TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

This book was printed in 1735 and this etext is a careful reproduction of that original text. No spelling and very few punctuation corrections have been made in order to preserve the historical value of the original work.

All dates are Julian calendar dates; a new year begins on March 25th. When a year is given for a date between January 1st and March 24th it is shown in this etext as 172⁰/₁ or 172¹/₂ or 172²/₃.

The long-s ſ has been replaced by s throughout the etext.

Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book.

All changes noted in the [ERRATA] on page 266 have been applied to the etext. Each change is indicated by a dotted gray underline.

The page numbering of the main text starts at 1, 2 then jumps to 19, 20, 21 etc. No pages are missing, it is a printing error by the original publisher.

A few minor changes to the text, mostly obvious compositor errors, are noted at the [end of the book]. These are indicated by a dashed blue underline.

Lately Publish’d,

In a neat Pocket Volume, Price 3s.

The Navy Surgeon: Or, A Practical System of Surgery. Illustrated with Observations on such remarkable Cases as have occurred to the Author’s Practice in the Royal Navy. To which is added, A Treatise on the Venereal Disease, the Causes, Symptoms, and Method of Cure by Mercury: An Enquiry into the Origin of that Distemper; in which the Dispute between Dr. Dover, and Dr. Turner, concerning Crude Mercury, is fully consider’d; with Useful Remarks thereon. Also an Appendix, containing Physical Observations on the Heat, Moisture, and Density of the Air on the Coast of Guinea, the Colour of the Natives; the Sicknesses which they and the Europeans trading thither are subject to; with a Method of Cure. By John Atkins, Surgeon.

Printed for Ward and Chandler, at the Ship, between the Temple-Gates in Fleet-Street; and Sold at their Shop in SCARBOROUGH.

A
VOYAGE
TO
Guinea, Brasil, and the
West-Indies;

In His Majesty’s Ships, the Swallow
and Weymouth.

Describing the several Islands and Settlements, viz—Madeira, the Canaries, Cape de Verd, Sierraleon, Sesthos, Cape Apollonia, Cabo Corso, and others on the Guinea Coast; Barbadoes, Jamaica, &c. in the West-Indies.

The Colour, Diet, Languages, Habits, Manners, Customs, and Religions of the respective Natives, and Inhabitants.

With Remarks on the Gold, Ivory, and Slave-Trade; and on the Winds, Tides and Currents of the several Coasts.

By JOHN ATKINS,
Surgeon in the Royal Navy.

Illi Robur & Æs triplex

Circa Pectus erat, qui fragilem truci

Commisit Pelago Ratem

Primus——

Horat.

LONDON;

Printed for Cæsar Ward and Richard Chandler, at the Ship, between the Temple-Gates in Fleet-Street; And Sold at their Shop in Scarborough. M.DCC.XXXV.

PREFACE

The Publishing of this Voyage, is from a Supposition that it contains something useful to those following in the same Track, and that it will be no unprofitable Amusement to others who do not. I shall therefore wave all Apology, and instead, proceed to a Reflection or two, on the Life and Element we occupy.

And first, The Man whose Means of Subsistence irreversibly depends on the Sea, is unhappy because he forsakes his proper Element, his Wife, Children, Country, and Friends, all that can be called pleasant (and of Necessity, not Choice) to tempt unknown Dangers, on that deceitful, trackless Path; Lee Shores, Tempests, Wants of some kind or other, bad Winds, or the rougher Passions of our selves, are continually molesting; and if common Danger under one adopted Parent (Neptune) does not always unite us, yet we are still cooped like Fowls, to the same Diet and Associates.

“Till chang’d at length and to the Place conform’d

In Temper and in Nature we receive

Familiar the fierce Heat.”

Milton. B. II.

Tophet[1] with Stink of Suffolk Vaporous

Obscures the Glim; that visive and olfactive Nerves

In us feel dreadful Change.

And to compleat our ill Luck, while we are thus contending with sinister Fate, the Rogues at home perhaps are stealing away the Hearts of our Mistresses and Wives. Are not these a hapless Race thus doomed!

A Sea-Life absolutely considered, had so much of Hardship and Danger, that in King John’s Time a national Synod ordained, no married Persons should go beyond Sea without publishing their mutual Consent; which, I apprehend, proceeded from this Foundation: That it should not be in the power of one to thrust himself on Difficulties and Hazard, that would make the other equally unhappy. The Saxons before, made a Law, that if a Merchant crossed the wide Sea three times, he should be honoured with the Title of Thane, (Rapin, p. 15.) and the Monarchs of the East shew their Approbation, by still leaving the rough Dominion of it to Christians. There are Circumstances notwithstanding, which may abate the Infelicity, and give real Pleasure: Such chiefly in the Navy, are a Defence of one’s Country, a Livelihood, being better manned and provided against Dangers than Trading Ships; Good-natur’d Officers, a mutual good Treatment, seeing the Wonders of the Deep, and at last, maimed or decrepid, a Retreat to Superannuation, or that noble Foundation of Greenwich-Hospital; to which of late Years must be added, the Satisfaction Officers receive from that generous Contribution for supporting their Widows, and consequently the Children they may leave behind them.

This charitable Project is governed by the following Articles, established by His present Majesty.

I.

That Widows of Commission and Warrant Officers of the Royal Navy, shall be reputed proper Objects of the Charity, whose Annual Incomes arising from their Real and Personal Estates, or otherwise, do not amount to the following Sums, viz.

And that where any such Widow is possessed of, or interested in any Sum of Money, the Annual Income and Produce thereof, shall be computed and deemed, as annually yielding Three Pounds per Centum, and no more.

II.

That to avoid Partiality and Favour in the Distribution of the Charity, Widows of Officers of the same Rank shall have an equal Allowance, the Proportion of which shall be fixed Annually by the Court of Assistants, according to their Discretion; and that in order thereunto, the said Court may distribute Annually such Part of the Monies, arising by the said Charity, among the Widows, as they think proper; and to lay out such other Part thereof in South-Sea Annuities, or other Government Securities, as to them shall seem meet, for raising a Capital Stock for the general Benefit of the Charity, where the Application is not particularly directed by the Donors.

III.

That in the Distribution of Allowances to poor Widows, the same be proportionate to one another, with respect to the Sum each is to receive, according to the following Division, viz.

The Widow of a Captain or Commander shall receive a Sum One Third more than the Widow of a Lieutenant or Master.

The Widow of a Lieutenant or Master shall receive a Sum One Third more than the Widow of a Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, Purser, Surgeon, Second Master of a Yacht, or Master of a Naval Vessel Warranted by the Navy Board.

IV.

That Widows admitted to an Annual Allowance from the Charity, shall begin to enjoy it from the First Day of the Month following the Decease of their Husbands, provided they apply within Twelve Months for the same; otherwise, from the Time of their Application.

V.

That if any Widow, admitted to the Charity, marries again, her Allowance from thenceforth shall cease.

VI.

That in order to prevent Abuses, no Widow shall be admitted to the Benefit of the Charity, who has not been married for the Space of Twelve Months to the Officer by whose Right she claims the same, unless the said Officer was killed or drowned in the Sea Service. And if any Officer marries after the Age of Seventy Years, his Widow shall be deemed unqualified to receive the Charity.

VII.

That if the Widow of an Officer lives in the Neighbourhood of any of His Majesty’s Dock-Yards, the Commissioner of the Navy residing there, and some of the Principal Officers of the Yard, or the said Officers of the Yard, where there is no Commissioner, shall inform themselves thoroughly of the Circumstances of the Deceased; and being satisfied that the Widow comes within the Rules of the Charity, shall sign and give her the following Certificate gratis, viz.

These are to certify the Court of Assistants for managing the Charity for Relief of Poor Widows of Commission and Warrant Officers of the Royal Navy, That A. B. died on the _________ and has left the Bearer C. B. a Widow; and according to the best Information we can get from others, and do really believe ourselves, is not possessed of a clear annual Income to the Value of ___________ and therefore she appears to us to be entituled to the Benefit of the said Charity under their Direction.

Besides which, the Widow is to make Affidavit, that her Annual Income is not better than is expressed in the said Certificate, and that she was legally married (naming the Time when, and the Place where) to the Officer, in whose Right she claims the Benefit of the Charity.

VIII.

That if the Widow resides in any other Part of his Majesty’s Dominions, a Certificate of the like Nature is to be signed by the Minister of the Parish, a Justice of the Peace, and two or more Officers of the Navy, who are best acquainted with her Circumstances; and she is to make such Affidavit as is before mentioned.

IX.

That all Widows applying for the Benefit of the Charity, are to make Affidavit, that they are unmarried.

X.

That Widows admitted to the Charity shall once in every Year, at the Time that shall be appointed, bring to the Court of Assistants their Affidavits, containing a particular State of their Circumstances, and that they continue unmarried.

XI.

That Widows of Masters and Surgeons are to apply to the Navy Office, and receive from thence a Certificate of the Quality of their Husbands in the Navy, which shall be given them Gratis, before they apply to the Court of Assistants, to be admitted to the Charity.

XII.

That no Officer or Servant employed in the Business or Service of this Charity, shall receive any Salary, Reward, or other Gratuity, for his Pains or Service in the Affairs of the said Charity, but that the whole Business thereof shall be transacted Gratis.

Secondly, Of the different Seas we traverse.

The Mediterranean, from the Climate, Fertility, and Beauty of the Countries bordering on it, claims the Preference, I think, of all Seas; and recompenses more largely the Fatigues of a Voyage. What is peculiar, and makes them more than others pleasant, is, First, the Temperature of their Air, neither too hot nor cold, but a pleasant Mediocrity, that is, Spring or Summer all the Year. Secondly, Being of a moderate Compass: A Man by a little conversing with Maps, fixes an Idea of his Distances, his Stages from Place to Place, and may measure them over in his Head with the same Facility he would a Journey from London to York. Thirdly, Thus acquainted with the daily Progress, our Approaches please in a Proportion to the Danger and Wants we go from, and the Remedy and Port we go to. Leghorn, Genoa, Naples, &c. have their different Beauties. Fourthly, The confining Lands on the European and African Side being mountainous, and the Sea interspersed with Islands, gives these Priorities to main Oceans, viz. that you cannot be long out of sight of some Land or other, and those flowing with Milk and Honey, no ordinary Comfort, excepting when they are Lee Shores. Secondly, If the Hills be to Windward, they take off the Force of strong Winds, and make a smooth Sea. And thirdly, The same Hills to Leeward, do by their Height give a Check to Storms; the Air stagnating by their Interposition, I have observed frequently in shore, to become a gentle Gale.

Lastly, The greatest Pleasure of those Seas, is visiting Towns and Countrys that have been worthy History; the most famous do somewhere or other border there, and have given birth to the greatest Men and greatest Actions. Greece, that was the Mother of Arts and Sciences, the Oracle of the World, that brought forth a Homer, Socrates, Alexander, &c. and was one of the four great Empires, stands to those Seas (though changed now to European Turky, by a Progress as wonderful) so does Italy, the Seat of the last universal Empire. That Rome, which subjected almost all the Kings and Kingdoms of the known World, gave Britain Laws, and left every where eternal Monuments of their Power and Magnificence: Here lived Virgil, Horace, Cæsar——Hither some say St. Paul made his Voyage, having coasted along Crete, and suffered Shipwreck at Malta, Islands famous here, the one being the Birth-place of Jupiter, the other for a renowned Order of Knights, the professed Defenders of Christianity against the Turk.

