The following proportions were given to me by M. Dahse. Till 1870 the figures are computed by him; after that date the value is declared;--[Footnote: _Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom._ Eyre and Spottiswoode. London, 1881.]
1866 1867 1868 1869 120,333_l_. 146,182_l_ 118,875_l_. 100,214_l_.
1870 1871 1872 116,142_l_. 137,328_l_. 108,869_l_.
Now began the notable falling-off, which reached its maximum next year:--
1873 1874 1875 1876 77,523_l_. 136,263_l_. 117,321_l_. 145,511_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880 120,542_l_ 122,497_l_. 115,167_l_. 125,980_l_.
M. Dahse assumes the annual average to be in round numbers, 126,000_l_.
The official returns of imported silver from the Coast show:--
1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 7,074_l_. 6,841_l_. 40,964_l_. 23,587_l_. 21,667_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880 10,905_l_. 41,254_l_. 61,755_l_. 63,337_l_.
1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 115,943_l_. 84,364_l_. 177,227_l_. 140,908_l_. 167,178_l_.
1877 1878 1879 1880 131,447_l_. 163,751_l_. 176,922_l_. 189,317_l_.
I was lately asked by an illustrious geologist and man of science, how it came to pass that the Gold Coast, if so rich, has not been worked before this time. These notes will afford a sufficient reply.
This range, which has almost disappeared from the maps, may have taken its name either from the town of Kong on the southern versant, or it may be a contraction of the Kongkodu, the mountain-land described by Mungo Park. Messieurs J. Zweifel and M. Moustier, [Footnote: _Expédition, C. A. Verminck, Voyage aux Sources du Niger_. Marseille, 1880.] who did not reach the Niger sources in 1879, explain 'Kong' as the Kissi name of the line which trends from north-west to south-east, and which divides Koronko-land from Kono-land. When nearing their objective they sighted the Kong-apex, Mount Daro, measuring 1,240 mètres. Older travellers make it a latitudinal chain running nearly east-west, with its centre about the meridian of Cape Coast Castle, and extending 500 to 600 miles on a parallel of north latitude 7º-8º. Westward it bends north behind Cape Palmas, and, like the Ghauts of Hindostan, follows the line of seaboard. I have before noticed the traditions of Mount Geddia, an occidental Kilima-njáro. About the parallel of Sierra Leone the feature splits into a network of ranges, curves, and zigzags, which show no general trend. The eastern faces here shed to the Niger, the western to the various streams between the Rokel-Seli, the Gambia, and the Senegal; and the last northern counterforts sink into the Sahará Desert. The western versant supplies the gold of Senegambia, the southern that of Ashanti and Wásá. The superficial dust is washed down by rains, floods, and rivers; and the dykes and veins of quartz, mostly running north-south, are apparently connected with those of the main range.
