Beyond this settlement is a fine quartz hill, round the northern edge of
which the path winds to the little Kwansakru. This is a woman's village,
where the wives of chiefs who have mining-rights, accompanied by their
slaves, are stationed, to pan gold for their lazy husbands. In this way
may have arisen the vulgar African story of Amazon settlements. Messieurs
Zweifel and Moustier [Footnote: _Voyage_, &c., p. 115.] were told by a
Kissi man that twelve marches behind their country is a large town called
Nahalo, occupied only by the weaker sex. A man showing himself in the
streets, or met on the road, is at once put to death; however, some of the
softer-hearted have kept them prisoners, and the result may easily be
divined. All the male issue is killed and only the girls are kept.
Many large 'women's washings' of old date give us a hint how the country
should be worked. All along the line of the Aunabe white sands, the
tailings of natural sluices, have been deposited; the black sand sinking
by its own weight. I was unable to find out the extent of the French
concessions, and look forward to the coming day of compulsory definition
of boundaries and registration in Government offices.
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