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
'But education from the point I allude to is that practical education
which develops the man and makes him what he is, not the education which
makes him simply the blind imitator of what he is not. Of course the
education, as originally introduced into the colony, was an experiment,
and a grand experiment it was. They said, "There are these people, and we
will educate them as ourselves." It was a good idea, but it was defective,
because there is as great a difference between the negro and the white man
as there can be. He is capable of doing anything that the white man can
do; but then, to get him to do that, you must educate him in himself. You
must bring him out by himself: you must not educate him otherwise. He must
be educated to carry out a proper and distinct course for himself. The
complaint has been general of the want of success in the education of the
negro; but it is not his fault: the fault is from the defect of his
education. He fancies, by the sort of education which you give him, that
he must imitate you in everything--act like you, dress in broadcloth like
you, and have his tall black hat like you. Then you see the result is that
he is not himself; he confuses himself, and when he comes to act within
himself as a man he is confused, and you find fault that he has not
improved as he ought to do. But if he is properly educated you will find
him of far greater assistance to you than you have any idea of.'
The remarks on agriculture and on capital were equally apposite; and
Captain Cameron remarked that these were the 'truest words of wisdom about
Africa that it ever was his lot to hear.' They will leave a sweet savour
in the reader's mouth after a somewhat acid chapter.
But the ingrained idleness of generations is not so easily cleared away.
The real cure for Sa Leone will be an immigration of Chinese or of Indian
coolies, that will cheapen labour and enable men of capital to farm on a
large scale. It may be years before agriculture supplants trade with its
light work and ready profits; but the supplanting process itself will do
good. At present Sa Leone finds it cheaper to import salt from England
than to lay out a salina, and to make an article of commerce which finds
its way into the furthest interior. Immigration, I repeat, is the sole
panacea for the evils which afflict the Lioness Range.
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM SA LEONE TO CAPE PALMAS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
To The Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative. Vol. II — John Shaqi
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