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
Sensense is a dark man, apparently on the wrong side of fifty. His grizzly
beard, grown comparatively long, his closely-trimmed mustachios, and his
head-cloth, worn like a turban, made me take him at first sight for a
Moslem. He has a cunning eye, which does not belie his reputation. His fad
is to take money and to do no work for it; he now wants us to pay for the
clearing of an uncleared path. The villagers fear him on account of
certain fetish-practices which, in plain English, mean poison; and he
keeps up their awe by everywhere displaying the outward signs of magic and
sorcery. A man with this gift can rise at night when all sleep; cast off
his body like a snake's slough; become a _loup-garou_; shoot flames from
eyes and ears, nose, mouth, and arm-pits; walk with his head on the ground
and kill man either by drinking his blood or by catching his _kra_
(_umbra_), which he boils and devours. Here the sign of 'fetish' is mostly
the _koro_, or pot full of rubbish. At Axim and Akankon we shall find our
chief a mighty bore, each visit being equivalent to a bottle of gin.
After a restful sleep in the cool and pleasant air of Apatim, we proceeded
to visit the valley east of the settlement, despite Sensense's warning
that the ground was 'fetish.' He had made the same objection to M. Bonnat,
his evident object being to keep the rich placer for private use or for
further sale. There are evil reports about the origin of the Frenchman's
fatal illness after disregarding this and similar warnings. The deep and
steep-banked depression runs north-south, and is apparently the head of
the Bujia stream. The vegetation, especially near the water, which flows
some 300 feet below the village, was exceedingly dense and tangled, except
where the ground had been cleared for bananas, maize, or ground-nuts. The
bottom, especially at the sharp corners, gave the idea of exceeding
richness; and there were many old works apparently deserted. The
'fetish-pot' stood everywhere, filled with oil, water, and palm-wine,
leaves, cowries, eggs, and all manner of filth. This stuff, stirred by the
_komfo_ diviner, answers questions and enables man to soothsay. It also
corresponds with the _obeah_ of the West Indies, the _ubio_ of the Efik
race, a charm put into the ground to hurt or kill. How hot the rich hole
was! What a perspiration and what a thirst came out of the climb!
In the evening we walked about half a mile to the south-west of the
village, and prospected the central shaft, whence the measurements were
made. Here it is sunk in a western reef, palpably running parallel with
the eastern, which we first inspected. And this visit gave us a fair idea
of the property. It consists of at least three ridges of clay running from
north to south, and each containing one or more meridional walls of
quartz. Some of the latter may turn out to be 'master lodes.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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