The Ancobra Is A River Which Penetrates The
Interior, Through A District Very Rich In Gold And Timber And More
Than Suspected Of Containing Petroleum.
It is from eighty to one
hundred yards wide up as far as Akanko, and during the rains carries
three and a half to four and a half fathoms, and boats are taken up
to Tomento about forty miles from its mouth with goods to the Wassaw
gold mines.
But the bar of the Ancobra is shallow, only giving six
feet, although it is firm and settled, not like that of the Volta
and Lagos; and the Portuguese, in the sixteenth century, used to get
up this river, and work the country to a better profit than we do
nowadays.
The other chief Gold Coast river, the Bosum Prah, that enters the
sea at Chama, is no use for navigation from the sea, being
obstructed with rock and rapids, and its bar only carrying two feet;
but whether these rivers are used or not for the landing of railroad
plant, it is certain that that plant must be landed, and the
railways made, for if ever a district required them the Gold Coast
does. It is to be hoped it will soon enter into the phase of
construction, for it is a return to the trade (from which it draws
its entire revenue) that the local government owes, and owes
heavily; and if our new acquisition of Ashantee is to be developed,
it must have a railway bringing it in touch with the Coast trade,
not necessarily running into Coomassie, but near enough to Coomassie
to enable goods to be sold there at but a small advance on Coast
prices.
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