Volcanos, Catacombs, Triumphal Arches, and Pillars, Baths, Aqueducts, and Amphitheatres, are peculiar Curiosities of Italy. There is scarcely a Spot in that delicious Country, but is recorded for some remarkable Occurrence; is memorable for High-ways, Grottos, Lakes, Statues, Monuments, some Victory gained, or Battle lost, the Birth or Death of Cæsar or his Friends. On the African Side, stands or did stand, Carthage, Troy, Tyre, Nice, Ephesus, Antioch, Smyrna; and on that shore was once Christianity firmly planted (no less than 300 Bishops being expelled thence;) but alas how all things change! neither Greatness nor Virtue can exempt from Mortality: Towns, Countries, and Religions, have their Periods.

Thebes, Nineveh, &c. are now no more.

Oppida posse mori,

Si quæras Helicen & Burin, Achaidas Urbes,

Invenies sub Aquis.

They have a determined Time to flourish, decay, and die in. Corn grows where Troy stood: Carthage is blotted out. Greece and her Republicks (Athens, Sparta, Corinth,) with other fam’d Asian and African Cities the Turkish Monarchy has overturned. Their Magnificence, Wealth, Learning, and Worship, is changed into Poverty and Ignorance; and Rome, the Mother of all, overrun with Superstition. Who, on the one hand, but feels an inexpressible Pleasure in treading over that Ground, he supposes such Men inhabited, whose Learning and Virtues have been the Emulation of all succeeding Ages? And who again but must mourn such a melancholly Transposition of the Scene, and spend a few funeral Reflections over such extraordinary Exequiæ: Perhaps the Revolution of as many Ages, as has sunk their Glory, may raise it again, or carry it to the Negroes and Hottentots, and the present Possessors be debased.

The next pleasant Sailing to the Mediterranean, is that part of the Atlantick, Southern, Pacifick, South, or Indian Seas, that are within the Limits of a Trade-Wind; because such Winds are next to invariable, of such moderate Strength as not to raise heavy Seas, or strain a Ship; no Storms at Distance from Land; and equal Days and Nights.

The Atlantick, and Southern Ocean, without the Limits of this Trade-Wind, that is, from 30 to 60°° of Latitude, are far the worst for Navigation; wide, rough, and boisterous Seas, more subject to Clouds, Storm, and Tempest, variable Weather; long, dark, cold Nights, and less delightful Countries and Climates out of Europe.

Lastly, Beyond 60 Degrees of Latitude we have little Commerce, and the Seas less frequented; the Countries growing more and more inhospitable, as Latitude and Cold increases towards the Pole; however, Men who have used Greenland, tell me, those inclement Skies contain no other Vapors, than Mist, Sleet, and Snow; the Sea less ruffled with Winds, which blow for the most part Northerly, towards the Sun, i. e. towards a more rarified Air, seen in those Drifts of Ice from thence, that are found far to the Southward, both on the European and American side. Another Advantage to cheer the Winter’s Melancholy of Northern Regions, is the Moon’s shining a Length proportioned to the Absence of the Sun; so that where he is entirely lost, she[2] never sets, but with reflected and resplendent Light on Ice and Snow, keeps up their Consolation.

In all Seas are met numerous Incidents and Appearances, worthy our Reflection. I have therefore gone on to Observations more instructive and amusing. If the Solutions are not every where Standard, they may strike out Hints to better Capacities; among those, I can perceive two more liable to Objection.

First, The Pythagorean Soliloquy I set out with (p. 18.) which may be deemed too foreign for the Subject: To which I answer——A Voyage to Sea is a Type of that dark and unknown one we are to make in Death: Wherefore it is not unnatural with a Departure from the Land’s End of England, shooting into an Abyss of Waters, to consider a little on that Life, which lost is a Departure from the World’s End, and to launch into a greater Abyss, Eternity;—The Principle, in what is material of us, I think, highly consonant to Reason, and continues still the Doctrine of the Eastern Sages.

Diversæ autem corpora formæ non sunt nisi diversæ modificationes ejusdem materiæ, &c.

(Keil de legibus naturæ.)

E. G. Vapors condensed to Rain, we see descend on Earth; and both enter and pass into the Seeds and Forms of all Plants. From them, either taken alone, or amassed in animal Food, is what constitutes and repairs by a daily Eating, our own Bodies; which if there be any Trust to Sense or Reason, moulds, decays, and turns again to Dust and Air, in order for Regeneration.

What only can destroy this Philosophy (as I observe at that place) and maintain a Resurrection of the same Body, is Revelation, and the Immortality of the Soul; for Sameness, or Identity then, will not consist in the same individual Particles being united, that makes our Bodies here, (which we are sure are continually fluctuating, and changing while we live;) but on that Consciousness which the immaterial Part will give, though joined to Matter, taken from the Top of Olympus.

Secondly, The Denial of Canibals against the Authority of grave Authors, has proceeded from a Persuasion, that the Charge carries the highest Reproach on Humanity, and the Creator of it. My Aim, therefore, was to shew in the best manner I could, that the Accusation every where has probably proceeded from Fear in some, to magnify the Miracle of escaping an inhospitable and strange Country, and from Design in others, to justify Dispossession, and arm Colonies with Union and Courage against the supposed Enemies of Mankind. Conquest and Cruelty, by that means go on with pleasure on the People’s side, who are persuaded they are only subduing of brutish Nature, and exchanging, for their mutual Good, Spiritual for Temporal Inheritances. By particular and private Men, this may have been fixed on a People, to allay some base or villainous Actions of their own, that could not any other way be excused, or bear the Light: And for this, I appeal to the discerning part of our Traders, acquainted with Guinea, whether they do not think the Reports of Cape St. Mary’s Inhabitants, Cape Mont, Montzerado, Drewin, and Callabar, down-right Falsities, and impolitick ones; for the multiplying of Places, like Plots, in a great measure destroys the Use of them.

At the Caribbees again, it is full as preposterous; for on small Islands, had their Women bred like Rabbits, they must have been desolated Ages before the Europeans Arrival; unless we can suppose human Flesh was eat only on their Feast-Days; or that they just commenced Monsters upon our Discovery.——La Hontan, or some other French Translation I have read, talking of Canibals bordering on Canada, flies into a strange Gallicism, and makes them commend the Flesh of a Frenchman (sad Partiality) in Eating, as of finer Taste than that of an Englishman.

These, with Europeans neglecting to charge the East-Indians thus, who have more Power than simple Americans or Negroes to resent the Indignity and Reproach, makes me disbelieve the whole of what I have hitherto heard; and that the true Anthropophagi are only the diverse Insects infesting us in diverse Countries; the Pediculose Kind do not live in hot Climates; instead thereof, they are assaulted with a ravenous Fly called Muskito; Legions that live wild in the Woods, and seize with every Opportunity, human Flesh, like Lions.

As there is a strict Regard to Truth observed throughout the whole, it is apprehended the following Sheets will be not only amusing, but useful.

A
VOYAGE
TO
Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies;

In His Majesty’s Ships, the Swallow,
and Weymouth, &c.

We took in eight Months Provisions each, at Portsmouth; Stores, Careening-Geer, and Necessaries requisite to continue us a double Voyage down the Coast of Guinea, for meeting, if possible, with the Pyrates; who did then very much infest those Parts, and destroy our Trade and Factories. Accordingly the Company’s Governors for Gambia and other Places, embark’d under our Convoy, and were to have what Support we could give them, in restoring the Credit of the Royal African Company; which begun now to take new life under the Influence of the Duke of Chandois.

For this Purpose we set sail from Spithead February 5th, 172⁰/₁.

It is a Pleasure we have beyond the Merchant-Service in sailing, that we are forbid Commerce. When Men of War have no other Lading than Provisions and Necessaries, the Duty of Sailors is eased, and their Conveniencies better; whereas Cargoes, besides dishonouring the Commission, and unfitting the King’s Ships for Action, stifle and sicken a Ship’s Company in warm Climates, impose hard Services, and spoil the Trade of the Merchant they are designed to encourage, and expect a Gratuity from; because Labour and Freight free, they can afford to undersel.

In the Evening from six to nine, we saw those Appearances in the Sky called Capræ saltantes, by the Sailors Morrice-Dancers; they are Streams of Light that suddenly shoot into one another, and disappear for a Minute or two; yet shifting their Stations within the Quarter, in so quick and surprizing a manner as might easily deceive superstitious Times into a belief of Armies in the Air; these, the Scintillæ volantes, and such like nitrous Exhalations, having given rise, it’s probable, to all those Prodigies the Air has heretofore in impious Times abounded with.

The Western Extremity of England that we are now passing by, has been supposed, from the equal Depth of Water found there, from Doors, Windows, and Roots of Trees, formerly (it’s said) hooked up by Fishermen, to have been in Ages past continuous with the rocky little Islands of Scilly, by a Land called Lioness. When I consider the Changes Earthquakes and Inundations have made, and continue insensibly to make on all the different Coasts of the Earth, losing in some places, and gaining in others; and what new Islands have now and then been thrust up on the surface of the Waters by Streams and Currents, subterranean Winds and Fires; the thing does not appear to me altogether conjectural: the Rocks seem now with terrible accent to lament the reparation. Who knows but we likewise are severing eternally from our Friends! it is a Voyage we shall at some time or other make; and those solitary Rocks that bound the last sight to our Homes and Countries, naturally bring to my mind some Reflections on the subject.

Whether when we have shut up this Life we shall remain resolved into our Elements; revive again in some Plant or Animal; or thirdly, be reinstated Soul and Body into Glory, is an Enquiry worthy our utmost Concern and Diligence; as it will sweeten the imbittered Potions of Life, make us patient under Afflictions, and even easy on this treacherous Element the Sea; whom none ought to trust; but they who have a Faith in Providence.

Immortality has been the Ambition of the greatest and wisest Men that have lived, and indeed who would not in the satiety of worldly Objects seek out and desire such a prerogative to his Soul? The Philosophers, rather than lose so comfortable a prospect, have placed it in an Existence that can never concern our Happiness or Misery as Men: The Princes of them having made it to subsist in the universal Soul of the World; from whence, say they, are struck out Scintillations to every thing that has Life; and in Death, what was Elementary, returned to its proper station, and what was Divine in us, to what is Divine in the Universe: a Metempsychosis or Transmigration continuing the World on in the order we see it.

When I ponder on the natural Cause of our Being ... On the Necessity of that Cause to produce us, and what the material Agent is ... On our gradual Advances and Decay; both in respect to Body and Soul ... The Soul’s sympathizing with the disorders of the Body ... Our Sleeps and total Forgetfulness ... Our Susceptibility of Madness or Idiocy, and hebridous Productions, especially that of Man with Beast; I am tempted to think this the most plausible of all Philosophical Opinions, in relation to our future Existence, that we are not Creatures of that consequence we imagine; our Natures neither deserving, nor should they expect in reason any other Immortality than what other Creatures enjoy in their Seed and Transmigration. This Doctrine is what the Eastern Sages, reverenced for their Wisdom, do still propagate, and teach the Heterodox a Lesson of Humility, That Pride was not made for Man: but at the same time it makes me superstitiously fear and abhor a Grave of Waters; which I fancy will subside us too far from the Sun, whose Power is the chief Principle to revive us again in some Plant or Animal on our native Element: which will be such perhaps as, in our Life-time, our Senses were familiar and delighted with; and for which, we had a sympathetical Affection and Tendency to. But then granting the Doctrine, I am considering what the Advantage of such a belief can be to us as Men? Why none. Our personal Identity must be destroyed in the first Transmigration, much more in an infinite Succession; and we (as we) can never after this Life be affected with either Pleasure or Pain. I am therefore on the whole fond of Revelation, and wish that to be Truth which ascribes such Power to Faith, That it can remove Mountains: and therefore, with its fruits concurring, may raise us into immortal Spirits, translate us to Bliss, even without passing through the horrors of Death.

