Five of the soldiers, who did not go into the tent, but staid under the tree during the rain, complained much of headache and uneasiness at stomach.
June 10th. The soldiers still sickly. Left Satadoo at sun-rise: several of our canteens stolen during the night. This forenoon we travelled for more than two miles over white quartz, large lumps of which were lying all round; no other stone to be seen. Carried forwards a large skinful of water, being uncertain whether we should find any on the road. At eleven o'clock reached the bed of a stream flowing to the left, called Billalla, where we found some muddy water.
Resumed our journey at half past three o'clock, and travelled over a hard rocky soil towards the mountains; many of the asses very much fatigued. The front of the coffle reached Shrondo at sunset; but being in the rear I had to mount one of the sick men on my horse, and assist in driving the fatigued asses: so that I did not reach the halting place till eight o'clock, and was forced to leave four asses in the woods. Shrondo is but a small town. We halted as usual under a tree at a little distance; and before we could pitch one of the tents, we were overtaken by a very heavy tornado, which wet us all completely. In attempting to fasten up one of the tents to a branch of the tree, had my hat blown away, and lost. The ground all round was covered with water about three inches deep. We had another tornado about two o'clock in the morning. The tornado which took place on our arrival, had an instant effect on the health of the soldiers, and proved to us, to be the beginning of sorrow. I had proudly flattered myself that we should reach the Niger with a very moderate loss; we had had two men sick of the dysentery; one of them recovered completely on the march, and the other would doubtless have recovered, had he not been wet by the rain at Baniserile. But now the rain had set in, and I trembled to think that we were only halfway through our journey. The rain had not commenced three minutes before many of the soldiers were affected with vomiting; others fell asleep, and seemed as if half intoxicated. I felt a strong inclination to sleep during the storm; and as soon as it was over I fell asleep on the wet ground, although I used every exertion to keep myself awake. The soldiers likewise fell asleep on the wet bundles.
June 11th.—Twelve of the soldiers sick. Went and waited on the Dooty, and presented him with five bars of amber, and two of beads, requesting his permission to go and look at the gold mines, which I understood were in the vicinity. Having obtained his permission, I hired a woman to go with me, and agreed to pay her a bar of amber if she would shew me a grain of gold. We travelled about half a mile west of the town, when we came to a small meadow spot of about four or five acres extent, in which were several holes dug resembling wells. They were in general about ten or twelve feet deep; towards the middle of the meadow spot the holes were deepest, and shallower towards the sides. Their number was about thirty, besides many old ones which had sunk down. Near the mouths of these pits were several other shallow pits, lined with clay, and full of rain water: between the mine pits and these wash pits laid several heaps of sandy gravel. On the top of each was a stone; some of the stones white, others red, others black, &c. These serve to distinguish each person's property. I could see nothing peculiar in this gravel; some silicious pebbles as large as a pigeon's egg, pieces of white and reddish quartz, iron stone, and killow, and a soft friable yellow stone, which crumbled to pieces by the fingers, were the chief minerals that I could distinguish. Besides the above there was a great portion of sand, and a yellow earth resembling till.
The woman took about half a pound of gravel with one hand from the heap, which I suppose belonged to her; and having put it into a large calabash, threw a little water on it with a small calabash; which two calabashes are all that are necessary for washing gold. The quantity of water was only sufficient to cover the sand about one inch. She then crumbled the sand to pieces, and mixt it with the water; this she did not in a rotatory manner, but by pulling her hands towards herself, as shewn in the following sketch.
[Illustration]
She then threw out all the large pebbles, looking on the ground where she threw them, for fear of throwing out a piece of gold. Having done this, she gave the sand and water a rotatory motion, so as to make a part of the sand and water fly over the brim of the calabash. While she did this with her right hand, with her left she threw out of the centre of the vortex a portion of sand and water at every revolution. She then put in a little fresh water, and as the quantity of sand was now much diminished, she held the calabash in an oblique direction, and made the sand move slowly round on the line AB, while she constantly agitated it with a quick motion in the direction CD.
[Illustration]
I now observed a quantity of black matter, resembling gunpowder, which she told me was gold rust; and before she had moved the sand one quarter round the calabash, she pointed to a yellow speck, and said, sanoo affilli, see the gold. On looking attentively I saw a portion of pure gold, and took it out. It would have weighed about one grain. The whole of the washing, from the first putting in of the sand till she shewed me the gold, did not exceed the space of two minutes. I now desired her to take a larger portion. She put in, as nearly as I could guess, about two pounds; and having washed it in the same manner, and nearly in the same time, found no fewer than twenty-three particles; some of them were very small. In both cases I observed that the quantity of sanoo mira, or gold rust, was at least forty times greater than the quantity of gold. She assured me that they sometimes found pieces of gold as large as her fist. I could not ascertain the quantity of gold washed here in one year; but I believe it must be considerable, though they wash only during the beginning and end of the rains. Gold is sold here, and all along our route, by the minkalli: six teelee kissi (a sort of bean, the fruit of a large tree) make one minkalli: the weight of six teelee kissi is exactly [dram] & [scruple]. In Kaarta they use a small bean called jabee kissi, twenty-four of which make one minkalli; a jabee kissi weighs exactly four grains. In Kasson, twelve small tamarind stones make one minkalli, which I believe is the heaviest minkalli in this part of Africa. If gold is purchased with amber, one bead of No. 4 will, in almost all cases, purchase one teelee kissi: but it can be purchased with more advantage with beads or scarlet, and still more so with gunpowder. I did not purchase any; but our guide bought a considerable quantity, and I was present at all his bargain-making.
Went in the afternoon to see a brother of Karfa Taura's; he had a very large collection of Arabic books, and I made him quite happy by adding an Arabic New Testament to the number.