Many of the
little streams run between steep banks, and in the rainy season mud and
water combine to make the line impracticable. Yet there is nothing to
stand in the way of a cheap tram; and perhaps this would cost less and
keep better than a metalled road. The twisting of the track, 'without
rhyme or reason,' reminded me of the snakiest paths in Central Africa. Our
course, as the map shows, was in every quadrant of the compass except the
south-western.
On our left or north ran the Aunabe, M. Dahse's Ahunabe, [Footnote: M.
Dahse's paper, _Die Goldkueste_ (Geog. Soc. of Bremen, vol. ii., 1882), has
been ably translated by Mr. H. Bruce Walker, jun., of the India Store
Depot.] the northern fork of the Abonsa, which falls into the right bank
below Apankru. It has a fine assortment of mixed rapids, which show well
during the floods. Hills of the usual quartz blocks, gravels, sand, and
clay lead, after 1 hr. 40 min. walking and collecting, at the rate of two
geographical miles an hour, to Mr. Crocker's second set of huts. They were
built on a level for shelter and resting-places before Apankru was in
existence, and were baptised 'Sierra Leone' by emigrants from the white
man's grave and the black man's Garden of Eden.
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