That an Almighty Power can subsist us to Eternity, we are very sure; and that he will do it, I say let it be our Happiness, that we have the Promises of his Gospel; for here only can be a remedy to all worldly Cares; and wherever Death o’er takes us, whether this Voyage or next, so we be upon our Watch, it will transport us to a Port and Treasure fixed. It will free us from Rocks, Sands, and tempestuous Seas, and anchor us in a Haven of Felicity.

The Gale with which we left England, carried us the length of Cape [3]Finisterre into serener Weather, and Sun-shine; but there we met with continued Westerly Winds (very unusual to the Coast of Portugal) which prolonged our Passage. A Day or two’s sail from Madeira, we fell in with Commodore Matthews, in the Lion, bound with a Squadron of four Sail to the East-Indies, on the like Service with ours to Africa, viz. the Suppression of Pyrates.

Abundance of Sea-weed floated about us at 40 Leagues distance, and continued a constant float till we reached the Island; an Argument that the bottom of the Sea, especially where the Depths are decreasing towards any Shore, have a Cloathing of Plants, which are probably the common Nutriment of large Fish. This our Divers in Pearl, and Coral-fishing, have confirmed to 8 or 10 Fathom water; and this, I think, the present Observation proves to be in greater Depths; 1st, Because the Unwieldiness of some, and the manner of being provided for Mastication in others, declares Ruminating, and not Prey, to be the way of Subsistence in many. 2dly, There is a greater Resort toward Shores, than in the distant Ocean, and perhaps, like many little Fish in our own Channels, they may have their Seasons of Rotation, and their Grazing, the Cause of unrooting and throwing it up here. 3dly, Porpoises play about us daily in Shoals, the most familiar great Fish in the Atlantick, and at all Parts of it: They tumble most upon a rough Surface, and against the Wind. Sailors observing these Porpoises, say, they portend Storms. The Latins call them Porci marini, from some Resemblance to the Hog, in it’s Entrails and Bigness, (weighing several Hundred.) These Fish, as they are very numerous, never enticed to the Hook, wasting many of their hours in play, and gradually lessening from Shore, shew they know readily where to make their Meals at the bottom of the Sea, tho’ at other times they certainly prey on smaller and particular Species of Fish: These their Feasts, it’s like, and That their ordinary Diet.

MADEIRA.

This Island, at the first Discovery of it by the Portuguese, about the Year 1420, was over-run with Wood, whence it’s Name. Divided to the two Discoverers, they set the Woods on fire, which Travellers say burnt seven Years; the Ashes giving a vast Fertility to their Sugar-Canes, at the first Planting; till a Worm getting into the Cane, spoiled the Increase, &c. so that it is now entirely planted with Vines brought originally from Candia, which yield the strongest Wines: That called Malmsey is a rich Cordial, the best made at the Jesuit’s Garden in Fonchial. Their Vintage is in September and October, and make about 25000 Pipes.

Others say, one Mecham an Englishman, in a Voyage to Spain was drove on this Island before the Discovery above: That his Crew sailed without him and his Mistress; whom he buried here, left an Inscription on her Tomb, and then in a Canoo of his own building sailed to Barbary; the King presenting him as a Prodigy to the King of Castile: From whole Account, the Spaniard soon after made conquest of the neighbouring Canary Islands. The Island is rocky Mountains, with an Intermixture of little fruitful Plains. The highest Parts, Goat-herds and Woods; the Middle, Kitchen-Gardens; and the Bottom, Vineyards. The Roads bad, which makes them bring their Wines to town in Hog-skins upon Asses; a brownish and a red sort, the latter called Vino tinto, being according to common report stained with Tint, tho’ they assure you it is the natural Grape. They are almost all limed, a Preservative against the excessive Heats of the West-Indies, where they are for the most part transported by us, and where no other Wine keeps well.

Trade is carried on by Bartering, 40 or 50 per Cent. being allowed on an Invoice of Provisions, Cloaths, or Houshold-Goods; of the former sort, Bread, Beef, Pork, Pilchard, Herring, Cheese, Butter, Salt, and Oil, are first in demand. The next are dry Goods, Hats, Wigs, Shirts, Stockings, Kersys, Sagathys, Crapes, Says, Shalloons, and Broadcloths, particularly Black Suits, the usual wear of the Portuguese. The last and least in Expence are Escrutores, Chairs, Pewter, Post-Paper, Counting-books, &c. For these you have in Exchange their Wine at 30 Millrays a Pipe; the Malmsey, 60. each Millray in present Pay 6s. 8d. in Bills 6s. What other little Traffick I had, stands as per Margin.[4]

There is one Caution to be observed; That as there is not much dishonour in Trade to take advantage of a Chapman’s Weakness, it is prudent to see the Wines you have tasted shipped forthwith, or it is odds but the Stranger finds them adulterated: So that altho’ they seem to allow a good Interest on your Goods; yet the Badness of your Wine, or (if good) broke at their Price, lessens the supposed Advantage. Some Goods at particular times, bear an extraordinary Price; not so much by a Call of the Island, as of Brasil, whither they are again exported.

Fonchial is the chief Town of the Island, the Residence of the Governour and Bishop: Is large and populous, has five or six Churches; three Nunneries, not so strict as at Lisbon, we conversing and trading for Toys with them every day; and as many Convents of Fathers. That of the Jesuits has at present in it only seventeen; a neat handsome Building and Chappel: this Order being in all Catholick Countries the most respected for their Learning and Riches. Wherever you find a College of them, you may be sure there is good Living. The other Inhabitants consist of a mixed Race; Portuguese, Blacks, and Molattoes, who are civil, courteous, and equally respected in Trade; the Portuguese no where abroad scrupling an Alliance with darker Colours.

They keep no regular Market, but the Country brings in according as they think will be the Demand at any time: Kid, Pork, and now and then a lean Heifer, Cabbages, Lemons, Oranges, Walnuts, Figs, Yams, Bananoes, &c. There is one Curiosity I found in their Gardens called the everlasting Flower, never fading after gathered, or indiscernibly, in many Years; the Herb is like Sage growing, and the Flower like Camomil: I laid by several of them, and found at twelve Months end they were just of the same freshness as when gathered.

Fonchial Road is very open and unsafe against West and S. W. Winds; deep Water also, that there is no anchoring but at the West End, and that in 40 Fathom, a Mile or Mile and half off Shore: So that when a Swell from those Quarters gives notice of a Gale coming, all Ships in the Road slip their Cables and to Sea, returning at a more favourable season for their lading: Which likewise, by an extraordinary Surf on the Beach, becomes troublesome to ship off; commonly done by swimming the Pipes off to the Lanch, or lade on the Beach, and run her with many hands into the Sea. The like trouble Boats have in Watering (by a River at the W. End of the Town) and is most commodiously done before the Sea-breeze comes in.

The Loo makes a tolerable Harbour for small Vessels against Westerly Winds, that would be unsafe without. They make fast their Cable to a high Rock called the Loo, whereon is a Fort; but when the Winds veer, opening their Heads to the Sea, all Hands go on Shore, and leave the Ship and Storm to contest it by themselves.

Their Lodgings on shore are as uneasy to Strangers, as the Road to Ships; being prodigiously pestered with Bugs and Fleas. Cotts upon the Floors, is the common way of laying.

Their Strength is in the Militia, computed at 18000 disciplin’d and loyal Fellows; They, the Azores, and Cape De Verd Islands soon returning to their Allegiance, after that Revolution in Portugal, 1640.

Before I leave Madeira, I must relate the surprizing Account just arrived here by several Masters of Vessels, Eye-witnesses of a new Island which sprung out of the Sea the 20th of November last, 17 Leagues S. E. from Terceira, one of the Western Islands.

The Master who took a Survey of it by order from the Governour of Terceira, lays it down, a League long, a Mile broad, a little above the surface of the Water, and smoking like a Volcano. After the Eruption, the Sea for several Leagues round was covered with Pumice-stone, and half-broiled Fish. I was curious to know what Symptoms (if any) had preceded this Prodigy at the other Islands; and learned that Pico, one of them, a noted Volcano, had ceased to burn for some time, and that they had felt a Shock or two of an Earthquake that had done considerable damage. Corvo, an Island in this Neighbourhood ([5]Albert de Mandelzo tells us) started up also in such manner, June 16, 1628. And History relates the like in the Archipelago.

That new Islands should be formed in Rivers, as at the Conflux of the Save with the Danube, or Sands shifting in any Channels, may be from the Swiftness of the Streams, wasting some and raising others; but that this Effect should happen in deep Water, 50 or 60 Miles from Shore, is truly wonderful: The Phænomenon seems best resolved here, by subterranean Fires, which from a great Depth and Extent have their Vents at Volcanoes; and as the Consumption of their Materials is more, the nigher they are such Vents (observable in Italy, Iceland, &c.) so their Effects in the neighbourhood of Waters (when by any Accident the Mouth is stopp’d, and they meet) must be Concussions of the Earth, blowing the Mountains away in Cinders; and now and then in Ages, such a Wonder as a new Island, the same as we see (if we may compare great things with small) in several Chymical Preparations. This Island has settled, and probably by the Spunginess of its Materials, may sink in a few Years out of sight again. The ultimate End, is perhaps to strike Mankind with a Dread of Providence, and warn a sinful World against the Consequences of angry Omnipotence: Men generally taking a deeper Impression from something new and wonderful in Nature, than in the Creation or Conservation of the World it self.

CANARIES.

From Madeira we sailed by the Canary Islands, belonging to the Spaniards, and taken by them in 1418.

Palma, remarkable for rich Wines, making 12000 Pipes per Annum.

Ferro, or Ferrara, for our Navigators taking their first Meridian from thence, there being none, or the least Variation; and for a Volcano that now and then breaks out upon it. One in November 1677, seen five Days; and in 1692 broke out again with Earthquakes, and seen six Weeks together: There is also, our Voyages say, a wonderful Tree on it, forty Foot high, that condenses the Clouds in such quantity, as to supply the want of Springs.

Grand Canary, the chief Residence for Governours and Consuls; and Teneriff, for its noted Pike, thought from the shewing it self singly, to be the highest Land in the World. It is a Pyramidal Heap of rough Rocks piled thus (it’s thought by Naturalists) from some subterraneous Conflagration that burst out heretofore.

The Ancients called them Insulæ fortunatæ; it’s likely from the Interception they may have given to the Destruction of Coasters blown off, before the use of the Compass: Cape Non on the Continent being the utmost of their Navigation.

Cape de VERD Islands,

Denominated from the Cape, always green: They were anciently called Hesperides; the Diminutive of Spain, called heretofore Hesperia, propterea quod hæc regio, omnium extrema, sit a sit ad Occidentem; Hesperus, the Evening Star, by a Metaphor signifying the West.

