_Of Gold-dust, and the Manner in which it is collected. — Process
of Washing it. — Its Value in Africa. — Of Ivory. — Surprise of
the Negroes at the Eagerness of the Europeans for this Commodity. —
Scattered Teeth frequently picked up in the Woods. — Mode of Hunting
the Elephant. — Some Reflections on the unimproved State of the
Country, &c._
Those valuable commodities, gold and ivory (the next objects of our
inquiry) have probably been found in Africa from the first ages of
the world. They are reckoned among its most important productions in
the earliest records of its history.
It has been observed, that gold is seldom or never discovered, except
in _mountainous_ and _barren_ countries: Nature, it is said, thus
making amends in one way, for her penuriousness in the other. This,
however, is not wholly true. Gold is found in considerable quantities
throughout every part of Manding; a country which is indeed hilly,
but cannot properly be called _mountainous_, much less _barren_. It is
also found in great plenty in Jallonkadoo (particularly about Boori),
another hilly, but by no means an infertile country. It is remarkable,
that in the place last mentioned (Boori), which is situated about
four days’ journey to the south-west of Kamalia, the salt market is
often supplied, at the same time, with rock-salt from the Great Desert,
and sea-salt from the Rio Grande; the price of each, at this distance
from its source, being nearly the same; and the dealers in each,
whether Moors from the north, or Negroes from the west, are invited
thither by the same motives, that of bartering their salt for gold.
The gold of Manding, so far as I could learn, is never found in any
matrix or vein, but always in small grains, nearly in a pure state,
from the size of a pin’s head, to that of a pea; scattered through
a large body of sand or clay; and in this state, it is called by the
Mandingoes _sanoo munko_, “gold powder.” It is, however, extremely
probable, by what I could learn of the situation of the ground, that,
most of it has originally been washed down by repeated torrents
from the neighbouring hills. The manner in which it is collected,
is nearly as follows:
About the beginning of December, when the harvest is over, and the
streams and torrents have greatly subsided, the Mansa, or chief of the
town, appoints a day to begin _sanoo koo_, “gold washing;” and the
women are sure to have themselves in readiness by the time appointed. A
paddle, or spade, for digging up the sand, two or three calabashes
for washing it in, and a few quills for containing the gold dust, are
all the implements necessary for the purpose. On the morning of their
departure, a bullock is killed for the first day’s entertainment,
and a number of prayers and charms are used to ensure success; for
a failure on that day, is thought a bad omen. The Mansa of Kamalia,
with fourteen of his people, were I remember so much disappointed in
their first day’s washing, that very few of them had resolution to
persevere; and the few that did, had but very indifferent success;
which indeed, is not much to be wondered at; for instead of opening
some untried place, they continued to dig and wash in the same spot
where they had dug and washed for years; and where, of course, but
few large grains could be left.
The washing the sands of the streams, is by far the easiest way of
obtaining the gold-dust; but in most places the sands have been so
narrowly searched before, that unless the stream takes some new course,
the gold is found but in small quantities. While some of the party
are busied in washing the sands, others employ themselves farther up
the torrent, where the rapidity of the stream has carried away all the
clay, sand, &c. and left nothing but small pebbles. The search among
these is a very troublesome task. I have seen women who have had the
skin worn off the tops of their fingers in this employment. Sometimes,
however, they are rewarded by finding pieces of gold, which they call
_sanoo birro_, “gold stones,” that amply repay them for their
trouble. A woman and her daughter, inhabitants of Kamalia, found in
one day two pieces of this kind; one of five drachms, and the other
of three drachms weight. But the most certain and profitable mode of
washing, is practised in the height of the dry season, by digging
a deep pit, like a draw-well, near some hill which has previously
been discovered to contain gold. The pit is dug with small spades or
corn paddles, and the earth is drawn up in large calabashes. As the
Negroes dig through the different strata of clay or sand, a calabash
or two of each is washed, by way of experiment; and in this manner
the labourers proceed, until they come to a stratum containing gold;
or until they are obstructed by rocks, or inundated by water. In
general, when they come to a stratum of fine reddish sand, with small
black specks therein, they find gold, in some proportion or other,
and send up large calabashes full of the sand, for the women to wash;
for though the pit is dug by the men, the gold is always washed by the
women, who are accustomed from their infancy to a similar operation,
in separating the husks of corn from the meal.
As I never descended into any one of these pits, I cannot say in what
manner they are worked under ground. Indeed, the situation in which
I was placed, made it necessary for me to be cautious not to incur
the suspicion of the natives, by examining too far into the riches of
their country; but the manner of separating the gold from the sand,
is very simple, and is frequently performed by the women in the middle
of the town; for when the searchers return from the valleys in the
evening, they commonly bring with them each a calabash or two of sand,
to be washed by such of the females as remain at home. The operation
is simply as follows.
