The Party Rested A Day At Shrondo, But The Distressing Circumstances In
Which They Were Involved Did Not Prevent Park From Visiting The Gold
Mines In The Neighbourhood, And He Gives In His Journal A Curious Account
Of The Method In Which The Gold Is Obtained.
He was guided by a woman to
a meadow where there were dug about thirty pits.
Beside these lay heaps
of sand and gravel, to be conveyed to circular wash-pits, which were
lined with clay. Two calabashes are used, one large, into which the
gravel is put; the other small, with which the water is poured in. The
sand is then covered with the water, carefully crumbled down and shaken
in the calabash, and the lighter parts thrown out, till all that remains
is a black substance, called gold-rust. The shaking is then repeated, and
the grains of gold are sought out. Two pounds of gravel yield about
twenty-three particles of gold, some of which are very small; and the
bulk of gold-rust is about forty times that of the gold. The washing only
takes place at the time of the rains.
They next proceeded along the mountains of Konkodoo to Dindikoo, where
they saw a number of gold-pits, sunk about twelve feet deep, with notches
in the sides for steps. The mountains were lofty and steep, composed of a
coarse species of red granite, but cultivated to the very tops, and the
villages built in their glens were singularly romantic. "The
inhabitants," says Park, "have plenty of water, and grass at all seasons;
they have cattle enough for their own use, and their superfluous grain
purchases all their little luxuries; and while the thunder rolls in awful
grandeur over their heads, they can look from their tremendous precipices
over all that wild and woody plain, which extends from the Faleme to the
Black River." This plain was about forty miles in extent; the lions
abounded in the plain, but none were seen among the hills. On the 18th
they had great difficulty in getting the sick forward, though all the
spare horses and asses were reserved for their use. The ass which bore
the telescope and several other articles of consequence was missing; but
was brought on the following day by one of the natives who had caught it.
Park now began to be "very uneasy about their situation;" half of the
party were on the sick list, among whom were Messrs. Anderson and Scott,
and he himself was by no means well. They rested for one day at Fankia.
On the 15th their road lay along a steep and rocky pass in the mountains
of Tambaura. During this toilsome march they were in a state of dreadful
confusion. There were few drivers for the asses, which were overburdened
with the sick and baggage. The natives, seeing their weak state, followed
them, seizing every opportunity for pillage. At Serimanna, two of the men
were left behind. At Gambia, the natives having heard that the white men
were sickly, rose up in arms, and attempted to plunder the caravan.
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