They are inhabited by Portuguese, who welcome all sort of Ships (of good, or ill Design) bound to Guinea, India, Brasil, or the West-Indies; they frequently putting in here to furnish themselves with fresh Provisions, exchanged for Trifles; chiefly at St. Iägo (James) the principal, which has three or four Forts, and where resides the Governour. In several of these Islands there are natural Salt Ponds, kerning great quantities without trouble. The most noted by the English is Maio, or the Isle of May, where many of our Ships lade in Summer; and was, with Tangier, and Bombay in India, Part of Q. Catherine’s Fortune to England. Another of them has a Volcano, and called Del Fuego.

The Land about the Cape appears the Height of that at Deal in Kent; woody, a white even Sand along Shore, and about 28 Fathom Water a League off. Just to the Northward are two or three great Rocks, called by our Sailors Shitten Islands, being white all over with the Dung of Sea-fowls. At the same distance Southward of the Cape, is an Island called Goree, about a League from the Main, has a French Factory with two Forts, commanding all the Trade about the River Senega, from other Nations.

While our Ships lay too here, we had good Fishing with our Lines; took Breams (or Porga’s) Skip-jacks, Groupes, a Rock-fish (thick, short, and of a deep yellow on the Belly, Gills, and Mouth) and the Jew-Fish; which has a double Mouth, the uppermost not to swallow Food, but full of Air-pipes, and finned like a Cod, all well tasted: and having washed them down with a Bowl, our Friends and we parted, the Weymouth steering in for Gambia River with the Governour Colonel Witney, and the Merchants; We for Sierraleon, anchoring there the Beginning of April, 1721.

The Winds from Madeira to Sierraleon at first blew fresh at S. and S. W. and as we came farther to the Southward, they wheel’d gradually on the Western Side of the Circle, quite round to the N. so as in the Latitude of 21 to have it N. E. a true Trade, seven, eight, or nine knots Day and Night; but whether it were the Badness of our half-minute Glasses, the tendency of the Sea with the Wind, or any Current, I cannot tell; but we always found our selves considerably further to the Southward, by Observation every day, than the Distance by the Log would give.

In this Passage, we took up a few Turtle with our Boat. As they sleep and bask upon the Surface, we steal upon them without noise, and throw them in upon their Backs. We saw also abundance of flying Fish, and their continual Enemies, the Albicore and Dolphin; the latter we strike now and then with a Fizgig, or Harping-iron. It is a glorious-colour’d, strait Fish, four or five Foot long, forked Tail, perpendicular to the Horizon: plays familiarly about Ships; is of dry Taste, but makes good Broth. They are seldom seen out of the Latitudes of a Trade-wind; and the flying Fish never: These are the bigness of small Herrings; their Wings about two thirds its length; come narrow from the Body, and end broad; they fly by the help of them a Furlong at a time when pursued, turning in their Flight, sometimes dip in the Sea, and so up again, the Wind making them, by this Expedient, fleeter.

AFRICA in general.

As there is nothing more surprizing and delightful in Voyages or Travels, than beholding the different Habits, Customs, Dieting, and Religion of the different Natives; so there is none I believe, wherein that Difference can be found, so much as here. A Colour, Language and Manners, as wide from ours, as we may imagine we should find in the planetary Subjects above, could we get there.

But before I proceed on any Observations of my own, it may be proper from others, to convey some Idea of Guinea in general; so much as carries Probability, either from the Dead or Living.

Africa, one of the four Quarters of the World, next in bigness to Europe, by the Ancients had several Names; Olympia, Ammonis Ortygia; but the most noted, Apher, from a Nephew, it’s said, of Abraham’s. It extends from about 36 N. to as many Degrees of Southern Latitude; and excepting Egypt, Barbary, Morocco, and in this last Age the Coast of Guinea, is a Country as little known as any Part of the Globe. Marmol says, the Arabians in the 400 of the Hegyra, passed into Afric and divided it. This is certain, that it has many fine large Rivers, some of them navigable for Ships. Along the Banks of these Rivers, the Inhabitants abound with Millet, Rice, Pulse or, Indian-Corn. The further we depart from Morocco on this West Side, or Egypt on the East, there is always found less Industry and more Ignorance: For Governments, tho’ never so tyrannical, are better than none, extending some Improvement to Humanity.

The Niger, which is one of the largest Rivers in Africa, is said to have the same Property of overflowing every Year, like Nile, remunerating to the inland parts a vast Fertility and Increase; and this very probably, because it has been traced some hundred Leagues, and by the Course, descends from the Ethiopian Mountains, the common Fountain of both.

The Senega and Gambia, Branches of this great River, disgorge here at the windward Part of Guinea; they are large Rivers, driving considerable Trade: To the former of these, the King of Morocco extended his Dominions, about 1526, by the Conquest of the Kingdom of Tombuto, which still continues tributary, and whence that King raises considerable Negro Armies, his chief Strength. A College of the Sect of Haly, is founded in Melli, a Kingdom upon this River. They have many Crocodiles or Alligators, Sea-Horses, and Shirks in them. Senega affords great quantity of Gum; and at Gambia begin our Factories for Slaves, Teeth, and Gold, on which this general Remark, That the Slaves there, faring softer from a better Soil, are not so hardy as those lower down. The Teeth are as large, and in as much plenty, as at any one Part of the whole Coast; those taken out of the Sea-Horse are small, not weighing above 5 or 6 Pounds, but more solid than the Elephant’s. And lastly, their Gold is current in what the Traders call Bars, little twisted Lengths, or in Rings of 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8s. Value.

All the great Rivers flow and ebb regularly, being governed by the Moon, as the Tides on our own Coasts; but the Sandiness of the Soil, and Nearness of the Sun, makes the Country between, so extreamly dry, that they have great scarcity of Water for an hundred Miles an end sometimes; and this Drought is what brings the Beasts of all sorts in Droves to the Banks, for satisfying Thirst, (Tygers, Panthers, Leopards, Antelopes, Elephants, Apes; Ostriches, &c.) From which Accident, say they, might probably have happened the many Hebridous Productions that have made this Country the Proverb of all Ages; it continually producing something new or monstrous.

Their chief Diet is Indian Corn, Rice, Palm-nuts, Bananas, Yamms, Pine-apples, and now and then a little Fish, or a Fowl; all which thro’ Ignorance, and want of Necessaries, are very slovenly cooked by them.

Africa is almost a Triangle in shape; the Kingdoms on the North are Mahometans; and in the trading Towns of Barbary, and Turky, there is a little Mixture of Jews. On the Eastern Line next Persia, are said to be some of the Sect of Gaurs, followers of Zoroastes, a very learned Persian Philosopher, that appeared, according to Dr. Prideaux, about 2300 Years ago: He instituted Fire-worship, and established it by a superiour Cunning, through most parts of Persia and India, where there are still some left, poor and despised, (called Persees) since the seventh Century, when the Mahometans over-run that Country, and almost extinguished them. In Æthiopia, (Prester John’s Country) Writers say, are a sort of Christians, still acknowledging the Patriarch of Alexandria; meerly nominal I believe, for the Greeks themselves, much nigher his Pastorship, have since their Conquest by the Turks, in a manner lost their Christianity; Poverty and Ignorance, the Consequence of Captivity having obliterated the outward Pomp, which, next to Power, is the main Pillar in all Religions. Inland, and to the Southern Extremity, they are Pagans. And on this Western Line (the Negroes) all trust to the Gregory or Fetish; which in the bulk of it means no more than what we in Europe call Charms, which in many respects carries strong Superstition, that is, a vain Religion in it; only their consecrated Materials having more Reverence from their Ignorance and Fear, work more stupendous Effects; or are imagined to do so, which is the same thing. So much may serve for a general Idea of Africa, since several of the Articles will, in the progress of the Voyage, be occasionally expatiated on.

SIERRALEON.

By Guinea here, I mean all Negro-land, from about the River Senega Northward, to within a few Degrees of Cape Bon Esperance; because Ships bound to any part of this Extent, are said to be bound to Guinea; and because the People, without these Lines, alter to a dark Colour seen in the Moors at this, and the Hottentots at the other Extremity. The Name (Gordon says) imports hot and dry, and its Gold gives Name to our Coin.

The black Colour, and woolly Tegument of these Guineans; is what first obtrudes it self on our Observation, and distinguishes them from the rest of Mankind, who no where else, in the warmest Latitudes, are seen thus totally changed; nor removing, will they ever alter, without mixing in Generation. I have taken notice in my Navy-Surgeon, how difficultly the Colour is accounted for; and tho’ it be a little Heterodox, I am persuaded the black and white Race have, ab origine, sprung from different-coloured first Parents.

When we parted with the Weymouth off Cape de Verd, we steered S. S. W. to avoid the Shoals of Grandee, and in hawling in for the Land again, waited till we came into the Latitude of Sierraleon, some others laying on the N. Side that River. The Soundings in with the Cape are gradual, from 60 Fathoms about 12 Leagues off, to 13; when we get in sight of Cape Sierraleon, known by a single Tree much larger than the rest, and high land on the back of it. We run up on the Starboard side of the River, anchoring in the third Bay from the Cape; where is very commodious watering and wooding; and regular Tides, as in any part of the Channel of England.

Remark 1. The Trade for our African Company here, is carried on from Bense or Brent Island, about 5 Leagues distance from our Anchorage, by Factors, of whom Mr. Plunket is chief. The private Traders are about 30 in number, settled on the Starboard side of the River: loose privateering Blades, that if they cannot trade fairly with the Natives, will rob; but then don’t do it so much in pursuance of that trading Advice, (Amass Riches, my Son,) as to put themselves in a Capacity of living well, and treating their Friends, being always well pleased if they can keep their Stock at Par, and with their Profits purchase from time to time, Strong-beer, Wine, Cyder, and such Necessaries, of Bristol Ships, that more frequently than others put in there; of these, John Leadstine, commonly called old Cracker, is reckoned the most thriving.

They all keep Gromettas (Negro Servants) which they hire from Sherbro River, at two Accys or Bars a Month. The Women keep House, and are obedient to any Prostitutions their Masters command. The Men-servants work in the Boats and Periagoes, which go a trading in turns with Coral, Brass, Pewter Pans, Pots, Arms, English Spirits, &c. and bring back from the Rio Nunes, Slaves, and Teeth; and from Sherbro, Camwood for Dyers; a Sloop or two is the most that is loaded from the latter Place in a Year, and that with difficulty; being obliged to go far up the River, narrow and beset with Mangroves, which makes it sickly.

The Ivory here is of the Elephant or Sea-Horse, great and small; the former, sold at about 40 Accys per Quintal in Exchange; the other at half Price.

The Slaves when brought here, have Chains put on, three or four linked together, under the Care of their Gromettas, till Opportunity of Sale; and then go at about 15 Pounds a good Slave, allowing the Buyer 40 or 50 per Ct. Advance on his Goods.