A portion of sand or clay (for the gold is sometimes found in a
brown coloured clay), is put into a large calabash, and mixed with
a sufficient quantity of water. The woman, whose office it is, then
shakes the calabash in such a manner, as to mix the sand and water
together, and give the whole a rotatory motion; at first gently,
but afterwards more quick, until a small portion of sand and water,
at every revolution, flies over the brim of the calabash. The sand
thus separated, is only the coarsest particles mixed with a little
muddy water. After the operation has been continued for some time,
the sand is allowed to subside, and the water poured off; a portion of
coarse sand which is now uppermost in the calabash, is removed by the
hand, and fresh water being added, the operation is repeated until the
water comes off almost pure. The woman now takes a second calabash, and
shakes the sand and water gently from the one to the other, reserving
that portion of sand which is next the bottom of the calabash, and
which is most likely to contain the gold. This small quantity is
mixed with some pure water, and being moved about in the calabash,
is carefully examined. If a few particles of gold are picked out,
the contents of the other calabash are examined in the same manner;
but, in general, the party is well contented, if she can obtain three
or four grains from the contents of both calabashes. Some women,
however, by long practice, become so well acquainted with the nature
of the sand, and the mode of washing it, that they will collect gold,
where others cannot find a single particle. The gold dust is kept in
quills, stopt up with cotton; and the washers are fond of displaying
a number of these quills in their hair. Generally speaking, if a
person uses common diligence, in a proper soil, it is supposed that
as much gold may be collected by him in the course of the dry season,
as is equal to the value of two slaves.
Thus simple is the process by which the Negroes obtain gold in Manding;
and it is evident, from this account, that the country contains a
considerable portion of this precious metal; for many of the smaller
particles must necessarily escape the observation of the naked eye; and
as the natives generally search the sands of streams at a considerable
distance from the hills, and consequently far removed from the mines
where the gold was originally produced, the labourers are sometimes
but ill paid for their trouble. Minute particles only, of this heavy
metal, can be carried by the current to any considerable distance; the
larger must remain deposited near the original source from whence they
came. Were the gold-bearing streams to be traced to their fountains;
and the hills from whence they spring, properly examined, the sand in
which the gold is there deposited would, no doubt, be found to contain
particles of a much larger size;[23] and even the small grains might
be collected to considerable advantage by the use of quicksilver, and
other improvements, with which the natives are at present unacquainted.
Part of this gold is converted into ornaments for the women, but,
in general, these ornaments are more to be admired for their weight,
than their workmanship. They are massy and inconvenient, particularly
the ear-rings, which are commonly so heavy as to pull down and lacerate
the lobe of the ear; to avoid which they are supported by a thong of
red leather, which passes over the crown of the head from one ear
to the other. The necklace displays greater fancy; and the proper
arrangement of the different beads and plates of gold, is the great
criterion of taste and elegance. When a lady of consequence is in
full dress, her gold ornaments may be worth altogether, from fifty
to eighty pounds sterling.
A small quantity of gold is likewise employed by the Slatees, in
defraying the expences of their journies to and from the Coast;
but by far the greater proportion is annually carried away by the
Moors in exchange for salt, and other merchandize. During my stay at
Kamalia, the gold collected by the different traders at that place,
for salt alone, was nearly equal to one hundred and ninety-eight
pounds sterling; and as Kamalia is but a small town, and not much
resorted to by the trading Moors, this quantity must have borne a
very small proportion to the gold collected at Kancaba, Kankaree, and
some other large towns. The value of salt in this part of Africa is
very great. One slab, about two feet and a half in length, fourteen
inches in breadth, and two inches in thickness, will sometimes sell
for about two pounds ten shillings sterling, and from one pound
fifteen shillings, to two pounds, may be considered as the common
price. Four of these slabs are considered as a load for an ass,
and six for a bullock. The value of European merchandize in Manding
varies very much, according to the supply from the Coast, or the dread
of war in the country; but the return for such articles is commonly
made in slaves. The price of a prime slave when I was at Kamalia,
was from _nine_ to _twelve_ minkallies, and European commodities had
then nearly the following value:
18 gun flints, }
}
48 leaves of tobacco, }
} one minkalli.
20 charges of gunpowder, }
}
A cutlass, }
A musket, from three to four minkallies.
