'--_Gold Fields of Victoria_, p. 357.] I have noted that a smoke,
or thin vapour, guides to the unknown placer, and that white gold causes a
mine to be abandoned. Rich ground is denoted by a peculiar vegetation,
especially of ferns. Gold is guarded here not by a dragon, but by a
monstrous baboon; and when golden dogs are found the finder dies. In 1862
I visited with Major de Ruvignes Great Sankanya, a village west of the
Volta, where a large gold-field was reported. As we drew near the spot we
were told that the precious metal appears during the 'yam-customs,' and
that only prayers, sacrifices, and presents to the fetish will make it
visible. Presently we saw a white rag on a pole, which the dark youth, our
guide, called a 'sign,' and groaned out that it would surely slay us. A
woman, whose white and black beads showed a 'religious,' pointed to a
place where gold is 'common as ashes after a fire'--the priest being first
paid. The report of this excursion spread to Akra; Major de Ruvignes had
taken up in his arms a golden dog, and at once fell dead. I can hardly
connect the superstition with old Anubis.
Whenever the unshored pit caves in the accident has been caused by
evil-minded ghosts, the kobolds of Germany, in which Cornwall till lately
believed.
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