As these Slaves are placed under Lodges near the Owner’s House, for Air, Cleanliness, and Customers better viewing them, I had every day the Curiosity of observing their Behaviour, which with most of them was very dejected. Once, on looking over some of old Cracker’s Slaves, I could not help taking notice of one Fellow among the rest, of a tall, strong Make, and bold, stern aspect. As he imagined we were viewing them with a design to buy, he seemed to disdain his Fellow-Slaves for their Readiness to be examined, and as it were scorned looking at us, refusing to rise or stretch out his Limbs, as the Master commanded; which got him an unmerciful Whipping from Cracker’s own Hand, with a cutting Manatea Strap, and had certainly killed him but for the loss he himself must sustain by it; all which the Negro bore with Magnanimity, shrinking very little, and shedding a Tear or two, which he endeavoured to hide as tho’ ashamed of. All the Company grew curious at his Courage, and wanted to know of Cracker, how he came by him; who told us, that this same Fellow, called Captain Tomba, was a Leader of some Country Villages that opposed them, and their Trade, at the River Nunes; killing our Friends there, and firing their Cottages. The Sufferers this way, by the Help of my Men, (says Cracker) surprized, and bound him in the Night, about a Month ago, he having killed two in his Defence, before they could secure him, and from thence he was brought hither, and made my Property.

Remark 2. Sierraleon River is very broad here, but in ten or twelve Miles rowing upwards, narrow to half the Breadth of the Thames at London, spread on both sides thick with Mangroves; Trees, or slender woody Shrubs, that spring from the low, watry Banks of Rivers, in warm Climates. From the Branches, the Sap descends again and takes a second Root, and so on, a third, fourth, &c. that the Ground is all covered; very difficult, if not impossible for Men to penetrate: This makes them fit Haunts for the Manatea and Crocodile (Sea-Cow and Alligator) which, with the Shirks, very much infest the River. A Story or two of these Creatures, may not be unacceptable.

The Manatea is about eleven or twelve Foot long, and in girt half as much; Teeth only in the back part of her Mouth, which are like the Ox’s, as is also her Muzzle and Head; with this difference, that her Eyes are small in proportion, and Ears you can scarce thrust a Bodkin in; close to her Ears almost, are two broad Finns, sixteen or eighteen Inches long, that feel at the Extremities as tho’ jointed; a broad Tail, Cuticle granulated, and of a colour and touch like Velvet: the true Skin an Inch thick, used by the West-Indians in Thongs for punishing their Slaves; weigh to five or fix hundred Weight; of a firm Flesh, that cuts fat, lean, and white like Veal: Boiled, stewed, or roasted (for I have eaten it all ways) it has no fishy Taste, but is as acceptable a Treat as Venison to Cockneighs.

The Negroes way of taking them, is in a Canoo, which they paddle towards the Manatea with as little noise as possible, (she being extreamly quick of hearing:) when near enough, a Man placed ready in the Boat’s Head, strikes in his Harpoon with a long Pole into her, and lets go. She makes towards the Mangroves immediately, and the Water being shallow, they now and then get sight of the Pole, and so follow, renewing the Strokes till they kill, or weary her, and then drag her ashore.

The Alligator answers in all respects, and doubtless is the Egyptian Crocodile; shaped not unlike the Lizard, but of two hundred Weight perhaps, covered with hard Scales that are impenetrable to Shot, unless very near; long Jaws set with sharp Teeth, two very large, and two small: Finns like Hands: A Tail thick and continuous; will live a long time out of the Water, being sold frequently alive in the West-Indies. They are not shy, but rather bold, and tho’ easily waked, will not make off presently, our Boats falling down with the Stream within a few yards of them, before they stir; laying basking to the Sun, in little muddy Nooks they form in their egress from the Mangroves. When they float upon the Water, they lie very still and like a Log of Timber, till the little Fry underneath come unwarily sporting about them and tempt their greedy Stomachs; they diving very quick upon their Prey.

One of these set upon a Man of Captain Masterton’s, a Sloop that put in here from Sherbro. The Sailor, to avoid walking round a Bay, and being mellow with drinking, would needs cut his way short by wading over a weedy part of it up to his Breast, where the Alligator seized him; and the Fellow having full Courage, ran his Arm down his Throat: Notwithstanding which, the Crocodile loosed, and renewed the Battle two or three times, till a Canoo that saw the Distress, paddled to his Relief, but he was torn unmercifully in his Buttocks, Arms, Shoulders, Thighs, and Sides; and had not the Creature been young, must certainly have been killed. The Man recovered of his Wounds.

Shirks very much infest the Mouth of this River; the most bold and ravenous of the watry Tribe: He never forsakes your Hook, till he is taken, and slights the Proverb,

Occultum visus decurrere piscis ad hamum.

We have catched three in less than half an hour, each 8 or 10 Foot long, the Livers of them making above ten Gallons of Oil. They have four or five Rows of short, sharp Teeth, one within another, and the Sides of them indented like Saws. Their Swallows 14 and 16 Inches over. In the Maws, we found Beef Bones, and what other Trash had been thrown over-board in the Day; for they are like the Parson’s Barn; they turn on their backs to take in their Prey. Our Seamen dressed and eat the Flesh, tho’ very strong; the fault of all carnivorous Animals.

These Shirks have generally two, three, or more pretty-coloured little Fish, the bigness of Herrings attending them, called Pilots: They go in and out at his Maw, or fasten on his Back, in familiar manner: They are supposed like the Jackall to the Lion, to be instrumental in procuring him Prey, and warning him of Danger in Shoals, for which he receives Food, and Protection from the Shirk.

I shall give an Instance or two within my own knowledge, to shew the Boldness and Rapacity of this Fish.

The Weymouth’s Barge rowing up Gambia River, a Shirk made to them, and notwithstanding the noise of so many Oars, seized one of them in his Mouth, and snapped it in two.

At Whydah, a very dangerous Coast to land at, having two Bars before it, and great Seas; a Canoo was going on shore from a Merchant-Ship with some Goods, and in attempting to land, overset: A Shirk nigh hand, seized upon one of the Men in the Water, and by the Swell of the Sea, they were both cast on shore; notwithstanding which, the Shirk never quitted his hold, but with the next Ascend of the Sea, carried him clear off.

In short, their Voracity refuses nothing; Canvas, Ropeyarns, Bones, Blanketing, &c. I have seen them frequently seize a Corpse, as soon as it was committed to the Sea; tearing and devouring that, and the Hammock that shrouded it, without suffering it once to sink, tho’ a great Weight of Ballast in it.

There are in the Bays of this River, variety of good Fish, that supplies the Scarcity of Flesh; Turtle, Mullet, Skate, [6]Ten-pounders, [7]Old-wives, [8]Cavalloes, [9]Barricudoes, [10]Sucking-Fish, Oysters, [11]Cat-Fish, Bream, and Numb-Fish; the most of which we catch’d in great numbers with our Searn; two or three Hours in a Morning supplying a Belly-full to the whole Ship’s Company.

The Oysters and Numb-Fish have something peculiar; the former growing, or rather sticking in great Bunches of twenty or thirty, upon the Rocks and Mangroves, to which they seemingly grow, very small and ill-tasted.

The latter, which is the Torpedo of the Ancients, is flat as a Skate, so very cold as to numb the Hands or Arms of those who touch him, but goes off again in few Hours; and with a Stick you may toss him about a Day together without any other Harm than losing your time.

Remark 3. The Country about Sierraleon is so thick spread with Wood, that you cannot penetrate a Pole’s length from the Water-side, unless between the Town, and Fountain whence they fetch their Water, without a great deal of difficulty. They have Paths however through these Woods, to their [12]Lollas, and [13]Lugars, which tho’ but a mile or two from the Town, are frequently the Walks of wild Beasts; their Excrement I have found up and down in walking here, white and mixed with Ossicles.

The Shores hereabouts, like those of Sweden, are rocky, and without any Cover of Earth almost; yet produce large Trees, the Roots spreading on the Surface: The chief of these are the Palm, the Coco, and the Cotton-Tree, described p. 198, in the first Volume of the History of the Pyrates.

Other Vegetables for Food are Rice, Yams, [14]Plantanes, [15]Pine-Apples, [ [16]]Limes, Oranges, [17]Papais, Palm-nuts, wild Roots, and Berries.

This is their common Sustenance; the Gift of Providence, without their Care; they might abound, but prefer Ease and Indolence, he being greatest among them, who can afford to eat [18]Rice all the Year round. Kid and Fowl, they have a few, and were all the domestick Animals I saw.

Remark 4. On the Negroes here, their Clothing, Customs and Religion.

The Men are well-limbed, clean Fellows; flattish-nosed, and many with Exomphalos’s; the Effect of bad Midwifry, or straining in their Infancy to walk; for they are never taught, but creep upon a Matt on all Fours, till they have Strength to erect themselves; and notwithstanding this, are seldom distorted. These do not circumcise, but the Slaves brought from the Northward are frequently so; perhaps from bordering on Morocco.

The Women are not nigh so well shaped as the Men: Childing, and their Breasts always pendulous, stretches them to so unseemly a Length and Bigness, that some, like the Ægyptians, I believe, could suckle over their Shoulders. Their being imployed in all Labour, makes them robust; for such as are not Gromettas, work hard in Tillage, make Palm-Oil, or spin Cotton; and when they are free from such work, the idle Husbands put them upon breading and fetishing out their Wool, they being prodigious proud and curious in this sort of Ornament; and keep them every day, for many hours together, at it.

Their Houses are low, little Hutts, not quite so bad as many in Yorkshire, built with wooden Stockades set in the ground, in a round or square form, thatched with Straw; they are swept clean every day; and for Furniture, have a Matt or two to lie down upon; two or three earthen or wooden Dishes, and Stools, with a Spoon, all of their own making. They are idle, principally from want of Arts and domestick Employments: for as I observed, they are so cautious of planting too much, and wasting their Labour, that they are really improvident; smoaking all day in long Reed-Pipes together; unplagued with To-morrow, or the Politicks of Europe.

Whole Towns shift their Habitations, either when they do not like their Neighbours, or have more Conveniency somewhere else; soon clearing Ground enough for what Building and Culture they purpose. Seignior Joseph, a Christian Negro of this Place, has lately with his People left a clean, well-built Town, and removed further up the River. Their Huts are mostly orbicular, forming a spacious square Area in the middle, and in this, the doors paved with Cockle-Shells; two or three Crosses erected, and round about, Lime-trees, Papais, Plantanes, Pine-apples, and a few Bee-hives; the latter made out of pieces of old Trees, three foot long, hollowed and raised on two Poles.

In the middle of the Area was a great Curiosity, a large Tree with 500 hanging Nests at least upon it; this is a small familiar Bird, that builds thus about their Towns, upon the extreme slenderest Twigs, hanging like Fruit, and declares the Wisdom of Instinct, since it’s designed a Security for their Young, against Monkeys, Parrots, Squirrels, &c. Creatures of Prey, whose Weight cannot there be supported.

Anointing their Body and Limbs with Palm-Oil, is a daily Practice with both Sexes; some use [19]Civet, but all cast a strong, disagreeable Smell; this mending it much like as melted Tallow is by a Perfumer’s Shop.

Palaavers are their Courts of Judicature, where the principal or elderly Men amongst them meet in a Ring or under a Lodge, to settle the Differences that arise amongst themselves, or with the Factories; the frequentest are in relation to Trade. Each salutes the other at meeting, by a Bend of the Elbow, and raising his Hand to his Face. When they have heard what each Party has to say, they determine by Vote, who has the Reason of the thing on their side, and so punish, or acquit. For Fornication, the Party (whether Man or Woman) is sold for a Slave. If a white Man lies with another’s Slave, he is bound to redeem her at a current Price. On a Charge of Murder, Adultery, or if there can be any other more heinous Crime among them, the suspected Person must drink of a red Water his Judges prepare; which is called, purging the Criminal: that is, if the suspected be of ill Life, or had Envy to the deceased, so that the Surmizes against him are strong, though they want positive Evidence; they will give him so much of that Liquor as shall kill him; but if inclined to spare him, they politickly give less, or make it weaker, whereby his Innocence appears the better to the Friends and Relations of the deceased.

