' Two branch paths
lead up to it from the main line of road. Near the western is a place
chosen as a cemetery for Europeans; as usual it is neglected and overgrown
with bush.
Presently I arrived at the village of Abosu, a walk of about two hours
from the Takwa mine. Ten months ago it contained forty to fifty head of
negroes; now it may number 3,000, although the May emigration had begun,
when the workmen return to their homes, being unable to labour in the
flooded flats. There was the hum of a busy, buzzing crowd, sinking pits
and shafts, some in the very streets and outside their own doors. This
alluvial bed must be one of the richest in the country; and it is wholly
native property under King Angu, of Apinto. There is little to describe in
the village; every hut is a kind of store, where the most poisonous of
intoxicants, the stinkingest of pomatum, and the gaudiest of
pocket-handkerchiefs are offered as the prizes for striking gold. There
are also a few goldsmiths' shops, where the precious metal is adulterated
and converted to coarse, rude ornaments. The people are able 'fences,' and
powder, fuses, and mining-tools easily melt into strong waters.
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