It Sometimes Happens, Indeed, When No Ships
Are On The Coast, That A Humane And Considerate Master Incorporates
His Purchased Slaves Among His Domestics; And Their Offspring At
Least, If Not The Parents, Become Entitled To All The Privileges Of
The Native Class.
The earliest European establishment on this celebrated river was a
factory of the Portuguese, and to this must be ascribed the
introduction of the numerous words of that language which are still
in use among the negroes.
The Dutch, French, and English afterwards
successively possessed themselves of settlements on the coast; but
the trade of the Gambia became, and continued for many years, a sort
of monopoly in the hands of the English. In the travels of Francis
Moore is preserved an account of the Royal African Company's
establishments in this river in the year 1730; at which the James's
factory alone consisted of a governor, deputy-governor, and two
other principal officers; eight factors, thirteen writers, twenty
inferior attendants and tradesmen; a company of soldiers, and
thirty-two negro servants; besides sloops, shallops, and boats, with
their crews; and there were no less than eight subordinate factories
in other parts of the river.
The trade with Europe, by being afterwards laid open, was almost
annihilated. The share which the subjects of England at this time
hold in it supports not more than two or three annual ships; and I
am informed that the gross value of British exports is under 20,000
pounds. The French and Danes still maintain a small share, and the
Americans have lately sent a few vessels to the Gambia by way of
experiment.
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