These Men Eat
Readily Of Such Things As We Had To Give Them, And Seemed Quite
Contented.
During the night, the negroes kept a light on shore over
against us; and about one o'clock, A.M.
We saw the flash of a _base_,
which was twice shot off at the light, and then two _calivers_ were
discharged, which in the end we perceived came from a Portuguese
brigantine that followed us from place to place, to warn the natives to
have no dealings with us.
[Footnote 253: In the margin, Hakluyt sets down the voyage of Robert
Gainsh to Guinea as in 1554; yet does not mention where that voyage is
to be found, or that it is the same voyage published in his second
edition, under the name of Lok, instead of Gainsh to whom it was
ascribed in his first edition. All the light we have into the matter
from the second edition, is from a marginal note at the beginning of
Loks voyage, in which Robert Gainsh is said to have been master of the
John Evangelist; neither is there any mention of this villainous
transaction in the relation of that voyage. Such crimes deserve severe
punishment; since a whole community may suffer for the fault of one bad
man. - Astl. I. 160, a.]
In the morning of the 15th, the negro chief came down to the coast
attended by 100 men, bringing his wife along with him, and many others
brought their wives also, as they meant to remain by the sea side till
they had bought what they wanted, and their town was eight miles up the
country. Immediately on his arrival, the chief sent our man on board,
and offered to come himself if we would give two of our men in pledge
for him. I accordingly sent him two, but he only retained one, and came
on board accompanied by his wife and several friends, bringing me a goat
and two great roots, for which I gave him in return a latten basin, a
white basin, six _manillios_ and a bottle of _Malmsey_, and to his wife
a small casket. After this we began to adjust our measure and weight. He
had a weight of his own, equal to an angel and 14 grains, and required a
measure of 4-1/2 ells. In fine we concluded the 8th part[254], for an
angel and 20 grains; and before we had done he took my own weight and
measure. The 16th I took 8 libs. 1 oz. of gold. Since the departure of
the Hind I had not heard of her; but when our pledge went into the
country the first night he said that he saw her at anchor about 5
leagues from us. The 17th I sold about 17 pieces of cloth, for which I
got 4 libs. 4-1/2 oz. of gold. The 18th the chief desired to purchase
some of our wine, offering half a gold ducat for a bottle; but I gave
him one freely, and made him and his train drink besides. This day I
took 5 libs. 5 oz. of gold. The 19th I sold about 18 pieces of cloth,
and took 4 libs. 4-1/2 oz. of gold. The 20th 3 libs. 6-1/4 oz; the 21st
8 libs. 7-1/4 oz; the 22d 3 libs. 8-1/4 oz: And about 4 o'clock this
night[255] the chief and all his people went away. The 23d we were waved
on shore by other negroes, and sold them cloth, caskets, knives, and a
dozen bells, for 1 lib. 10 oz. of gold. The 24th we sold bells,
sheets[256], and thimbles, for 2 libs. 1-1/4 oz. of gold. The 25th we
sold 7 doz. of small bells and other things, and finding their gold all
gone, we weighed and sailed to leewards in search of the Hind, which we
found about 5 o'clock, P.M. and understood she had made some sales.
[Footnote 254: The meaning is here obscure; perhaps the word _less_ is
omitted, and the bargain was for a measure an eighth part less than that
originally proposed. - E.]
[Footnote 255: Perhaps we should rather understand 4 o'clock next
morning? - E.]
[Footnote 256: Perhaps this ought to be sheers or scissars? - E.]
The 26th we received from the Hind 48 libs. 3-1/8 oz. of gold, which
they had taken while we were asunder; and this day, on the request of a
negro sent us by the chief, we went on shore with our merchandise and
took 7 libs, 1 oz. of gold. At this place they required no pledges from
us, yet sent every night a man to sleep on board, as an assurance that
they would come to us next day. The 27th in both ships we took 8 libs.
1-7/8 oz. of gold. The 28th we made sales to the amount of 1 lib. 1/3
oz. for the company. The 29th in the morning we heard two caliver shots
on shore, which we judged might either be the Portuguese or some of
their negroes, and we accordingly manned our boats, armed ourselves and
our men, and went on shore, but they were gone off. The 30th we made
more sales both for the company and the masters. The 31st we sent our
boats on shore to take in sand for ballast; and our men met the negroes
with whom they had dealt the day before, who were now employed fishing,
and helped them to fill sand; and having now no gold, sold fish to our
men for their handkerchiefs and neckerchiefs. The 1st of February we
weighed and went to another place, where we took 1 lib. 9 1/3 oz. of
gold. The 2d we made more sales; but on taking a survey of our
provisions, we resolved not to stay much longer on the coast, most of
our drink being spent, and what remained turning sour.
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