A Danish governor once filled his pockets, and recovered
sight only by throwing away the plunder. A brother of the Ada chief
offered to show this magic-fenced placer to the late Mr. Nicol Irvine,
_moyennant_ the trifle of 50_l_. The transaction reminded me of the Hindu
alchemist who asks you ten rupees to make a ton of gold.
As regards the gold-supply of this El Dorado, the Gold Coast, it has been
estimated that the total since A.D. 1471 amounted to six or seven hundred
millions of pounds sterling. Elmina alone, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, annually exported, according to Bosman, 3,000,000_l_.
At a later period Mr. McQueen increased the figures to 3,400,000_l_. Then
came the abolition of slavery, which caused the decline and fall of
mining-industry amongst the natives. In 1816 the export was reduced to
400,000_l_. (=100,000 ounces), a figure repeated in 1860 by Dr. Eobert
Olarke; and in 1862 the amount was variously reported at 192,000_l_. (=
48,000 ounces) and half a million of money.
The following proportions were given to me by M. Dahse. Till 1870 the
figures are computed by him; after that date the value is
declared;--[Footnote: _Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416