From the coast-line the land gradually upslopes towards the spurs
of the great dividing ridge; and thus we may fairly expect that the
further north we go the richer will become the diggings.
The Kong Mountains are apparently cut through by the Niger south of Iddah,
where the true coast begins. Travellers describe the features almost in
the words of Clapperton and Denham--the towering masses of granite which
contrast so strongly with the southern swamps; upstanding outcrops
resembling cathedrals and castellations in ruins; boulders like footballs
of enormous dimensions; pyramids a thousand feet high; and solitary cones
which rise like giant ninepins. We know too little of the lands lying
south-east of the confluence to determine the sequence of the chain, whose
counterforts may give rise to the Eastern 'Oil Rivers.' It is not
connected with the Peak of Camarones, round which Mr. Cumber, of the
Baptist Mission, travelled; and which he determined to be an isolated
block. Farther south the Ghauts of Western Africa reappeared as the Serra
do Crystal, and fringe the mighty triangle below the Equator. They are
suspected to be auriferous in places. An American merchant on the Gaboon
River, Captain Lawlin, carried home in 1843-44 a quantity of granular gold
brought to him by the country-traders.
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