Axim, the gate of this El Dorado, has not yet much reason to thank England for ruling her. A mean economy annually hoards from 20,000_l_. to 30,000_l_, [Footnote: In 1878 the revenue was 105,091_l_. and the expenditure 68,410_l_., and in other years the contrast was even greater. The omniscient 'Whittaker' tells us that in 1879 the figures stood at 54,908_l_. income versus an outlay of 46,281_l_.; and there was no debt.] forwarded to the colonial _caisse_, to be wasted upon 'little wars,' and similar miseries, instead of being spent upon local improvements. The unwholesome bush (the Dutch 'bosch') or wood, backed by the primaeval forest, surges up to the very doors. The little plank-bridges are out of repair, and the merchants will not supply the Government with new boards, save for ready money; otherwise payment may be delayed for a year. The highway to head-quarters, Cape Coast Castle, is a yellow thread streaking the green, a hunter's path trodden in the jungle. For 16_s_. 6_d_. a private messenger goes to and returns from the capital, a distance of eighty-two miles, in four or five days. The public post starts on Wednesdays, halts without reason between Fridays and Mondays at Sekondi (Seecondee), and consumes a week in the down-march. I have already noted the want of sanitation, the condition of the ammunition, and the absence of medical stores. It moves one's sense of the absurd to compare the desolate condition of the Goldland, which is to supply the money, with the civilised machinery in England which is to work it, companies and syndicates, shares, debentures, and what not. I have treated the subject of Axim with a minuteness that is almost 'porochial;' its future importance must be my excuse. The next chapter will show that we are truly in the Land of Gold, in an Old New California. And now to conclude this unpleasant account with the good words of old Barbot: 'Axim, in my opinion, is the most tempting of any on the coast of _Guinea_, taking one thing with another. You have there a perpetual greenness, which affords a comfortable shade against the scorching heat of the sun, under the lofty palm and other trees, planted about the village, with a sweet harmony of many birds of several sorts perching on them. The walk on the low flat strand along the seaside is no less pleasant at certain hours of the day; and from the platform of the fort is a most delightful prospect of the ocean and the many rocks and small islands about it.' CHAPTER XVI. GOLD ABOUT AXIM, ESPECIALLY AT THE APATIM OR BUJIA CONCESSION.