At Effuenta I found Mr. MacLennan, the manager whom we last met at Axim. Owing to the drowned-out state of 'Government House' he had given hospitality to Messieurs Higgins and Roulston, and I could not prevent his leaving his own sleeping-room for my better accommodation. I spent two days with him inspecting the mine and working up my notes; during this time Mr. Bowden, of Tákwá, and Mr. Ex-missionary Dawson passed through the station; and I was unfortunate in missing the former.
'Effuenta House' is a long narrow tenement of bamboo and thatch, divided into six or seven rooms, and built upon a platform of stone and swish raised seven feet off the ground. All the chambers open upon a broad verandah, which shades the platform. The inmate was talking of rebuilding, as the older parts were beginning to decay. He had just set up in his 'compound' two single-room bamboo houses, with plank floors raised four feet off the ground; these were intended to lodge the European staff. Other bamboo huts form the offices and the stores. The Kru quarters are at the western base of the hill; a few hands, however, live in the two little villages upon the Tákwá rivulet. The Sierra Leone and Akra artificers occupy their own hamlet between the Kru lines and the stamps. Last year there was a garden with a small rice-field, but everything was stolen as soon as it was fit to gather.
Next morning Mr. MacLennan led me to the diggings. This concession, which is the southernmost but one upon the Tákwá ridge, contains one thousand by two thousand fathoms; and desultory work began in 1880. The rock, a talcose gneiss, all laden with gold, runs along the whole length of the hill, striking, as usual, north 6º east (true). In places it forms a basset, or outcrop, cresting the summit; and the eastern flank is cliffy, like that of the Tebribi. To get at the ore three shafts have been sunk on the western slope of the ridge just below the highest part, and a passage is being driven to connect the three. A rise for ventilation, and for sending down the stone, connects this upper gallery with a lower one; and the latter is being pushed forward to unite the three tunnels pierced horizontally near the foot of the hill, at right angles to the lode. There is also a fourth tunnel below the manager's house, which will be joined on to the others. The three tunnels open westward upon a tramway, along which the ore is carried to the stamps. I judged the output already made to be considerable, but could not make an estimate, as it was heaped up in different places.
The stamp-mill, lying to the extreme north of the actual workings, is supplied with water by a leat from the eastern Tákwá rivulet. The twelve head of stamps, on Appleby's 'gravitation system,' are driven by a Belleville boiler and engine; this has the merit of being portable and the demerit of varying in effective power, owing to the smallness of the steam-chest. The battery behaves satisfactorily; only the pump, which is worked by the cam-shaft, wants power to supply the whole dozen; consequently another and independent pump has been ordered. Krumen, who will never, I think, make good mine-workmen, are constantly employed in washing the blankets as soon as they are charged; and the resulting black sand is carried to the washing-house to be panned, or rather calabashed, by native women. In time we shall doubtless see concentrating bundles and amalgamating barrels.
The three iron-framed stamp-boxes discharge their sludge into two parallel mercury- or amalgam-boxes, which Mr. Appleby declares will arrest 75 to 80 per cent. of free gold. It then passes on to the distributing table, the flow to the strakes being regulated by small sluices. Of the latter there is one to each width of green baize or of mining-cloth made for the purpose. The overflow of the sluices runs into a large tailing-tank of board-work, with holes and plugs at different levels to tap the contents. These tailings are also washed by women.
Finally, the mercury is squeezed through leathers and the hard amalgam is sent for treatment to England. Retorting is not practised at present in any of the mines. The only reduction-gear belongs to the Gold Coast Mining Company; and some time must elapse before it is ready for use. My discovery of native cinnabar will then prove valuable.
The Effuenta can now bring to bank, with sufficient hands, at least a hundred tons a day of good paying ore; whereas the stamps can crush at most one-tenth. When this section of the lode, about 200 fathoms, shall be worked, there will still be the balance of 1,000. But even this fifth of the property will supply material for years. The proportion of gold greatly varies, and I should not like to hazard a conjecture as to average, but an ounce and a half or two ounces will not be above the mark.
At present the manager works under the difficulty of wanting European assistants. His mining-engineer and one mechanic lately left him to return home; and he has only a white book-keeper, an English working-miner, and a mechanic, besides a man who made his way from the coast on foot, and who is now doing good, honest work. The progress made by Mr. MacLennan, during his ten months of charge, has been most creditable. He has literally opened the mine, the works of which were begun by M. Dahse. He has personally supervised the transport and erection of all the machinery; and at present, in addition to the ordinary managerial routine, he has to act as chief of each and every department. Owing to his brave exertions the future of the Effuenta mine is very promising: it will teach those to come 'how to do it,' in contrast with another establishment which is the best guide 'how not to do it.' If the Board prove itself efficient, this property will soon pay a dividend. But half-hearted measures will go far to stultify the able and energetic work I found on the spot. [Footnote: This forecast has been unexpectedly verified with the least possible delay. Perfect communication has been established between the shafts and levels; and the mine can now (October 1882) turn out 100 tons a day at five shillings. But imperfect pumps have been sent out, and the result is a highly regretable block. Of the value of the mine there can be no doubt.]
The northern extremity of the Tákwá ridge, whose length may be nine to ten miles, remains unappropriated, as far as can be known. The furthest concession has been made, I am told, to Mr. Creswick. South of the section in question lies a property now in the hands of the late M. Bonnat's executors: the grant was given to him as a wedding-present by his friends, the chiefs. Report says that from this part of the lode, which is riddled with native pits, came some of the specimens that floated the G. C. M. Company. Succeeds in due order the African Gold Coast Company, French and English, which was brought out in 1878. It is popularly and locally known as the Tákwá (not 'Tarcquah') mine, from the large native village which infests its grounds. I have described the Effuenta, its southern neighbour. Beyond this again is a strip belonging to the Franco-English Company; and, lastly, at the southern butt-end, divided by a break from the main ridge, lies the 'Tamsoo-Mewoosoo mines of Wassaw.' The latter has lately been 'companyed,' under the name of the 'Tacquah Gold Mines Company,' by Dr. J. A. B. Horton and Mr. Ferdinand Fitzgerald, of the famous 'African Times.' When its directors inform us that 'twenty ounces of gold lately arrived from a neighbouring mine, the produce of stamping of twenty-five tons of ore, similar to that of Tamsoo-Mewoosoo,' they may not have been aware that the produce in question was worked from the alluvial drift discovered, about the end May 1881, in the north-western corner of the Swanzy estates. This drift has no connection with the Tákwá ridge-lodes.
After morning tea on March 28 I bade a temporary adieu to my most hospitable host, and walked along the ridge-crest to the establishment of the Franco-English or African Gold Coast Company. Here I found only one person, Dr. Burke, an independent practitioner, who is allowed lodging, but not board. M. Haillot, of Paris, formerly accountant and book-keeper, was in temporary charge of this mine and of Abosu during Mr. Bowden's absence. I shall give further detail on my return march. Passing through the spirit-reeking Tákwá village, where nearly every hovel is a 'shebeen,' I walked along the valley separating the ridge from its western neighbour, Vinegar Hill, and in half an hour entered the huts belonging to the Gold Coast Mining Company. [Footnote: These gentlemen are still (October 1882) doing hard and successful work at the mines.] Here I breakfasted with the brothers Gowan, who had been left in charge by Mr. Creswick. My notes on this establishment must also be reserved for a future page.