The produce of the country, and the different necessaries of life,
when exchanged for gold, sold as follows:
Common provisions for one day, the weight of one _teelee-kissi_
(a black bean, six of which make the weight of one minkalli;)—a
chicken, one teelee-kissi—a sheep three teelee-kissi—a bullock
one minkalli—a horse from ten to seventeen minkallies.
The Negroes weigh the gold in small balances, which they always
carry about them. They make no difference in point of value,
between gold dust and wrought gold. In bartering one article for
another, the person who receives the gold, always weighs it with his
own teelee-kissi. These beans are sometimes fraudulently soaked in
Shea-butter, to make them heavy; and I once saw a pebble ground exactly
into the form of one of them; but such practices are not very common.
Having now related the substance of what occurs to my recollection
concerning the African mode of obtaining gold from the earth, and its
value in barter, I proceed to the next article, of which I proposed
to treat, namely, _ivory_.
Nothing creates a greater surprise among the Negroes on the sea
coast, than the eagerness displayed by the European traders to
procure elephants’ teeth; it being exceedingly difficult to make
them comprehend to what use it is applied. Although they are shewn
knives with ivory hafts, combs, and toys of the same material,
and are convinced that the ivory thus manufactured, was originally
parts of a tooth, they are not satisfied. They suspect that this
commodity is more frequently converted in Europe, to purposes of far
greater importance; the true nature of which is studiously concealed
from them, lest the price of ivory should be enhanced. They cannot,
they say, easily persuade themselves, that ships would be built,
and voyages undertaken, to procure an article, which had no other
value than that of furnishing handles to knives, &c. when pieces of
wood would answer the purpose equally well.
Elephants are very numerous in the interior of Africa, but they appear
to be a distinct species from those found in Asia. Blumenbach, in
his figures of objects of natural history, has given good drawings
of a grinder of each; and the variation is evident. M. Cuvier also
has given, in the _Magazin Encyclopedique_, a clear account of the
difference between them. As I never examined the Asiatic elephant,
I have chosen rather to refer to those writers, than advance this
as an opinion of my own. It has been said, that the African elephant
is of a less docile nature than the Asiatic, and incapable of being
tamed. The Negroes certainly do not at present tame them; but when
we consider that the Carthaginians had always tame elephants in
their armies, and actually transported some of them to Italy in the
course of the Punic wars; it seems more likely that they should have
possessed the art of taming their own elephants, than have submitted
to the expence of bringing such vast animals from Asia. Perhaps,
the barbarous practice of hunting the African elephants for the sake
of their teeth, has rendered them more untractable and savage, than
they were found to be in former times.
The greater part of the ivory which is sold on the Gambia, and Senegal
rivers, is brought from the interior country. The lands towards
the Coast are too swampy, and too much intersected with creeks and
rivers, for so bulky an animal as the elephant to travel through,
without being discovered; and when once the natives discern the
marks of his feet in the earth, the whole village is up in arms. The
thoughts of feasting on his flesh, making sandals of his hide, and
selling the teeth to the Europeans, inspire every one with courage;
and the animal seldom escapes from his pursuers; but in the plains
of Bambarra and Kaarta, and the extensive wilds of Jallonkadoo,
the elephants are very numerous; and, from the great scarcity of
gunpowder in those districts, they are less annoyed by the natives.
Scattered teeth are frequently picked up in the woods, and travellers
are very diligent in looking for them. It is a common practice with
the elephant, to thrust his teeth under the roots of such shrubs and
bushes as grow in the more dry and elevated parts of the country, where
the soil is shallow. These bushes he easily overturns, and feeds on
the roots, which are, in general, more tender and juicy than the hard
woody branches, or the foliage; but when the teeth are partly decayed
by age, and the roots more firmly fixed, the great exertions of the
animal, in this practice, frequently causes them to break short. At
Kamalia I saw two teeth; one, a very large one; which were found in
the woods, and which were evidently broken off in this manner. Indeed
it is difficult otherwise to account for such a large proportion of
broken ivory, as is daily offered for sale, at the different factories;
for when the elephant is killed in hunting, unless he dashes himself
over a precipice, the teeth are always extracted entire.
There are certain seasons of the year when the elephants collect into
large herds, and traverse the country in quest of food or water;
and as all that part of the country to the north of the Niger, is
destitute of rivers, whenever the pools in the woods are dried up,
the elephants approach towards the banks of that river. Here, they
continue until the commencement of the rainy season, in the months
of June or July; and during this time they are much hunted by such of
the Bambarrans as have gunpowder to spare. The elephant hunters seldom
go out singly: a party of four or five join together; and having each
furnished himself with powder and ball, and a quantity of corn-meal in
a leather bag, sufficient for five or six days provision, they enter
the most unfrequented parts of the wood, and examine with great care
every thing that can lead to the discovery of the elephants. In this
pursuit, notwithstanding the bulk of the animal, very great nicety of
observation is required. The broken branches, the scattered dung of the
animal, and the marks of his feet, are carefully inspected; and many
of the hunters have, by long experience and attentive observation,
become so expert in their search, that as soon as they observe the
footmarks of an elephant, they will tell almost to a certainty at
what time it passed, and at what distance it will be found.