Panyarring, is a Term for Man-stealing along the whole Coast: Here it’s used also, for stealing any thing else; and by Custom (their Law) every Man has a right to seize of another at any Conveniency, so much as he can prove afterwards, at the Palaaver-Court, to have been defrauded of, by any body in the same place he was cheated.

Dancing is the Diversion of their Evenings: Men and Women make a Ring in an open part of the Town, and one at a time shews his Skill in antick Motions and Gesticulations, yet with a great deal of Agility, the Company making the Musick by clapping their hands together during the time, helped by the louder noise of two or three Drums made of a hollowed piece of Tree, and covered with Kid-Skin. Sometimes they are all round in a Circle laughing, and with uncouth Notes, blame or praise somebody in the Company.

During our stay at this Port, we paid a Visit to Seignior Joseph, about nine miles up the River. The Reason of his leaving the other Town, he told me was, the frequent Palaavers he was engaged in, on account of Differences between his People and the Grimattoes, and the great Expence he was at, in so near a Neighbourhood with the English. He has been in England and Portugal; at the last place he was baptized, and took in that christian Erudition that he endeavours to propagate. He has built a little Oratory for his People’s Devotions; erected a Cross; taught several of his Kindred Letters, dispersing among them little Romish Prayer-Books, and many of them are known by Christian Names. Those of the Country not yet initiated, never have but one. Mousi, or Moses; Yarrat, and Cambar, are very common Names to the Men; Baulee, and Kibullee, to the Women. Others take the Cognomen from their Disposition; Lion, Lamb, Bear, Hog, &c. like our Danish Ancestors. Seignior Joseph, who is very communicative, tells me, to the extent of his knowledge, the People are cleanly, of good Temper, and docible; all wishing some Missionaries would think their Conversion and Wants worth regarding: But the Poverty of their Country will probably keep them a long time from that Benefit. There is no Invitation in a barren Soil, scarce of Provisions and Necessaries, Danger of wild Beasts a mile from Home (especially Wolves;) and about their Houses, Rats, Snakes, Toads, Musquitoes, Centipes, Scorpions, Lizards, and innumerable Swarms of Ants, a white, black, and red sort, that build to 8 or 9 Foot high, dig up the Foundation of their Houses in two or three Years, or turn a Chest of Cloaths to Dust (if not watched) in as many Weeks. This Christian Negro, by the Advantage of Trade, has in some measure removed the Wants of his own Family (his Towns;) they are tolerably stocked with Guinea Hens, Fish, and Venison; while the Country fifty miles off, he says, have little to feed on but Honey, and Manyoco Root. He received us in a Europæan Dress (Gown, Slippers, Cap, &c.) and sent his Canoos out to shew us the Diversion of chasing the Manatea; they brought one ashore in two hours time, and we had stewed, roast, and boiled, with a clean Table-cloth, Knives and Forks, and Variety of Wines and strong Beer, for our Entertainment. The Flesh of this Creature was white, and not fishy; but very tough, and seasoned high (as are all their Dishes) with Ochre, Malaguetta, and Bell-pepper.

His Kinswomen came into the Room after we had dined, and to them other Neighbours, saluting those of their own Colour, one by one, by making a Bend of their right Elbow, so that the Hand comes nigh the Mouth; the other to whom she addresses, is in the same Posture, and mixing their Thumbs and middle Fingers, they snap them gently off, and retreat with a small Quaker-like Obeysance, decently and without Hurry or Laugh. They shewed likewise much good-nature towards one another, in dividing two or three Biskets, and half a Pint of Citron Water (we brought) into twenty Parts, rather than any one should miss a Taste. In conclusion, Seignior Joseph saw us to the Boat, and took leave with the same Complaisance he had treated us.

The Religion here, if it may be called such, is their Veneration to Gregries: Every one keeps in his House, in his Canoo, or about his Person, something that he highly reverences, and that he imagines can, and does defend him from Miscarriage, in the nature our Country-Folks do Charms, but with more Fear: And these things are very various; either a cleaved piece of Wood, a Bundle of peculiar little Sticks or Bones, a Monkey’s Skull, or the like. To these, every Family has now and then a Feast, inviting one another; but of this more, under the Word Fetish.

The GRAIN and MALAGUETTA Coasts.

We left Sierraleon and were joined by our Consort the Weymouth, May 1, from Gambia; we found upon Conference, that both Ships had like to have ended their Voyage at these first Ports: She had run on a Sand in that River, wringing three Days and Nights in a Tide’s way, with great difficulty getting off: We, at Sierraleon letting in Water to the Ship one Evening, had forgot the Plug, till we had 5 or 6 Foot Water in the Hold.

The Company’s Presents, we understood by them, were received well there by the King of Barra, and he has given the Factors leave to build a Fortification at Gilliflee, a Town commanded by a Woman, about 15 Miles up the River; made a Duchess by Captain Passenger, from whence the Custom I believe has been taken up, of distinguishing the most deserving Fellows at trading Towns by the Titles of Knights, Colonels, and Captains, which they are very proud of. This Duchess of Gilliflee has become very much the Factory’s Friend there, and gives all possible Assistance in their Settlement.

Cape St. Mary’s, or the Starboard Entrance of that River, they found no Cannibals, as commonly reported among Sailors; but a civilized People, with whom they wooded their Ship.

On the 4th we were off Cape Monte, and next day Montzerado, both high Lands; the former appearing in a double, the latter with a single Hommock; the Country trenching from them, low and woody; about 35 Fathom Water 3 Leagues from Shore. From the latter, came off a Canoo with the Cabiceer, Captain John Hee, distinguished by an old Hat, and Sailor’s Jackett with a greater number of thick brass Rings on his Fingers and Toes, than his Attendants. He seemed shy of entering the Ship, apprehending a Panyarring; his Town’s People having often suffered by the Treachery of Ships, and they as often returned it, sometimes with Cruelty, which has given rise to the Report of their being Savages and Cannibals at several places; very unlikely any where, because they could not part with their Slaves, which are but few, if they had this Custom, nor could they have any Trade or Neighbours: Their Fears would make them shun their Enemies (the rest of Mankind) and all Correspondence totally cease.

The Fetish they brought off, on this dangerous Voyage, was a Bundle of small, black Sticks, like a hundred of Sparrowgrass put into a Bag, knit of Silk-grass, and hanging over one of their Shoulders, seeming to place a Security and Confidence in it; for I would have handled and tasted it, but found it put them in a Fright, saying, to deter me, You didee, you kicatavoo, (i. e.) if you eat, you die presently.

The mutual Distrust between us, made their present Business only begging old Breeches, Shirts, Rags, Biskett, and whatever else they saw, parting in some hurry, and calling to one another for that end, in a Note like what Butchers use in driving Cattle. They have plenty of Milhio, Rice, Yamms, and Salt hereabouts.

We found in our coasting by Bashau, and other trading Towns, the same Fears subsisting, coming off every day in their Canoos, and then at a stand whether they should enter: The boldest would sometimes come on board, bringing Rice, Malaguetta, and Teeth, but staying under Fear and Suspicion. Here we may take these Observations.

1. Canoos are what are used through the whole Coast for transporting Men and Goods. Each is made of a single Cotton-tree, chizelled and hollowed into the shape of a Boat; some of them 8 or 10 Foot broad, carrying twenty Rowers. The Negroes do not row one way and look another, but all forward, and standing at their Paddles, they dash together with dexterity, and if they carry a Cabiceer, always sing; a Mark of Respect.

2. Cabiceers are the principal of the trading Men at all Towns; their Experience, or Courage having given them that Superiority: All Acts of Government in their several Districts, are by their Votes.

They came off to us with some English Title and Certificate; the Favour of former Traders to them, for their Honesty and good Service; and were they done with Caution, might be of use to Ships as they succeed in the Trade: Whereas now they contain little Truth, being done out of Humour, and learn them only to beg or steal with more Impudence.

3. The Negrish Language alters a little in sailing, but as they are Strangers to Arts, &c. restrained to a few Words, expressive of their Necessities: This I think, because in their Meetings they are not talkative; In their Trading the same Sound comes up often; and their Songs, a Repetition of six Words a hundred times.

Some Negrish Words.

Didee, Eat.
Malafia, }
Govina, } Ivory.
Malembenda, Rice.
Cockracoo, Fowl.
Praam, Good.
Nino, Sleep.
Sam sam, all one.
Acquidera, Agreed.
Oura, Very well.
Tomy, Arse-clout.

Attee, ho, How do you?
Dashee, a Present.
Kickatavoo, Killed, or Dead.
Tossu, Be gone.
Yarra, Sick.
Fabra, Come.
Brinnee, White Man.
Bovinee, Black Man.
Soquebah, Gone, lost.
Tongo, Man’s Privities.
Bombo, Woman’s.

Lastly, the Dress common to both Sexes every where, is the Tomy, or Arse-clout, and the pleating or breading of their Wooll. The Arse-clout the Women tie about their Hips, and falls half way down their Thigh all round; but the Men bring it under their Twist, and fasten just upon the girdling part behind. Both take great delight in twisting the Wool of their Heads into Ringlets, with Gold or Stones, and bestow a great deal of Time and Genius in it.

The Women are fondest of what they call Fetishing, setting themselves out to attract the good Graces of the Men. They carry a Streak round their Foreheads, of white, red, or yellow Wash, which being thin, falls in lines before it dries. Others make Circles with it, round the Arms and Bodies, and in this frightful Figure, please. The Men, on the other side, have their Ornaments consist in Bracelets; or Manilla’s, about their Wrists and Ancles, of Brass, Copper, Pewter, or Ivory; the same again on their Fingers and Toes: a Necklace of Monkey’s Teeth, Ivory Sticks in their Ears, with a broad head. Most of them have one, two, or more of these Ornaments, and have an Emulation in the number and use of them.

When the Nakedness, Poverty and Ignorance of these Species of Men are considered; it would incline one to think it a bettering their Condition, to transport them to the worst of Christian Slavery; but as we find them little mended in those respects at the West-Indies, their Patrons respecting them only as Beasts of Burthen; there is rather Inhumanity in removing them from their Countries and Families; here they get Ease with their spare Diet; the Woods, the Fruits, the Rivers, and Forests, with what they produce, is equally the property of all. By Transfretation they get the brown Bread, without the Gospel: together, as Mr. Baxter observed, they might be good Fare, but hard Work and Stripes without it, must be allowed an unpleasant Change. They are fed, it’s true, but with the same Diet and Design we do Horses; and what is an aggravating Circumstance, they have a Property in nothing, not even in their Wives and Children. No wonder then, Men under this View, or worse Apprehensions, should be prompted with Opportunity frequently to sacrifice the Instruments of it.

SESTHOS.

We anchored before Sesthos, or Sesthio, May 10th, a Place where most of our windward Slave-ships stop to buy Rice, exchanged at about 2s. per Quintal. The River is about half the breadth of the Thames; a narrow Entrance only for Boats on the starboard Side, between two Rocks, which, on great Swells and Winds, make the shooting of it dangerous; the rest of the breadth being choaked with Sands.

