No amount of European surveillance will suffice to
prevent free gold in stone being stolen. Hence the question will arise
whether, despite the price of transport, reduction in England will not pay
better.
The Kruboys in the north and the Kabinda boys in the south have been
described as the Irishmen of West Africa: they certainly do the most work;
and trading-ships would find it almost impossible to trade without them.
During the last twenty years they have not improved in efficiency even on
board men-of-war. In 1861-65 the gangs with their headmen willingly
engaged for three years. Now they enlist only for a year; they carefully
keep tallies, and after the tenth monthly cut they begin to apply for
leave. Thus the men's services are lost just as they are becoming
valuable. It is the same with the Accra-men. When the mines learn the
simple lesson _l'union fait la force_ they will combine not to engage
Krumen for less than two years.
There are two great centres at which Kruboys are hired. The first is
Sierra Leone, where they demand from all employers what the
mail-steamers pay--the headmen half-a-crown and the hands a shilling a
day besides rations.
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