The King of Gyaman became
immensely rich by the produce of his mines; and, according to Bowdich, his
bed had steps of solid gold.
The reader will have gathered from the preceding pages that the negroes
have worked their gold-fields for centuries but to very little purpose.
Their want of pumps, of quartz-crushers, and of scientific appliances
generally, has limited their labour to scratching the top-soil and
nibbling at the reef-walls. A large proportion of the country is
practically virgin-ground, and a rich harvest has been left for European
science, energy, and enterprise.
The Fantis have many curious usages and superstitions which limit
production. As a rule nuggets are the royalty of kings and chiefs; but in
many places these 'mothers of gold' are re-buried, in order that gold may
grow from them. [Footnote: It was long supposed in Europe that alluvial
gold grew by a succession of layers imposed upon a solid nucleus, and by
the coalescence of grains as a snow-ball is constructed. Mr. Sellwyn still
holds that 'nuggets and particles of alluvial gold may gradually increase
by the deposition of metallic gold (analogous to the electroplating
process), from the meteoric waters that circulate through the
drifts.
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