The Town is large, and built after a different Model from those we have left; they run them up (square or round) four Foot from the Earth; at that height, is the first and chief Room, to sit, talk, or sleep in, lined with matted Rinds of Trees, supported with Stockades, and in the middle of it, a Fire-place for Charcoal, that serves a double Purpose; driving off Insects and Vermine, and drying their Rice and Indian Corn. Of the upper Loft they make a Store-house, that runs up pyramidal 30 foot; making the Town at distance, appear like a number of Spires, each standing singly.

This, and every Town hereabouts, had a Palaaver-Room, a publick Place of meeting for the People to council, and transact the Business of the Society: They are large, and built something like our Lodges for Carts, open, 4 foot from the Ground; then a Stage to sit, rafted and well covered against Rain and Sun-shine. Here they meet without distinction; King and Subject, smoaking from Morning to Night. At this Place, it is common to bring your Traffick; brass Pans, pewter Basins, Powder, Shot, old Chests, &c. and exchange for Rice, Goats and Fowls. Two or three Pipes, a Charge of Powder, or such a Trifle, buys a Fowl. A 2 pound Basin buys a Goat; and I purchased two for an old Chest, with a Lock to it. Such a piece of Mechanism I found a Rarity, and brought all the Country down to admire. A Watch still encreased their Wonder; and making Paper speak (as they call it) is a Miracle.

They bring their written Certificates hinted above, and when you tell them the Contents, or they are made Messengers of Notes between English Ships, they express the utmost Surprize at such sort of Knowledge and Intercourse; it infinitely exceeds their Understanding, and impresses a superior and advantageous Idea of the Europeans.

The King who commands here has the Name of Pedro; he lives about five Miles up the River, a Sample of Negro Majesty.

As there is a Dashee expected before Ships can wood and water here; it was thought expedient to send the Royal Perquisite up by Embassy (a Lieutenant and Purser) who being in all respects equal to the Trust, were dismissed with proper Instructions, and being arrived at the King’s Town, they were ushered or thrust in by some of the Courtiers into the common Palaaver-Room (to wait the King’s dressing, and coming from his Palace) his publick Audience being ever in the Presence of the People. After waiting an hour, King Pedro came attended by a hundred naked Nobles, all smoaking, and a Horn blowing before them. The King’s Dress was very antick: He had a dirty, red Bays Gown on, chequer’d with patch-work of other Colours, like a Jack pudding, and a Fellow to bear the Train, which was a narrow Slip of Culgee tacked to the bottom of the Gown. He had an old black full-bottom’d Wig, uncombed; an old Hat not half big enough, and so set considerably behind the Fore-top, that made his meagre Face like a Scare-crow; coarse Shoes and Stockings, unbuckled and unty’d, and a brass Chain of 20lib. at least about his Neck.

To this Figure of a Man, our modern Embassadors in their Holiday Suits, fell on their Knees, and might have continued there till this time, for what Pedro cared: He was something surprized indeed, but took it for the Fashion of their Country, and so kept making instant Motions for the Dashee. This brought them from their Knees, as the proper Attitude for presenting it; consisting in a trading Gun, two pieces of salt Ship-beef, a Cheese, a Bottle of Brandy, a Dozen of Pipes, and two Dozen of Congees. But Pedro, who understood the Present better than the Bows, did not seem pleased when he saw it; not for any defect in the Magnificence, but they were such things as he had not present Occasion for; asking some of their Clothes and to take those back again, particularly their Breeches, sullied a little with kneeling in the Spittle: But on a Palaaver with his Ministers, the Present was accepted, and the Officers dismissed back with a Glass of Palm-Wine and Attee, ho, (the common way of Salutation with Thumbs and Fingers mixed, and snapping off.)

To smooth the King into a good Opinion of our Generosity, we made it up to his Son, Tom Freeman; who, to shew his good-nature, came on board uninvited, bringing his Flagelet, and obliging us with some wild Notes. Him we dress’d with an edg’d Hat, a Wig, and a Sword, and gave a Patent upon a large Sheet of Parchment, creating him Duke of Sesthos, affixing all our Hands, and the Impress of a Butter mark on Putty.

This was taken so kindly by the Father, that he sent us a couple of Goats in return, and his younger Son Josee for further Marks of our Favour; whom we dignified also, on a small Consideration, with the Title of Prince of Baxos. Several indeed had been titled, but none so eminently, as by Patent, before; which procured us the entire good-will of the King; suffering us at any time to hawl our Searn in the River, where we catched good store of Mullets, Soles, Bump noses, and Rock-fish; and to go up to their Villages unmolested.

In one of these Towns, some others of us paid a Visit to his Majesty, whom we found at a Palace built as humble as a Hog-sty; the entrance was narrow like a Port-hole, leading into what we may call his Court-Yard, a slovenly little Spot, and two or three Hutts in it, which I found to be the Apartment of his Women. From this we popped through another short Portico, and discovered him on the left hand, upon a place without his House, raised like a Taylor’s Shop-board, and smoaking with two or three old Women, (the favourite Diversion of both Sexes.) His Dress and Figure, with the novelty of ours, created mutual Smiles which held a few Minutes, and then we took leave with the Attee, ho.

From his Town we went to two others still farther up the River; at one of them was a bright yellow-colour’d Man, and being curious to know his Original, were informed (if we interpret their Signs and Language right) that he came from a good distance in the Country, where were more. Captain Bullfinch Lamb, and others, have since told me, they had seen several; Mr. Thompson, that he saw one at Angola, and another at Madagascar; a great Rarity, and as perplexing to account for, as the black Colour.

Exomphalos’s are very common among the Negroes here. I saw also one squint-ey’d; another without a Nose; and another with a Hair Lip; Blemishes rare among them. Circumcision is used pretty much; not as a religious Symbol, but at the Humour of the Parent, who had found a Conveniency in it.

The Diet is Rice, Potatoes, Yacoes or Indian Corn, Parsly, and other Vegetables; the Cultivation of which, and their domestick Affairs, are all imposed on the Women.

In general may be observed, they are exceeding cowardly, like other Countries undisciplined; a whole Town running away from a Boat with white Men. Thievish on their own Dunghills; none of them seeming to have any Notion of it as a Crime, and quarrel only about a Share of what is stole. So lazy, that Scores of them will attend our Searn for a Bisket, or the Distribution of such small Fish as are thrown by; for tho’ their Waters afford great Plenty, they want the Means or Inclination to catch them; chusing rather to loiter and jump about the Sands, or play at round Holes, than endeavour to get Food for themselves.

Cape APOLLONIA.

From Sesthos, we reached in two or three Days Cape Palma; weighed Anchor from Jaque a Jaques, the 28th; from Bassau, the 30th; Assmee, the 31st; and anchored here the 6th of June. In this part of our Sailing may be observed,

1. That the Land from Sierraleon, excepting two or three Capes, and that about Drewin, appears low, and the first Land you see (as the Irishman says) is Trees; runs very streight without Bays or Inlets, which makes it difficult to distinguish, and impossible for us to land safely at; the Surff breaking all along to a great height, by means of a continued Swell from a vast Southern Ocean; a Sea which the Natives only understand, and can push their Canoos through. This seems a natural Prohibition to Strangers, and whence it follows in respect to Trade, that Ships are obliged to send their Boats with Goods near Shore, where the Natives meet them, and barter for Slaves, Gold, and Ivory; for at many places a Grandee Shippee (as they call it) affrights them, and they will venture then, as I imagine they can swim.

2. The Ground is very tough, our Consort and we losing three Anchors in heaving a Purchase; we stopping at Nights for fear of over-shooting Places of Trade.

3. We find pretty equal Soundings, about 14 Fathom Water, a League from Shore, unless at one noted place, a Lusus Naturæ, called the bottomless Pit, 7 Leagues below Jaque a Jaques, where the Depth is all at once unfathomable, and about three Miles over.

The great Sir Is. Newton, in his calculating the Force of Gravity, says, Bodies decrease in their Weight, and Force of their Fall, in the Proportion of the Squares of Distance from the Center; so that a Tun at the Surface of the Earth would weigh but ¼ of a Tun, removed one Semi-Diameter of the Earth higher; and at three Semi-Diameters, but the ¹/₁₆ of a Tun. In like manner their Velocities of Descent decrease: A Body at the Surface which would fall 16 foot in a Second, at 12000 Miles high, or three Semi-Diameters, would fall only ¹/₁₆, or one Foot in a Second; but at all given Distances, something, &c.

Now, according to this Rule, heaving a Lead in great depths of Water, the Velocity should increase with the descent or sinking of it; since in the Progress of Gravity, the falling Body in every space of Time receives a new Impulse, and continually acting, the same Gravity super-adds a new Velocity; so that at the end of two Seconds, to be double what it was at the end of the first, and so on, which here the Weight of the super-incumbent Medium should still more accelerate. Yet a Lead-line is drawn out perceptibly slower at the second, than the first hundred Fathoms: But perhaps this proceeds from the increasing quantity of Line to be drawn with it, not so equally apt to demerge, and a Nisus in all Bodies of Water, from below upwards, contrary to Gravity.

4. The Winds were more Southerly than above, checking the Land-Breeze, which obtaining brings strong unwholesome Smells from the Mangroves.

5. Their Diet being very slovenly, and much of a piece in this Track, I shall here entertain you with two or three of their Dishes.

Slabbersauce is made of Rice and Fish, a Fowl, a Kid, or Elephant’s Flesh, the better for being on the stink. They boil this with a good quantity of Ochre and Palm-Oil, and is accounted a royal Feast.

A Dog is a Rarity with some: Our Master had a little Boy-Slave of eight years of Age, in exchange for one. At other Places, Monkeys are a very common Diet.

Bomini is Fish dried in the Sun without Salt; stinking, they put it in a Frying-pan with Palm-Oil, then mixed with boiled Rice, snatch it up greedily with their Fingers.

Black Soupee is a favourite Dish, as well at our Factories, as among the Negroes; we make it of Flesh or Fowl, stew’d sweet, with some uncommon tasted Herbs; but the ascendant Taste is Pepper, Ochre, and Palm-Oil. At first I thought it disagreeable, but Custom reconciled it as the best in the Country: Men’s way of Diet being certainly a principal Reason why in all places some of Land and Sea-animals are approved or rejected; liked in one Country, and detested in another.

To return to Jaque a Jaques; we met there the Robert of Bristol, Captain Harding, who sailed from Sierraleon before us, having purchased thirty Slaves, whereof Captain Tomba mentioned there was one; he gave us the following melancholly Story. That this Tomba, about a Week before, had combined with three or four of the stoutest of his Country-men to kill the Ship’s Company, and attempt their Escapes, while they had a Shore to fly to, and had near effected it by means of a Woman-Slave, who being more at large, was to watch the proper Opportunity. She brought him word one night that there were no more than five white Men upon the Deck, and they asleep, bringing him a Hammer at the same time (all the Weapons that she could find) to execute the Treachery. He encouraged the Accomplices what he could, with the Prospect of Liberty, but could now at the Push, engage only one more and the Woman to follow him upon Deck. He found three Sailors sleeping on the Fore-castle, two of which he presently dispatched, with single Strokes upon the Temples; the other rouzing with the Noise, his Companions seized; Tomba coming soon to their Assistance, and murdering him in the same manner. Going aft to finish the work, they found very luckily for the rest of the Company, that these other two of the Watch were with the Confusion already made awake, and upon their Guard, and their Defence soon awaked the Master underneath them, who running up and finding his Men contending for their Lives, took a Hand-spike, the first thing he met with in the Surprize, and redoubling his Strokes home upon Tomba, laid him at length flat upon the Deck, securing them all in Irons.

