From the Abosu village and its abominations I turned sharp to the north-west, and ascended the steep western flank of Abo Yáo, whose highest point is 312 feet above sea-level. The distance from Crockerville is a mile and three-quarters, or a mile in a straight line, and from Tákwá, about six. M. Dahse increases the latter to nine miles, the difference of latitude being three and a quarter miles, and of longitude four. My map will be the first to correct these distances, which are exaggerated by the native carriers to get more pay.
The summit of Abo Yáo commands an extensive view to the north. Here the range of vision is about sixteen miles over the greenest of second growths; and the whole is dotted with buttes of red clay, somewhat lower than 'On the Stone' (Abosu). It is easy to see that here again we have an ancient archipelago, like that which formerly fringed the shore of Axim, but of older formation. In fact, I should not expect to find a true coast before entering the grassy zone north of the great belt of forest. Each hill must carry at least one core of auriferous reef. The intervening valleys, gullies, and gulches, seldom more than a hundred feet above ocean-level, have been warped up by gradual deposition from the north, and are doubtless full of rich alluvium. This might be worked by steam-navvies, and washed upon the largest possible scale; the result would be excellent ground for plantations.
I look upon Abosu as an eastern outlier of the greater Tákwá ridge. But although the hill preserves the normal direction the reef lies almost at right angles to it, crossing the upper end and striking from north 40º west to south 40º east. I am unable to divine what caused this curious dislocation. The gold matrix is still the Tákwá gneiss, rarely showing visible metal. Possibly the present diggings have struck only a large branch or a break.
Here mining-operations have been extensive, and about 1,800 tons of rich stuff have already been brought to bank. The diggings begin with an open cut of 110 feet; this leads to a tunnel in the rock partly timbered, by which the lode with a dip of 41º is bisected. Eastward from the tunnel a gallery has been driven 147 feet along the vein, and westwards there is a similar passage of 202 feet. About 140 feet on either side of the tunnel two rises, one 16, the other 12 feet long, are being driven up the slope of the reef. On the hill-side above the tunnel a shaft 80 feet deep has been sunk, but it has not struck the vein: for some peculiar reason the bottom is made broader than the top; and the mining-captain has a shrewd idea that, like the native pits of similar form, it may end by 'caving in.' Again, a second tunnel has just been opened in the southern end of the butte, the engineer hoping to find the main lode lying conformably, or north with easting.
A little above the northern foot of the Abo Yáo the native workmen are employed in making a large platform, or terrace, for stamps and other machinery; now it is about 150 × 40 yards. As yet there is no power. A large open shed of timber-posts, with a roofing of corrugated iron, stands ready to receive the expected saw-mill. The only actual industry is digging.
At Abosu the personnel is lodged in bamboo-houses scattered over the hill-side, and the settlement contrasts dismally with the orderly comfort of Crockerville. M. Haillot, acting manager of Abosu and Tákwá, leads a caravan-life between the two. Fortunately for him the distance is inconsiderable. I here met Mr. Symonds, a Cornish miner, who has worked in Mexico, and who speaks Spanish fluently, enabling him to converse with M. Plisson. He was one of our fellow-passengers, and he rejoiced exceedingly to see me. He and his youngster, Mr. Mitchell, who suffers from chest-complaint, praised the prospects of the mine, but did not enjoy their pay being cut for passage and the system of ration-money. Another unwise plan adopted by the French Company is to stipulate upon twenty working-days, each of ten hours per mensem, in default of which salaries undergo proportional deduction. This makes the miner work even when he is unfit for exertion. White labour, however, is confined to superintendence and to laying out and building tunnels. A Swiss, M. Schneuvelly, acts as general superintendent, and he is assisted by two French ouvriers. The hands are chiefly Krumen. The style of working is decidedly 'loafy,' and the pipe is touched at all hours and in all places.
