Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/302

248 WEST AFRICA. command the Ancobra valley, beyond which, towards Cape Three Points, are seen the ruins of the Brandenburg fort Gross-Friederic/itiburg. Axira, the Emm of the natives, offers the best landing on the whole coast, thanks to the shelter afforded by the islets of Bobowusua and Poke. Here Burton picked up some implements of the Stone Age, and nowhere else on this coast have so many stone hatchets been found as in the Axim district. Axim must one day become the port of the whole region stretching away to the Kong, and comprising the still little known territories of Aowin, Sahwi, and Gyaman. A good road now connects it with the Ancobra, which affords the easiest access to the Wassaw gold mines. The petty chiefs have also been called upon to clear the forest routes and bridge the streams in order to keep the com- munication open between the coast and Tarkwa {Tarquah), headquarters of the mining district. A railway, 56 miles long, has even been proposed for the convey- ance of the he ivy machinery needed for the systematic working of the gold mines. Aodwa, formerly capital of Wassaw, is now a mere hamlet, most of the people having gravitated towards the mines granted to English and French capitalists after Bonnat's careful survey of the ground. The gold is obtained especially from the gneiss and other primitive rocks, the yearly yields, excluding that collected by the natives, averaging £125,000 between 1860 and 188^. Veins of silver, copper, and tin have also been met in the hills, while iron and manganese occur every- where. Gold dust is the only currency in this province of Guinea, from which the old English gold piece took its name. Most of the labourers engaged on the works are Apollonians and Kroomen, nearly all demoralised by the vices almost inseparable from this industry. The only noteworthy place beyond the mining district is Mansu, lying about midway on the new route between Tarkwa and the mouth of the Prah. The fort commanding the little creek of Dixcove, east of Cape Three Points, has some strategic importance, thanks to its position near the headland. Most of the other old forts on this part of the coast are now in ruins, but Chama has been maintained and even enlarged in consequence of its position at the mouth of the Prah. But most of the trade with the interior has been transferred to Elmhm, the oldest European factory on the Gold Coast. The French first settled at La Mine towards the end of the fourteenth century, and after their departure the Portuguese made Elmina their chief stronghold on this seaboard. Later it became the head- quarters of the Dutch possessions on the Gulf of Guinea, and passed from them to Great Britain in 1871. Since then, having ceased to be a capital, it has lost most of its inhabitants, although enjoying the advantage of good carriage roads, both with the mouth of the Prah through the station of Commendah, and eastwards with Cape Coast CaHle, which has become a chief centre of British authority on the Gold Coast. The Igwah {Egwa, Ogwa, Gwa) of the natives owes its English name of Cape Coast Castle to a misunderstanding of the Portuguese Capo Cor so, the Cap Corse of the French, although the term *' castle " is justified by a number of forts erected