When they discover a herd of elephants, they follow them at a distance,
until they perceive some one stray from the rest, and come into
such a situation as to be fired at, with advantage. The hunters then
approach with great caution, creeping amongst the long grass, until
they have got near enough to be sure of their aim. They then discharge
all their pieces at once, and throw themselves on their faces among
the grass. The wounded elephant immediately applies his trunk to the
different wounds, but being unable to extract the balls, and seeing
nobody near him, becomes quite furious, and runs about amongst the
bushes, until by fatigue and loss of blood he has exhausted himself,
and affords the hunters an opportunity of firing a second time at him,
by which he is generally brought to the ground.
The skin is now taken off, and extended on the ground with pegs,
to dry; and such parts of the flesh as are most esteemed, are cut up
into thin slices, and dried in the sun, to serve for provisions on some
future occasion. The teeth are struck out with a light hatchet, which
the hunters always carry along with them; not only for that purpose,
but also to enable them to cut down such trees as contain honey;
for though they carry with them only five or six days provisions,
they will remain in the woods for months, if they are successful;
and support themselves upon the flesh of such elephants as they kill,
and wild honey.
The ivory thus collected, is seldom brought down to the Coast by the
hunters themselves. They dispose of it to the itinerant merchants, who
come annually from the Coast with arms and ammunition, to purchase this
valuable commodity. Some of these merchants will collect ivory in the
course of one season, sufficient to load four or five asses. A great
quantity of ivory is likewise brought from the interior, by the slave
coffles; there are, however, some Slatees, of the Mahomedan persuasion,
who, from motives of religion, will not deal in ivory; nor eat of
the flesh of the elephant, unless it has been killed with a spear.
The quantity of ivory collected in this part of Africa, is not so
great, nor are the teeth in general so large as in the countries nearer
the Line: few of them weigh more than eighty, or one hundred pounds;
and, upon an average, a bar of European merchandise may be reckoned
as the price of a pound of ivory.
I have now, I trust, in this and the preceding Chapters, explained
with sufficient minuteness, the nature and extent of the commercial
connection which at present prevails, and has long subsisted, between
the Negro natives of those parts of Africa which I visited, and
the nations of Europe; and it appears, that slaves, gold, and ivory,
together with the few articles enumerated in the beginning of my work,
_viz._ bees-wax and honey, hides, gums, and dye woods, constitute
the whole catalogue of exportable commodities. Other productions,
however, have been incidentally noticed as the growth of Africa;
such as grain of different kinds, tobacco, indigo, cotton-wool, and
perhaps a few others; but of all these (which can only be obtained by
cultivation and labour), the natives raise sufficient only for their
own immediate expenditure; nor, under the present system of their laws,
manners, trade and government, can any thing farther be expected from
them. It cannot, however, admit of a doubt, that all the rich and
valuable productions, both of the East and West Indies, might easily
be naturalized, and brought to the utmost perfection, in the tropical
parts of this immense continent. Nothing is wanting to this end,
but example, to enlighten the minds of the natives; and instruction,
to enable them to direct their industry to proper objects. It was not
possible for me to behold the wonderful fertility of the soil, the
vast herds of cattle, proper both for labour and food, and a variety
of other circumstances favourable to colonization and agriculture;
and reflect, withal, on the means which presented themselves of a vast
inland navigation, without lamenting that a country, so abundantly
gifted and favoured by nature, should remain in its present savage
and neglected state. Much more did I lament, that a people of manners
and dispositions so gentle and benevolent, should either be left as
they now are, immersed in the gross and uncomfortable blindness of
pagan superstition, or permitted to become converts to a system of
bigotry and fanaticism; which, without enlightening the mind, often
debases the heart. On this subject many observations might be made;
but the reader will probably think that I have already digressed too
largely; and I now, therefore, return to my situation at Kamalia.
[Footnote 23: I am informed that the gold mine, as it is called,
in Wicklow, in Ireland, which was discovered in the year 1795, is
near the top, and upon the steep slope, of a mountain. Here, pieces
of gold of several ounces weight were frequently found. What would
have been gold-dust two miles below, was here golden gravel; that is,
each grain was like a small pebble in size, and one piece was found
which weighed near twenty-two ounces troy.]