United States or Germany ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The ground divides itself into three sections the red clay north of Axim; the sands, whose green-grown upper levels are fitted to support iron-pot sleepers; and the Avin valley, which debouches upon the left bank of the Ancobra. The first and the last divisions are safe for creosoted wood. My friend Mr.
Emerging from these reeds, one broad sheet of water presented itself to the eye, encircled by a low shore fringed with canes, bush, and palm-trees, and at its western extremity a range of hills rose out of the background. The lagoon receives several small streams, and empties itself into the sea by the Ebumesu river, its mouth being about half-way between Béin and the Ancobra.
But there is room for more white enterprise in the matter of river navigation; and my own opinion is that if English capital were to be employed in the direction of small suitably-built river steamers, it would be found more repaying than lines of railway. Waterways that might be developed in this manner exist in the Cross River, the Volta, and the Ancobra.
This foul shore presents a formidable barrier to landing: there absolutely is no safe place between Apollonia and the Ancobra. European employés avoid tempting the breakers; they disembark and re-embark for home, and that is all. Mr. Grant assures us that there is no risk; Mr. Grillett, who has worked the coast since 1875, says the contrary; no man knows it better or fears it more.
Enfrámadié is the terminus of launch-navigation; the snags in the Dries stop the way, and she cannot stem the current of the Rains. The Ancobra now resembles the St. John's or Prince's River in the matter of timber-floorwork and chevaux de frise of tree-corpses disposed in every possible direction. After half an hour we paddled past the 'Devil's Gate, a modern name for an old and ugly feature.
There is, however, no connection between the two, and the precious metal in the subsoil is either swept down by the floods or washed out of the sides, as we shall see on the Ancobra River. The negroes, who ignore pumps and steam-navvies, have neglected the obvious measure of deep-digging in all the stream-beds, where much detrital gold and even nuggets will assuredly be found.
It comes from afar, heading, they say, in Abasakasu, a region where gold abounds. In three-quarters of an hour we had cleared the four short miles which separate Axim from the Ancobra ferry. This is the line of a future tramway, which will transport goods from the port to the river; at present they must be shipped in bar-boats, which cost much and carry little.
Word Of The Day