Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/95

 GOLDBERG GOLD COAST 87 packed, making three parcels, and beaten as be- fore for four hours. This part of the process requires the most skill and care from the work- man. The skins are the finest, about 5 in. square ; the leaves are brought at the end of the opera- tion to 3 or 3 in. square. In this condition an ounce of gold is made to cover 100 sq. ft. It begins to transmit the rays of light, and, if slightly alloyed, the green rays particularly, but, if highly alloyed with silver, the pale vio- let rays also. The beating may be continued, and tbe gold be reduced to the thinness of the specimens noticed in GILDING ; but there is no advantage gained in passing the average of the commercial gold leaf, which is about -jFff.oWj or that of the French, which is probably less than ^jqW o- of an m h thick. The leaves are sorted after the final beating, each one being lift- ed by a delicate pair of whitewood pincers, and spread out by the breath upon a leather cushion. It is then trimmed down to about 3J in. square by a square frame of sharp cane, and laid be- tween the leaves of the book in which it is sold. Each book is made to contain 25 gold leaves, and these are prevented from adhering to the paper by an application to this of red ochre or red chalk. Silver and copper are both beaten into leaves ; but their value is not so great as to render it an object to reduce them to anything like the tenuity of gold leaf, if their malleability admitted of its being done. GOLDBERG, a town of Prussian Silesia, on the Katzbach, 10 m. S. W. of Liegnitz; pop. in 1871, 6,716. It is quaintly built, and has a church dating from the beginning of the 13th century. Cloth and hosiery are manufactured, and there are dye works and distilleries of brandy. The gold mines from which it derived its name are not now worked. A battle was fought here, May 27, 1813, between the French under Mac- donald and the Russian reserve under Wittgen- stein, and a skirmish (Aug. 23) between the former and Bliicher. GOLD COAST, a part of the coast of Upper Guinea, "W. Africa, lying, according to most geographers, between Cape Three Points and the river Volta; but the jurisdiction of the Brit- ish Gold Coast colony, including the territories ceded by the Dutch in 1872, extends from the river Assinie, Ion. 3 18' W., to the river Ewue, Ion. 1 10' E. ; area, 16,626 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 408,070. The shore line, about 330 m. long, is skirted generally by low hills with dense woods in the background, but is flat and sandy at its extremities, with lagoons inland. There are no harbors, and the surf is so violent that vessels are obliged to lie from 2 to 5 m. off the beach. The chief rivers are the Assinie, Anco- ber, Tenda, Bossum Prah or Prah, and the Vol- ta. The Gold Coast colony proper consists of only the fortified stations and the strip of coast dominated by them ; but a protectorate is exer- cised by Great Britain over all the tribes lying between it and Ashantee. The limits of the protectorate are not clearly defined, but it is generally understood to extend inland about 80 in., the river Prah forming its N". boundary in the longitude of Elmina and Cape Coast Castle. The principal native people inhabiting this ter- ritory are the Fantees, but there are a number of smaller tribes, the Ahantas, Wassas, Denki- ras, Akims, Assins, Aquapims, Crepees, and others, all under independent chiefs. Little is known of the interior, but the few who have penetrated it speak of its vast forests filled with tropical life, and of green plains traversed by sparkling streams, and its climate is said to be more healthy than that of the coast. There are no roads, the only means of communicating be- tween the villages being by narrow paths, pass- able only in single file. Beasts of burden are unknown to the natives, who transport all mer- chandise and produce to and from the coast on their heads. The soil is very fertile, produ- cing all the tropical grains and fruits. Traces of iron are found at several places on the coast, and there are rich gold mines in the interior. In the beginning of the 18th century the Dutch exported annually from Elmina about 250,000 worth of gold dust, but the hostility of the na- tive tribes has now nearly destroyed the trade. The fortified posts of the Gold Coast colony are Axim, Dixcove, and Sekundi, in the Ahanta country, and Elmina, Cape Coast Castle, Anam- boe, and Accra, in the country of the Fantees. The French trading station at Assinie has been abandoned since 1870. Axim, about 14 m. W. of Cape Three Points, is one of the healthiest places on the coast, owing probably to the pure water which runs from the neighboring hills in rivulets. All the tropical plants grow to per- fection in its vicinity, and many European vege- tables have been successfully introduced. It is the only place where rice is raised, and the influences so deadly to live stock at other points do not extend to it. In the country N. of it are rich gold mines, and gold dust, palm oil, and palm kernels were once exported in consid- erable quantities. The town is commanded by Fort St. Anthony, built in its centre on a pre- cipitous rock 70 ft. high. Dixcove (called Un- fuma by the natives), 11 m. E. of Cape Three Points, is defended by a fort, which the Dutch thoroughly repaired in 1867. The town is dirty and unhealthy, from the exhalations of neigh- boring swamps, which harbor numerous croc- odiles. Between Axim and Dixcove are the ruins of the old forts Great Friedrichsburg, Brandenburg, and Dorothea, built originally by the Prussians. Bautri or Boutry, 3 m. E. of Dixcove, a former Dutch settlement which was defended by Fort Batenstein, is now aban- doned. Sekundi, the next station, 20 m. from Dixcove, is situated on a point, with Fort Orange on a steep promontory at its end. The environs are fertile, and the country back of it is covered with dense woods. The former Dutch settlement of Chama is 8 m. further E., near the mouth of the Prah. It is commanded by Fort St. Sebastian, originally built by the Portuguese, and still in a fair state of repair, but abandoned on account of the unhealth-