This is peculiarly
women's work, and some are well known to be better panners than others;
they refuse to use salt-water, because, they say, it will not draw out the
gold.
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 5? west to 15?-22? east; and I have heard of, but
not seen, a strike of north-east (45?) 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.
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