To The Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative. Vol. IIBurton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
To The Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative. Vol. II
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Ghana -- Description and travel; Gold mines and mining -- Ghana
1873 1874 1875 1876
77,523_l_. 136,263_l_. 117,321_l_. 145,511_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880
120,542_l_ 122,497_l_. 115,167_l_. 125,980_l_.
M. Dahse assumes the annual average to be in round numbers, 126,000_l_.
The official returns of imported silver from the Coast show:--
1872 1873 1874 1875 1876
7,074_l_. 6,841_l_. 40,964_l_. 23,587_l_. 21,667_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880
10,905_l_. 41,254_l_. 61,755_l_. 63,337_l_.
Totals of gold and silver:--
1872 1873 1874 1875 1876
115,943_l_. 84,364_l_. 177,227_l_. 140,908_l_. 167,178_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880
131,447_l_. 163,751_l_. 176,922_l_. 189,317_l_.
I was lately asked by an illustrious geologist and man of science, how it
came to pass that the Gold Coast, if so rich, has not been worked before
this time. These notes will afford a sufficient reply.
_b. The Kong Mountains._
This range, which has almost disappeared from the maps, may have taken its
name either from the town of Kong on the southern versant, or it may be a
contraction of the Kongkodu, the mountain-land described by Mungo Park.
Messieurs J. Zweifel and M. Moustier, [Footnote: _Expedition, C. A.
Verminck, Voyage aux Sources du Niger_. Marseille, 1880.] who did not
reach the Niger sources in 1879, explain 'Kong' as the Kissi name of the
line which trends from north-west to south-east, and which divides
Koronko-land from Kono-land. When nearing their objective they sighted the
Kong-apex, Mount Daro, measuring 1,240 metres. Older travellers make it a
latitudinal chain running nearly east-west, with its centre about the
meridian of Cape Coast Castle, and extending 500 to 600 miles on a
parallel of north latitude 7º-8º. Westward it bends north behind Cape
Palmas, and, like the Ghauts of Hindostan, follows the line of seaboard. I
have before noticed the traditions of Mount Geddia, an occidental
Kilima-njaro. About the parallel of Sierra Leone the feature splits into a
network of ranges, curves, and zigzags, which show no general trend. The
eastern faces here shed to the Niger, the western to the various streams
between the Rokel-Seli, the Gambia, and the Senegal; and the last northern
counterforts sink into the Sahara Desert. The western versant supplies the
gold of Senegambia, the southern that of Ashanti and Wasa. The superficial
dust is washed down by rains, floods, and rivers; and the dykes and veins
of quartz, mostly running north-south, are apparently connected with those
of the main range.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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