To the Gold Coast for Gold
A Personal Narrative

This 1883 publication recounts the journey taken by Burton and Cameron into West Africa to inspect local gold mines.

Richard Francis Burton (Author), Verney Lovett Cameron (Author)

9781108031424, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

390 pages, 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.5 kg

First published in 1883, this travel memoir describes the journey into West Africa undertaken by explorers Richard Burton (1821–90) and Verney Lovett Cameron (1844–94) in 1881. The mission for the two men was to assess the mining potential of the west coast, first observed by Burton in a publication that had appeared twenty years earlier. The first few chapters of Volume 1 cover Burton's journey from Trieste to Lisbon, Madeira and Tenerife and on to Africa during the winter of 1881, including descriptions of Mount Atlas and the Canary Islands. The volume finishes with their arrival in Sierra Leone. The expedition was cut short by the Foreign Office, who feared for the safety of the two explorers. Burton returned to Europe with a large collection of plant and animal specimens, and the pair sent 151 plant species, lists of which are included in the appendices, to Kew Gardens.

Preface
1. Preliminary: Trieste to Lisbon
2. From Lisbon to Madeira
3. A fortnight at Madeira
4. Madeira (continued) - Christmas - small industries - wine - Tenerife
5. To Tenerife, La Laguna, and Orotava
6. The routine ascent of Mount Atlas, the 'Pike' of Tenerife
7. The Spanish ascent of the repulse of Nelson from Santa Cruz de Tenerife
8. To Grand Canary - Las Palmas, the capital
9. The Cochineal - the 'Gallo' - Canary 'Sack' - adieu to the Canaries
10. The ruined river-port and the tattered flag
11. Sierra Leone: the change for the better.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]