The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-09-16
AFRICA'S GOLD FIELDS.

The genuine pioneer loves a certain
condition of life and elements of danger
without which living is TO him an empty
void. He is contented in his lonely cabin
until half dozen neighbors gather with
in as many miles, and then he feels he
must move on to get more room and have
game undisturbed by advancing civiliza
ton. So the hardy gold hunter finds that
with bushes methods have stripped Cal
ifornia of its romance and spirit OF adj
venture, and he looks for new fields where
unadulterated adventure, wildness of
scene and plenty of shining dust or the
lonely nuggets can be found. Prosalc
law and order have too much sway In
Australia, and he naturally turns TO the
wonders Of the dark continent, from
which come whispers of piles of the
longed for metal, and surrounded with
enough of danger and uncertainty to suit
even the morbid thirst of a monomaniac.
His dream. point to the gold fields of
Bourc, soms.600 miles from the west coast
of Africa, as Freetown or at Sierra Leone.
The chief city is Sego, from which
come wonderful stories of riches aud
treasures, sostly gold, belonging to the
royal family of the land. Within this
city is said 90 be a small house, constant
ly guarded which is filed with the gold
gathered by the different chiefs during
the past two hundred years. The object
OF the Frdnch invasion of the country
WAS said TO be the possession of the
wealth thus gathered in pile. The
country is wild and billy and full of
mines of gold, the metal being found
both in the hills and on the plains. The
natives have only a very indefinite idea of
the extent and importance of the deposits,
but when yards or houses are swept the
dirt is saved and fouud to contain parti
cles ofgold dust. The amount, of course,
| varies, bus some Is discovered in the
| washing in nearly every case of the kind.
WHAT incentive to tidy appearances in the
rooms OF IA dwelling it must be when the
housewife knows that it is paying dust
she is gathering aud sure of rewardiHg
her with fair amount of pin money.
Tue native method of mining gold is very
crude and simple. After the ground is
dug up the women put IN calabashe5 and
| wash it carefully, when the particles of
gold are precipitated to the bottom of the
| vessel and then collected with Infinite
care. II intended to be sold or GO out of
the country it is melted aud m de into
| twisted rings.
Gold dust is the currency Of Boure, and
| probably that Is the on'y political divi
sion in the interiCr vi the dark continent
| that uses it for that purpose. For con
venlence IN exchange it is put in small
quilts that are handy to carry and serve
to establish a standard of value in a gen
eral way but for more particular purposes
ali traders are provided with small scales,
which are made by the natives and very
accurately adjusted. The weights are the
seeds of a tree-gOld enough to equal the
weight of one seed being valued at %
cents. This makes easy estimating the
worth OF any quantity of the metal, and
the method of computing is well under
stood by all the natives who have gold to
sell or wish to buy. Boure is engaged
quite extensively in trade with the other
interior countries and with the coast. The
Mandingo traders supply them with many
goods from European makers, consisting
of guns, powder, calico, cotton goods and
hardware. 1t is said to be a real prohib
tory country, not by law, but from pecul
lar circumstances. Alcohol is unknown,
and no one tries to get acquainted with
the cup which intoxicates. Formerly the
people were pagans, but within a few
years they have changed to followers Of
Mohammed. The population is small
5000 or 4,000,-and have established
schools and made considerable progress.
They are DOT favorably inclined toward
foreigners, however, and the trouble with
the French has intensified the prejudice
against outsiders IT is believed that no
spot In the world is richer in the precious
metal than the limited quarters of Boure.
If improved machinery could be intro
dHced the returns would probably be
enormous.