The whole land is impregnated with the precious metal. I find it richer in sedimentary gold than California was in 1859. Immediately behind the main square of Axim a bank of red clay leads eastward to a shallow depression, the old valley of the Besaon, a swamp during the rains backed by rising and forested ground to the east. On the inland versant a narrow native shaft has been sunk for gold by Mr. Sam, now native agent under Mr. Crocker. We pounded and panned the rock, which yielded about twopence per 2 lbs., or one ounce to the ton. Observing its strike, we concluded that it must extend through Mr. Irvine's property. Throughout the Gold Coast auriferous reefs ran north-south, with easting rather than westing; the deviation varies from 5º west to 15º-22º east; and I have heard of, but not seen, a strike of north-east (45º) to south-west. This confirms the 'meridional hypothesis' of Professor Sedgwick, who stated, 'As some of the great physical agencies of the earth are meridional, these agencies may probably, in a way we do not comprehend, have influenced the deposit of metals on certain lines of bearing.' We may also observe that all the great mineral chains of the old and new world are meridional rather than longitudinal, striking from north-east to south-west. The geologist's theory, combined with the knowledge that the noble metal is 'chiefly found among palaeozoic rocks of a quartzose type,' is practically valuable on the Gold Coast. Every mound or hillock of red clay contains one or more quartz-reefs, generally outcropping, but sometimes buried in the subsoils. They can always be struck by a cross-cut trending east-west. The dip is exceedingly irregular: some lodes are almost vertical, and others quasi-horizontal.