California and Australia, it continued to be the principal supply to the
civilized world. In eastern Akim gold is said to be as plentiful as
potatoes in Ireland. The Fanti gold mines are far more valuable than
Ashanti, and the Wassaw and the Nquampossoo have gold nuggets in
profusion. The King of Gyaman became immensely rich by the product of
his gold mines; his bed had steps of gold. The French claim that they
imported gold from Elmina in 1382. The Portuguese discovered gold in
1442, upon the borders of Rio de Ouro. Mungo Park, in 1797, drew
attention to the existence of gold in the provinces of Shronda, Kinkodi,
Dindiko, Bambuk, and Barabarra. Caille, in 1827, reported an abundance
of gold in the valley of the Niger. The gold mines of Boure were first
visited by Winwood Reade in 1872. The inhabitants of Western Africa have
worked their gold fields for centuries to very little purpose. Their
want of pumps, of quartz-crushing machinery, and of scientific
appliances, has limited their labors to scratching the top soil and
nibbling at the reef-walls. A large proportion of the country is
virtually virgin ground; and a rich harvest has been left for
Occidental science, energy, and enterprise. It is fast becoming evident
that Africa will one day equal half a dozen Californias. The annual
product of gold in Africa has declined from $17,000,000 in 1471 to
$3,000,000 in 1816. Since the latter date it has gradually declined to
$2,000,000. The gold product since 1471 has amounted to $3,500,000,000.

Gold, after the discovery of America, was produced in large quantities,
principally in the Antilles, and chiefly in Hispaniola, and the western
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. America is pre-eminently the land of
metals. Gold is found in greater or less abundance throughout its
Pacific coast from Alaska to Patagonia. The New World furnishes nearly
two-thirds of the precious metals annually produced. The export of gold
from the United States since 1848 has amounted to $1,548,564,852. The
gold mines of Peru were revealed to Europe by Pizarro in 1513. The gold
mines of South America extend throughout its entire territory. Its
richest mines are about Huylas and Turma, Most of the rivers of the
Andes bring down auriferous sands. Before the arrival of the Spaniards
the Indians had gathered from the river sands large quantities of gold
in Peru, Chili, and along the whole western coast of South America.
Brazil has yielded, from 1513 to the prese