We now reach the Gold Coast proper, which amply deserves its glorious
golden name. I have shown that the whole seaboard of West Africa, between
it and Morocco, produces more or less gold; here, however, the precious
metal comes down to the very shore and is washed upon the sands. Its
length from the Assini boundary-line to the Volta [Footnote: Chapter XIV.
I would not assert that gold is not found east of the Volta River. M.
Colonna, of Lagos, told me that he had good reason to suspect its presence
on the seaboard of Dahome, and promised me to make further enquiries.] has
been laid down at 220 direct geographical miles by a depth of about 100.
The area of the Protectorate, which has been a British colony since 1874,
is assumed to be 16,620 instead of 24,500 square miles, and the population
may exceed half a million. Its surface is divided into twelve petty
kingdoms; and its strand is studded with forts and ruins of forts, a total
of twenty-five, or one to every eight miles. This small section of West
Africa poured a flood of gold into Europe; and, until the mineral
discoveries of California and Australia, it continued to be the principal
source of supply to the civilised world.
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