On the other
hand, the conduct of the women was admirable; as the conqueror said in the
Mansion House, he hardly wondered at the King of Dahome keeping up a corps
of 'Amazons.' I shall presently return to the gold-mines.
At Lagos M. Colonna, Consular Agent for France, informs me that by his
firm alone 600 hands are wanted for field-service, and that the number
might rise to a thousand. He would also be glad to hire artisans,
blacksmiths and carpenters, masons and market-gardeners. The Yorubas from
the upper country, who will engage for three years, demand from a franc to
a shilling per diem, rations not given. Labour ranges from sixteen to
twenty-four francs per mensem; and coolies could not command more than
twenty-five francs, including 'subsistence.' Here Kruboys are much used.
M. Colonna pays his first-class per mensem $5 (each =5 francs 20
centimes), his second class $4, and his third $3. Returning to the Gold
Coast, I find two classes of working men, the country-people and the
Kruboys: the Sierra Leonites are too few to be taken into consideration.
At present, when there are only five working mines, none of which are
properly manned, labour is plentiful and cheap.
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