North of Abosu lies the Dahse concession, a square of 1,000 fathoms, to be worked by an Anglo-German company. I know it only by hearsay and by seeing it upon the owner's map.
M. Haillot invited me to be his guest, and I spent my day in the mine. Next morning (April 8) we retraced our steps towards Tákwá, halting by the way at the northernmost establishment on the ridge, the 'Gold Coast Mining Company (Limited).' This concession, an area of 1000 x 500 fathoms, on the west of the hill-height, does not as yet show much progress; and the works seem to have increased but little since last year. There are two shafts and two tunnels to strike the lode. The ore brought to grass was not in large quantities, although I had heard to the contrary. The stone is said to be abnormally rich, yielding seven ounces of gold to the ton; but I did not think it richer than its neighbours, and I suspect that it will have to be rated at one-seventh. The manager's house, also on the west of the hill, consists of one large room of plankage, raised on posts and thatched. The brothers Gowan, who are working exceedingly hard, and Mr. Kenyon, who is leaving for England, were the only white men I saw. The hands are chiefly Kruboys and the artificers Sierra Leonites. Since Mr. Creswick's departure for Europe some changes have been made. Mr. Growan, the acting manager, has transferred the future works to a higher level, and has fitted up a reduction-office where there is, at present, nothing to reduce. Crucibles and chemicals are ranged round a long room with an iron roof. The tenant has borrowed a mortar-box, two stamp-heads, shoes, and dies, and has fitted them with wooden stems and cam-shafts. He proposes to drive them by two-man power, in order to crush three tons of ore per diem and to test a new patent amalgamator.
I breakfasted with the scanty staff and then walked down the western valley to the Tákwá establishment, the oldest of the new mining-industries in the Protectorate. I place the African Gold Coast Company, by calculation, in N. lat. 18º 20' and W. long. (Gr.) 1º 57' 40". It is therefore fifteen direct geographical miles from Tumento instead of thirty; twenty-seven (not sixty) from Axim, and thirty-five from Dixcove, formerly supposed to be the nearest port. This position will make an important difference in sundry plans and projects which were made under old and erroneous ideas of its topography. At present the cost of transport from Tumento to Effuenta is 6d. for 10 lbs., 8d. to Tákwá, and 10 d. to Abosu.
The head of the valley shows a single stream, the Babeabárbawo or Tákwá rivulet, rising close to the works of the Gold Coast Company. It is swollen by small tributaries from either side; and, just below the settlement, an eastern dam with a small sluice has been thrown across the valley of the Franco-English company. As there is plenty of water in and near the mine, they should cut at once this abominable dam, which forms a pestilential swamp, the cess-pool of the neighbourhood. The Tákwá settlement, a line of bamboo and swish huts well built enough, lies, like a hamlet in Congo-land, along the winding road. It is bare of trees, but here and there a shaft yawns before the doors. M. Dahse makes the population before 1879 to have been 6,000 souls, and in 1881 about 3,000. I should reduce the latter figure to 600, and propose for 1882, before the May emigration, 1,500 to 1,600. The people are Coast-men and islanders of every tribe, with a fair sprinkling of dissolute ruffians, 'white blackmen,' from Sierra Leone and Akra, drunken Fanti policemen, and plundering Haussa soldiers. The ex-manager of the Effuenta mine says, in allusion to his early residence there, 'So wird Einem das Leben daselbst zu einer wahren Hölle;' and he rightly describes the peculiar industries of these true infernal regions as 'Schnappskneipen, Spielhöllen und Schlimmeres.' Almost every house combines the pub. and the agapemone: all the chief luxuries of the Coast-'factories' are there, and the 'blay' (basket) of Sierra Leone comes out strong. Brilliant cottons and kerchiefs hang from the normal line; there is pomatum for the lucky dandy and tallow for the miner down in his luck; whilst gold-dust is conjured from pouch or pocket by pipes and tobacco, needles and thread, beads, knives, and other notions.