr. Cooley and Captain Burton, M.
Malte Brun's 'Mono-emugi, ou selons un orthographie plus authentique
_Mou-mimigi_.' The defence is operated by enclosing after the latter,
in italics, another version in parenthesis, and with an interrogation,
thus (Nimougi?); and the French geographer's orthography 'being
fortunately based on the theoretic root,' is pronounced 'more
authentic than any hitherto proposed in its stead.' How often will
it be necessary to repeat, that Mono-emugi and Mou-mimigi are merely
corruptions of M'nyamwezi, a man or individual of the land Unyamwezi?"
[16] "A French adventurer tried a similar trick upon the Imam Sayyid
Said, father of the present Prince of Zanzibar. He melted a few dollars
and ran the fluid upon bits of stone, which were duly shown to his
Highness. But the old Imam, whose cupidity was equalled only by his
cunning, took them to his friend, Colonel Hamerton, her Majesty's
Consul, who, finding the matrix to be coralline, had no difficulty in
detecting the fraud."
[17] "Dr. Livingstone places the Botonga people west of Zumbo, and 4°
to 5° north-west of Matuka or Maniça."
[18] "These elevations are on the western frontier of the great Marave
people; see the 'Lands of Cazembe.'"
[19] "In Kisawahili they have but one word for gold, _zahábú_, which
is palpably derived from the Arabic. None of the people living in the
interior, or even the tribes beyond the coast-line of Zanzibar, are
acquainted with the precious metal; they would prefer to it brass or
copper. The appreciation of gold on the part of the so-called 'Kafir'
race, points to an extensive intercourse with Arabia, if not to a
considerable admixture of Arab and Asiatic blood."
[20] "Dr. Livingstone gives six well-known washing-places, east and
north-east of Tete, viz. Mashinga, Shindúndo, Missála, Kapéta, Máno,
and Jáwa."
[21] "Mr. Cooley ('Geography of N'yassi') questions whether there be
such a kingdom as Abutua, or Butwa. He derives it from _batúa_, plural
of _motúa_ (in Kisawahili _wátu_, plural of _m'tu_) signifying men.
The Amazulu, when they attacked Delagoa Bay, were called by the same
name; but the Portuguese throwing back the accent changed the word to
Vátur, of which Captain Owen made Fetwah. So, in 1822, the tribe that
fell upon the Bachwáná (Bechuana) were, we were told, called Batúa, but
the missionaries recognized the meaning of the word. Though it is 'now
unknown,' Dr. Livingstone has inserted it into his map."
[22] "This is absolutely the present practice on the Gold Coast, and
perfectly agrees with Mungo Park's descriptions."
[23] "I cannot, however, understand the final flourish of Dr. Beke's
paper, above alluded to. He declares that the discovery of gold in his
'Mountains of the Moon' will occasion a complete and rapid revolution,
and ends thus: 'We shall then, too, doubtless see in Eastern Africa, as
in California and in Australia, the formation of another new race of
mankind.' We have seen nothing of the kind in Western Africa, where for
four centuries the richest diggings have been known. In fact, they have
rather tended to drive away Europeans. Why then expect this marvel from
Eastern Africa?"
[24] "Similarly, the king of 'Buncatoo' had a solid gold stool, which
caused his destruction at the hands of his neighbours of Ashantee."
[25] "Akim still supplies gold, and will be alluded to later on."
[26] "The old traveller, however, is wrong, when he says, 'I take it
(Awine) to be the first on the Gold Coast, and to be far above Axim.'
Aowin is the region to the west of the Assini river, whereas Axim is
to the east of the Ancobra river; thus the two are separated by the
territory of Apolonia. He apologizes, however, in the same page for
any possible errors. 'I cannot inform you better, because the negroes
cannot give any certain account of them (the various diggings), nor
do any of our people go so far; wherefore I must beg of you, my good
friend, to be contented.' Despite which, however, he may yet be right,
and his critic wrong."
[27] "So, 'in Coquimbo of Chili,' says Sir Richard Hawkins, 'it raineth
seldom, but every shower of rain is a shower of gold unto them, for
with the violence of the water falling from the mountains it bringeth
from them the gold.'"
[28] "We are also informed that the same fetishes were cut by the
negroes into small bits, worth one, two, or three farthings, and the
people could tell their value at sight. These _kakeraa_, as they were
called, formed the small change of the country, as our threepenny and
fourpenny bits do now. They were current all over the coast, and seemed
to pass backwards and forwards without any diminution. The reason for
this was, that they sold in Europe for only forty the ounce: the native
mixing them with better gold tried to palm them upon the purchasers,
but the clerks were ordered to pick them out. A similar custom down the
coast, was to cut dollars into halves and quarters, which thus easily
became florins and shillings."
[29] Marks.
"The Dutch West Indian Company exported 1500
The English African Company 1200
The Zealand interlopers as much as the Dutch, viz. 1500
The English interlopers about 1000 usually, which they have doubted 1000
The Brandenburghers and Danes together, in time of peace 1000
The Portuguese and French, together 800
Which makes 7000
"For several years before Bosman's time, the Dutch export had been
reduced by one-half (750 marks). Mr. Wilson, however ('Western Africa,'
ch. iv.), is evidently in error, when he makes Bosman to estimate the
'amount of gold exported from the Gold Coast at 800 marks per annum.'"
[30] "Dr. Clarke ('Remarks,' &c.) gives 100,000 ounces. This was the
calculation of Mr. Swanzy before a Parliamentary committee in 1816.
Of course it is impossible to arrive at any clear estimate. Allowing
the African Steam Ship Company a maximum of 4000 ounces per month, we
obtain from that source 48,000 ounces. But considerable quantities are
exported in merchant ships, more especially for the American market.
Whilst, therefore, some reduce the total to 60,000 ounces, others raise
it to half a million of money."
[31] "Wásá has been worked both by Dutch and English; they chose,
however, sickly situations, brought out useless implements, and died.
The province is divided into eastern and western, and is said to be
governed by female chiefs--Amazons?"
[32] "Some years ago the late Consul Campbell, of Lagos, forwarded
to her Majesty's Foreign Office bits of broken pottery, in which he
detected gold. When submitted to the School of Mines, the glittering
particles proved to be mica."
[33] "Silver is also said to be found near the Niger, but of this I
have no reliable notices."
[34] "This may be the 'Runga' of our maps, with whose position Rúmá
corresponds. My informant wrote down the name from the mouth of a Waday
man at Lagos."
[35] "This would be 1/3500 (avoirdupois), whereas the cascalho, or
alluvium, of the Brazil is 1/15000, and remarkably rich and pyritical
ores in Europe give 1/20000. Yet M. d'Aubrie estimates the gold in the
bed of Father Rhine at six or seven millions, of pounds sterling."
[36] "May not this word be an old corruption of the well-known Arabic
weight, _miskál_?"
[37] "'Western Africa,' chap. x."