UNIQUE GOLD-MINE

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 April 1933, Page 9

UNIQUE GOLD-MINE

CONDITIONS IN KENYA. Surely oue o£ the most unique goldmines is the one of which I write. The search for gold' has taken mankind into many curious places, and under many skies; yet the one I worked on in British East Africa possesses features and characteristics all its own (states a correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald”). It is in Kenya Colony at a place called Kakamega, which was about 60 miles from our home at Soy, and about 150 miles from the Uganda border. My brother and I had beard of a Kenya farmer who, having lost his farm through the bad times, had been engaged by a, goldmining syndicate to do prospecting for them, and had discovered gold. What a, magic lies in that little word of four letters, and, when a small and unexpected legacy came to us through the death of a relative in England, we decided to invest it in an attempt to woo Dame Fortune.

About -100, people were on the field when wo arrived', to say nothing of their black servants —each “miner” bringing as many “boys” to work for him as he could afford. These boys were representatives of the different tribes called after the districts from which they came. Masai, who were the warriors of old. and were said to live on milk and the blood of oxen—garulous Kikuyas, Kakamegas (who probably felt they owned the field), and so on. The Lumbwas only were conspicuous by their absence, as this tribe (many of whom have beautiful faces) refuse to do manual work. They will, however, condescend to shepherd cattle, and are invaluable in that capacity, having no fear of marauding lions. Many white women accompanied their busbands, and were actually working on the claims. In slacks, top boots and khaki shirts, with felt hats pulled down low over their bobbed hair, it was bard to distinguish them from men. AN ORDERLY FIELD. To those whot-o mental pictures of goldmining ar e gleaned from novels or motion picture plays, Kakamega would have been a cruel disappointment. No furtive-looking miners, with ugly, leering faces, waited till all was dark and still to move the pegs of your claim, and then, cantering madly to the nearest township, attempt to register a formal demand for your land, On the contrary, our fellowworkers were, with practically no exceptions, a most likeable and decent lot of fellows.

No galvanised iron structure with “Saloon” in large letters over the verandah dominated' the landscapeThe truth was, it was almost impossible to buy a drink of alcohol in the whole area—and there was no such thing as a bottle store or bar. Last, but not least, and here I can almost bear the hollow sobs of the defrauded “movie-goer,” there was no dance hail with its “hollow atmosphere of gilded vice” (sec any picture caption). The members of the gentler sex, instead of undulating skittishly across the dance hall floor (attired in several yards of chiffon and a handful cf sequins), or perching on the miners’ knees, were working like men, dressed like men, side by side with their busbands, brothers, and fathers. As they washed the precious dust, what mirage of El Dorado was ever before their eyes. The finding of a rich “strike” meant that the farm somewhere back across the blue horizon might be cleared of debt, the debt which had stolen insidiously upon it ever since the bottom fell out of the money market, and depression became a household word. . . .

The goldmine area, which is about 100 miles square, is a very fertile spot, with deep red, warm soil. The natural growth is six to ten feet high, and is a tangled mass of bushes, thistles, spear or sword grass, which latter cuts like a knife. If you get off the footpaths you are lost; but every footpath seems to lead to a stream o:. a hut.

The natives grow every kind of fruit —all sorts of European vegetables, besides all the grains.

My brother and I pegged out a claim in a snot known as Forest Reserve. If the vegetation might have been that of the Garden of Eden, the serpent was certainly present, and be had brought a largo number of his relatives and friends with him—mambas (particularly deadly brutes), puff adders, cobras, and the horned viper, which is as thick as a man’s leg and has two horns. The lattei has the name of being one of the laziest of snakes — but it is a deadly specimen, with fangs twice as long as a puff adder. Our other neighbours were much more to our liking—hordes of monkeys lived in the forest—one family were all grey with red tails and whiskers (a ve,ry Cflieerful colour scheme). The birds, too, were beautiful and plentiful. One made a noise exactly like the “hoot” of a motor horn.’

BEAUTIFUL B UTTERELIES. But we lost our hearts to the butterflies. When we opened a stream to work, swarms of the most gorgeoushued creatures appeared and settled on the sand from the sluices. We were both badly biten with the collecting craze and' neglectd our gold washing to catch the lovely things. Incidentally, this may be the means of mere revenue than from our mining, as we got over one hundred and twenty varieties, and are now in treaty with two American museums to catch for them. For some specimens it is possible to get as much as 25/- each. We were not even getting within striking distance of fortune, when fate took a baud at the game. We were camping in our car. and. in a spell of wet days, added to the fact, that the root leaked, my father got a bad chill through sleeping on damp blankets. For a few days it was touch and go with him. and when tic recovered sufficiently wo decided we would have to return home. Our money was dwindling, and the claim was not paying expenses. We are back on the farm now, hut ordinary work seems very dull. We have hoard that a very famous expert lias been instructed by the Govern ment !•> make, a, report on the field, ami make a geographical survey. .As preliminary rumours mention that he is favourably impressed, the publishing of the report may see a rush to peg out the remaining claims. The golden dream we dreamt still holes us in its spell, and sometimes I think that actually working on a voidHeld inoculates you with the fever, which means you must return. Anyhow, as soon as it. can be managed. we arc packing into the old car again (the roof has been mended now) and venturing forth to our own little

corner in Forest Reserve—back to the rmnkcys and the. birds, back to the sweid grass and the snakes, back to the butterflies, and (perhaps) to the gold.