The People Were Civil, But Sold Every Thing Very Dear; And
As Our Officers Staid Longer At The Town Than Was Intended, We Began To
Suspect They Were Detained, As The Mahometans Are Very Treacherous.
We
heard from them, however, every day; and on the 5th Mr Connely came
down, and told us there were four lasts of rice coming down from the
king, for which it had been agreed to pay 600 dollars, and that Mr
Vanburgh had been detained in security of payment.
The rice came next
morning, and was distributed equally among our four ships, some great
men coming along with it to receive the money. At this time also we in
our turn detained a Portuguese who came from the king, till our boat
should be allowed to return; and after this, provisions became more
plentiful and cheaper.
The town of Bouton is built on the acclivity of a hill, and on the top
of the hill is a fort surrounded by an old stone wall, on which some
guns and pattereroes are placed. The king and a considerable number of
people dwell in this fort, in which a market is held every day for the
sale of provisions. The king has five wives, besides several concubines,
being attended by four men carrying great canes with silver heads, who
are called pury bassas, and who seem to manage all his affairs. His
majesty goes always bare-footed and bare-legged, being for the most part
clad like a Dutch skipper, with a sort of green gauze covering strewed
with spangles over his long black hair; but when he appears in state, he
wears a long calico gown over his jacket, and sits on a chair covered
with red cloth. He is always attended by a sergeant and six men armed
with match-locks; besides three others, one of whom wears a head-piece
and carries a large drawn scymitar, another has a shield, and a third a
large fan. Four slaves sit at his feet, one holding his betel box,
another a lighted match, the third his box of tobacco for smoking, and
the fourth a spitting bason. The petty kings and other great men sit on
his left hand and before him, every one attended by a slave, and they
chew betel or tobacco in his presence, sitting cross-legged, and when
they speak to him they lift their hands joined to their foreheads.
The town of Bouton is very populous, and beside it runs a fine river,
said to come from ten miles up the country. The tide ebbs and flows a
considerable way up this river, which has a bar at its mouth, so that
boats cannot go in or come out at low water. At least 1500 boats belong
to this river, fifty of which are war proas, armed with pattereroes, and
carrying forty or fifty men each. Fifty islands are said to be tributary
to this king, who sends his proas once a year to gather their stated
tribute, which consists in slaves, every island giving him ten
inhabitants out of every hundred.
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