Whenever the unshored pit caves in the accident has been caused by evil-minded ghosts, the kobolds of Germany, in which Cornwall till lately believed. Fetish then steps forward and forbids further search. Thus many of the richest placers have been closed. Such, for instance, is the Monte do Diabo (Devil's Hill), the native Mankwadi, [Footnote: Again, I cannot connect Mankwadi (or even Manquada) with 'Maquida or Azeb, Queen of Sheba'--the latter country probably lying in South Arabian Yemen.] near Winnebah, fifteen leagues east from Elmina. The miners were killed by the heat of the shafts, and the mine was at once placed 'in fetish.' But 'fetish' has now lost much of its authority; the Satanic hill will soon be exploited, and its only difficulty is its disputed ownership by 'Ghartey, King of Winnebah,' and 'Okill Ensah, King of Ejemakun.' These dignitaries condescend to advertise against each other in the local papers. At Ada (Addah), west of the Volta and in its neighbourhood, the Krobo Hills included, a beggar would be grossly insulted by the offer of a sovereign; he dashes it to earth, spitting upon it with wrath. The Ashantis, as the story runs, once dug treasure near Sakanya; and, as the chiefs and people were becoming too independent of them, the high priests put the precious metal 'in fetish,' with the penalty of blindness to all who worked it. A Danish governor once filled his pockets, and recovered sight only by throwing away the plunder. A brother of the Ada chief offered to show this magic-fenced placer to the late Mr. Nicol Irvine, _moyennant_ the trifle of 50_l_. The transaction reminded me of the Hindu alchemist who asks you ten rupees to make a ton of gold. As regards the gold-supply of this El Dorado, the Gold Coast, it has been estimated that the total since A.D. 1471 amounted to six or seven hundred millions of pounds sterling. Elmina alone, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, annually exported, according to Bosman, 3,000,000_l_. At a later period Mr. McQueen increased the figures to 3,400,000_l_. Then came the abolition of slavery, which caused the decline and fall of mining-industry amongst the natives. In 1816 the export was reduced to 400,000_l_. (=100,000 ounces), a figure repeated in 1860 by Dr. Eobert Olarke; and in 1862 the amount was variously reported at 192,000_l_. (= 48,000 ounces) and half a million of money. The following proportions were given to me by M. Dahse. Till 1870 the figures are computed by him; after that date the value is declared;--[Footnote: _Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom._ Eyre and Spottiswoode. London, 1881.] 1866 1867 1868 1869 120,333_l_. 146,182_l_ 118,875_l_. 100,214_l_. 1870 1871 1872 116,142_l_. 137,328_l_. 108,869_l_. Now began the notable falling-off, which reached its maximum next year:--