Table Of ContentSEARCHING FOR AFRICAN PROSPECTS
SEARCHING FOR
AFRICAN PROSPECTS
Life as a Mining Engineer
in Nigeria and Angola
Diana Chads
The Radcliffe Press
⋅
LONDON NEW YORK
Published in 2006 by The Radcliffe Press
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
In the United States and in Canada
distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © Diana Chads, 2006
The right of Diana Chads to be identified as the licensor of this work has
been asserted by the licensor in accordance with the Copyright, Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
ISBN 1 84511 182 6
EAN 978 1 84511 182 3
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog card: available
Typeset in Sabon by Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Glossary viii
Foreword by G. C. Morrison ix
Introduction xi
Map of Nigeria xiv
Map of Angola xv
1. Nigeria: The Bisichi Tin Company 1
Forum camp 4
The ‘pagans’ 15
The Hausas 19
A few more observations about the Hausas 28
2. Forum Camp 31
Du camp 48
The return journey 62
A summary of tin mining in Nigeria 64
Nigeria today 66
3. Angola: The Zambesia Exploring Company 69
24 January 1930 to 27 February 1931 69
A trip to the wild north 81
4. The Blackwell Partnership 95
28 February to 25 April 1930 95
5. The Cavaco Trip 113
v
CONTENTS
26 April to 10 June 1930 113
William’s musings on Angolan labourers 130
6. From Catumbella to the Uaque River 137
10 June to 16 August 1930 137
The Uaque River prospect: copper at last 156
7. The Uaque to the Cubal River 167
18 August to 10 October 1930 167
Epilogue 187
Index 189
vi
List of illustrations
1. Captain William J. Chads. xvi
2. Landing boats at Sekondi, Gold Coast (now Ghana). 3
3. William’s first bedroom. 5
4. In Forum camp. 6
5. Stripping overburden with water at Mission Creek. 9
6. The big shovel at work at camp 1060. 11
7. Big and little shovel and tractor at camp 1060. 12
8. Sluice boxes at camp 1060. 13
9. A monitor at Mission Creek. 33
10. Sluice boxes and tin shed at camp 1060. 37
11. William’s house at paddock 259. 54
12. The gravel pump at paddock 259. 57
13. Double 20-inch pipeline bridge at camp 25. 59
14. New road to No. 2 camp. 60
15. Granite rock about 1200 feet high. 65
16. William’s first camp 20 kilometres from Benguela. 77
17. A prospector’s camp outfit. 78
18. Flooded out from the river bed at camp 123. 92
19. The Cavaco River. 114
20. Baobab tree, 59-inch circumference measured
eight feet from the ground. 121
21. In the granite plateau. 122
22. River Bolombo passing through limestone
near Egito. 141
23. Crossing River Eval on coast road in the
dry season. 148
24. Bananas, coffee and more. 169
vii
Glossary
adobe sun-dried clay brick used as a
building material
alkali local Nigerian judge
baraki mining camp
barraque men’s housing quarters in camp
batook special form of African drum
biltong strips of dried raw meat
bushcow short-horned West African buffalo
capataz foreman
chef de poste labour recruiter
chop food
chupoya portable bed
fuba crushed mealies (local staple diet)
leat trench or channel for conveying
water
mallam a man educated in Koranic studies
materiales de guerre war materials
palaver argument (in West African context)
or discussion
sala Muslim religious festival
seraki king
shengie hut
veld open country
waca clumsy
zareba thorn gazebo
viii
Foreword by G. C. Morrison
W
ill Chads was a great character, of that there can
be no doubt. Essentially over many years our
relationship was that of master and servant. As
his stockbroker, he would walk into my office unannounced
and unexpected, frequently when there was absolute bedlam
with telephones ringing all around, and stand silently in the
doorway until someone noticed him – a tall commanding
figure in a rather crumpled beige lounge suit that must have
seen many years service in the tropics, a smile on his face
and a silver-topped cane completed the picture.
On one occasion when he looked particularly dishevelled,
I asked him if next time he looked in the office, he would
wear a better suit so that the other stockbrokers in the
building would not think that we were rotten stockbrokers!
He laughed, as I knew he would.
On being asked to sit down, there would follow a few
minutes of banter. He was known as Captain Chads to the
older members of our staff. On his personal effects I once
noticed that a box had Major Chads printed on the side but
such was his commanding presence, I never had the courage
to ask why.
During the years I knew him, he had what seemed to me to
be a well balanced life – winter indulging his love of opera
and summers spent with his interest in tennis – rumour had
it that in his younger years he played for his county.
Certainly, I had many happy days at Wimbledon with him
in the best seats and only once was payment requested – to
pump up the tyres of his elderly but distinguished Daimler.
He was a very generous man and I went with him on several
occasions to the opera – again in the best seats. On the last
ix
