At Which Time James' 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 L. .20,000. 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.
The commodities exported to the Gambia from Europe consist chiefly of
fire-arms and ammunition, iron ware, spirituous liquors, tobacco, cotton
caps, a small quantity of broad cloth, and a few articles of the
manufacture of Manchester; a small assortment of India goods, with some
glass beads, amber, and other trifles; for which are taken in exchange
slaves, gold dust, ivory, bees-wax, and hides. Slaves are the chief
article, but the whole number which at this time are annually exported
from the Gambia, by all nations, is supposed to be under one thousand.
Most of these unfortunate victims are brought to the coast in periodical
caravans; many of them from very remote inland countries; for the
language which they speak is not understood by the inhabitants of the
maritime districts. In a subsequent part of my work I shall give the best
information I have been able to collect concerning the manner in which
they are obtained. On their arrival at the coast, if no immediate
opportunity offers of selling them to advantage, they are distributed
among the neighbouring villages, until a slave ship arrives, or until
they can be sold to black traders, who sometimes purchase on speculation.
In the meanwhile, the poor wretches are kept constantly fettered, two and
two of them being chained together, and employed in the labours of the
field; and I am sorry to add, are very scantily fed, as well as harshly
treated. The price of a slave varies according to the number of
purchasers from Europe and the arrival of caravans from the interior; but
in general I reckon that a young and healthy male, from 16 to 25 years of
age, may be estimated on the spot from L. 18 to L. 20 sterling.
The Negro slave merchants, as I have observed in the former chapter, are
called _Slatees_; who, besides slaves, and the merchandize which they
bring for sale to the whites, supply the inhabitants of the maritime
districts with native iron, sweet smelling gums and frankincense, and a
commodity called _Shea-toulou_, which, literally translated, signifies
_tree-butter_. This commodity is extracted by means of boiling water from
the kernel of a nut, as will be more particularly described hereafter; it
has the consistence and appearance of butter; and is in truth an
admirable substitute for it. It forms an important article in the food of
the natives, and serves also for every domestic purpose in which oil
would otherwise be used. The demand for it is therefore very great.
In payment of these articles, the maritime states supply the interior
countries with salt, a scarce and valuable commodity, as I frequently and
painfully experienced in the course of my journey. Considerable
quantities of this article, however, are also supplied to the inland
natives by the Moors; who obtain it from the salt pits in the Great
Desert, and receive in return corn, cotton cloth, and slaves.
In thus bartering one commodity for another, many inconveniences must
necessarily have arisen at first from the want of coined money, or some
other visible and determinate medium, to settle the balance, or
difference of value, between different articles, to remedy which, the
natives of the interior make use of small shells called _kowries_, as
will be shown hereafter. On the coast, the inhabitants have adopted a
practice which, I believe, is peculiar to themselves.
In their early intercourse with Europeans, the article that attracted
most notice was iron. Its utility, in forming the instruments of war and
husbandry, made it preferable to all others; and iron soon became the
measure by which the value of all other commodities was ascertained. Thus
a certain quantity of goods, of whatever denomination, appearing to be
equal to a bar of iron, constituted, in the trader's phraseology, a bar
of that particular merchandize. Twenty leaves of tobacco, for instance,
were considered as a _bar_ of tobacco; and a gallon of spirits (or rather
half spirits and half water) as a _bar_ of rum; a bar of one commodity
being reckoned equal in value to a bar of another commodity.
As, however, it must unavoidably happen, that according to the plenty or
scarcity of goods at market, in proportion to the demand, the relative
value would be subject to continual fluctuation, greater precision has
been found necessary; and at this time the current value of a single bar
of any kind is fixed by the whites at two shillings sterling. Thus a
slave, whose price is L. 15, is said to be worth 150 bars.
In transactions of this nature, it is obvious that the white trader has
infinitely the advantage over the African, whom, therefore, it is
difficult to satisfy; for, conscious of his own ignorance, he naturally
becomes exceedingly suspicious and wavering; and, indeed, so very
unsettled and jealous are the Negroes in their dealings with the whites,
that a bargain is never considered by the European as concluded until the
purchase money is paid, and the party has taken leave.
Having now brought together such general observations on the country and
its inhabitants, as occurred to me during my residence in the vicinage of
the Gambia, I shall detain the reader no longer with introductory matter,
but proceed, in the next chapter, to a regular detail of the incidents
which happened, and the reflections which arose in my mind, in the course
of my painful and perilous journey, from its commencement until my return
to the Gambia.
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