The Reader may be curious to know their Punishment: Why, Captain Harding weighing the Stoutness and Worth of the two Slaves, did, as in other Countries they do by Rogues of Dignity, whip and scarify them only; while three others, Abettors, but not Actors, nor of Strength for it, he sentenced to cruel Deaths; making them first eat the Heart and Liver of one of them killed. The Woman he hoisted up by the Thumbs, whipp’d, and slashed her with Knives, before the other Slaves till she died.

From this Ship we learned also, that the inland Country who had suffered by the Panyarrs of the Cobelohou and Drewin People, have lately been down, and destroyed the Towns, and the Trade is now at a stand; and perhaps the Consciousness of this Guilt increases their Fears of us. The Ceremony of contracting Friendship and Trade, is dropping a little salt-water into the Eye, or taking it into their Mouth, and spurting out again; which must be answer’d, or no Trade will follow.

At Cape Apollonia, the Natives are of a jet black, very lively and bold, accustomed to Trade, and better fetished than their Neighbours; have cleaner and larger Tomys, wear Amber Beads, Copper Rings, Cowrys, and their Wooll twisted in numberless little Rings and Tufts, with bits of Shell, Straw, or Gold twisted in them. They have all a Dagger † cut in their Cheek, and often in other Parts of their Body: A Custom preserved among a few, down to the Gold Coast. The Romans and Goths, when possessed of Barbary, exempted the Christians from Tribute; and to know them, engraved a + upon their Cheeks; but this seems too distant for any Analogy with theirs. All we learn is, its being a very ancient Custom, and distinguishes them from the Country, who they Panyarr and sell for Slaves, naked at 4 oz. per Head; allowing 100 per Cent. on Goods, they cost at a medium 8l. Sterling. The Cabiceers, out of this, demand a due of 20s. and the Palaaver-Man 10s. whence I conjecture they are more regularly trained to Panyarring or thieving, than the Towns we have past.

There is a great deal of Ground cleared about this Cape, and sown with Indian Corn; first brought among the Negroes, it’s said, by the Portuguese.

Cabo TRES PUNTAS.

We stopped a few Hours at Axim in our Passage from Apollonia, and anchored here June 7, most Ships doing it for the Conveniency of watering, more difficultly supplied at any parts above. It is called Three Points, from that number of Headlands that jutt one without the other; within the innermost is a commodious Bay, nigh the watering-place. John Conny, who is the principal Cabiceer, exacts a Duty from all Ships, of an Ounce of Gold, for this Privilege; and sends off a Servant with his Commission, a large Gold-headed Cane, engraved John Conny, to demand it. Our Neglect herein, with some opprobrious Treatment of the Agent, occasioned John Conny next day to come down with a Posse and seize our Water casks ashore, carrying away ten or a dozen of our Men Prisoners to his Town. The Officer among them endeavouring to distinguish to John the Difference of a King’s Ship from others, got his Head broke: John (who understood English enough to swear) saying, by G—— me King here, and will be paid not only for my Water, but the Trouble has been given me in collecting it. Drink on, says he to the Sailors, (knocking out the Head of a Half-Anchor of Brandy,) and eat what my House affords; I know your part is to follow Orders. John, after some trouble in negotiating, accepted in recompence, six Ounces of Gold, and an Anchor of Brandy.

His Town stands about three Miles Westward of the watering-place; large, and as neatly raftered and built, as most of our North or West small Country Villages. Every Man his Coco-trees round the House, and in the Streets (such as they are) sit People to sell the Nuts, Limes, Soap, Indian Corn, and what is a great part of their Food, Canky, the Work of the Women. It is made of Indian Corn, after this manner; they pound it in a Mortar for some time, then malaxing it with Water and Palm-Wine, they grind it still finer with a Mull upon a great Stone, which every House almost has at the Door for that purpose; baked or boiled in Cakes, it makes a hearty and well-tasted Bread.

The Danish (or, as they say, the Brandenburghers) Fort was on an adjacent Hill, of four or five Bastions, and could mount fifty Guns. The Garison, when in being, probably taught the Natives the way of marketing, observed only where the Factories are; but being some few years since relinquished by them, it’s now in John Conny’s possession, and has raised up some Contests and Palaavers with the Dutch: for they pretending a Title of Purchase, sent a Bomb-Vessel and two or three Frigates last Year, to demand a Surrendry; but John being a bold and subtle Fellow, weighing their Strength, answer’d, that he expected some Instrument should be shewed him to confirm the Brandenburghers Sale; and even with that (says he) I can see no Pretence but to the Guns, the Brick, and Stone of the Building, for the Ground was not theirs to dispose of. They have paid me Rent for it, (continues he) and since they have thought fit to remove, I do not design to tenant it out to any other white Men while I live. This sort of Palaaver nettled the Dutch; they threw in some Bombs and Shot; and heating more with Rage and Brandy, very rashly landed forty of their Men under the Command of a Lieutenant to attack the Town: They fired once without any Damage, and then John at the Head of his Men, rushing from under the Cover of the Houses, outnumbred and cut them in pieces; paving the entrance of his Palace soon after, with their Skulls.

This Advantage made him very rusty, upon what he called his Dues from every body, tho’ just in Trade; and when we had returned to a good Understanding, my self, with some other of our Officers paid him a Visit: Our landing was dangerous, the Southerly Winds making so great a Surff, nor could we do it by our own Boats, but Canoos of his sending, paying an Accy for the Service; they count the Seas, and know when to paddle safely on or off. John himself stood on the Shore to receive us, attended with a Guard of twenty or thirty Men under bright Arms, who conducted us to his House; a Building pretty large, and raised from the Materials of the Fort. It ascends with a double Stone Stair-case without, of twelve Steps; on that Floor are three good Rooms; one his Armory, another his Chamber, with a standing Bed in it, and the third for Entertainment of Guests, furnished with Tables, Chairs, &c. We came to it thro’ two Court yards; the outermost has Houses for Officers and Servants belonging to him, the inner (a spacious Square) has a Guard-Room and good Armory fronting the Entrance, with Piazzas to accommodate his Guard, and imitate in some measure the Grandeur he had observed in the Prussian Governours; John having been some Years a Servant with them, and thence had taken his Punctilio and Ceremony, and knew how to put on a significant Countenance. He is a strong-made Man, about fifty, of a sullen Look, and commands the Respect of being bare headed, from all the Negroes about him that are worth Caps. To us he shewed very great Civility; we had returned his Salute of six Guns with [20]an equal Number, and made up the Breach of Watering, on his own terms; things that pleased him, and he gave us leave to fish in a River on the back of his Town; but returning with very little Success, which John could not foresee, we were disappointed of our Dinner, and had a hard Look into the Bargain, for he told us, this ill Luck was owing to our neglect of giving the Waters a Dashee, for it was a Grandee-man’s [21]Fetish, he said, and deserved more notice; however we got some Canky-Bread, salt Butter, Cheese, Palm-Wine, and Beer, served up with clean Plates, Knives, Napkins, &c. One of his Wives (for he seemed to have many) sat all the time he entertained us behind his Chair, big with Child, a clean Wrapper round her, and handsomly fetished; both together, I believe, had in Gold Chains about their Necks, their Wrists, Ancles and Legs, with the Drops in their Hair, to 8 or 10lib. Troy-Weight.

Finding our Landlord cheerful and familiar, I ventured to ask him what was become of the Dutchmen’s Skulls that lately paved the entrance of his House. He told me very frankly, that about a Month before our Ship’s Arrival, he had put them all into a Chest with some Brandy, Pipes, and Tobacco, and buried them; for, says he, it is time that all Malice should depart, and the putting up a few Necessaries with the Corps, such as they loved, is our way of respecting the deceased. Among themselves, I learned it was customary with the Rich, to sacrifice a Slave or two also at their Funerals. The under Jawbones of these Dutchmen he shewed me strung, and hanging on a Tree in the Court-yard.

From this odd Ceremony in their Funerals, and what is above noted upon the Word Fetish, it looks as though there were some dark Notions of a future State among them, and an Expectance in it of Retribution.

It is impossible to expect in such a State of Nature as theirs, naked of Education and Science, that they should be able to form any refined Notions of a Deity; which, we experience among our selves, receives the Improvement with our growing Understanding, purely the Effect of Art and Study; the Philosopher and Countryman being at as much distance in their Explanation of divine Points, as it is possible the Christian Sailor and the Negro can be. Let us imagine then, apart of our Species started up in the World, without knowing how or why, (the Negroes Case) and examine strictly in our own Thoughts, what religious Notions could be framed by them?

To me it appears, that their Appetites and Passions would have the first Regard; they are gnawing and troublesome, requiring immediate Care and Redress; and the Intervals from supplying them; it’s very natural to suppose, would some of them be employed in ruminating upon their own Beings, in what manner, and to what end they were placed here; and on all those other Beings that surround them; the Consequence of which must be, Amazement and Wonder: And as they experienced Pain and Sickness, some things would terrify, and some please, according as they were persuaded they promoted or averted such ill or Good. Now as the Understandings of Men, supposed as above, would be mean and low, not able to account for these Effects from their Causes, the natural Power and Tendency in this, to promote that: I say, not knowing this way of Induction, they will readily ascribe something supernatural to any Materials used about them; they may want the Word, but the Meaning would be confirmed in the use of Fetish.

That this is not barely a Supposition, but an experienc’d Truth, is evident in the Condition, the Actions, and Manner of these poor People. They are set down as from the Clouds, without Guide, Letters, or any means of Cultivation to their better Part, but what immediately strike their Senses from beholding this Universe, and the Beings contained in it; their Deductions from whence, as to a Deity devoid of Matter, is next to impossible, therefore we say mean and pitiful. They can go no further without Learning, than concluding all things about them good or evil, to have a God or a Devil in it that immediately either benefits or hurts them; and thence their Worship.

That these People could arrive to better Knowledge by the use of proper Means and Instruction, there is no manner of doubt. They give proof enough that their natural Endowments are capable of following any Pattern; but as it is, their Actions demonstrate that the Soul wants a proper Nurture as well as the Body, and will hardly, without a Miracle, increase its Knowledge to any degree above what at present it appears; but when the Seeds and Principles are laid by letter’d Nations, it is not then nigh so difficult to improve. They want all, and their Understanding therefore in spiritual Matters is poor and naked, like their Bodies, which if they cannot provide of Necessaries with the Materials about them; how insuperable is the other, where all is out of sight?

To come to the point, the Negroes have chose Woods, Lakes, Hills, or a part of these, a bundle of Chips, or Roots, a Stone, a piece of Metal, or the like, for their Fetishes. Now what is more likely, or indeed grateful, than assigning a supernatural Power, and of course reverential Respects, to those very things they are immediately conversant with, and experience their Effects? For the Hill, the Wood or the Lake may afford Sustenance from time to time; perhaps in Extremity, either may have contributed to their Preservation or Defence from wild Beasts; or Panyarring, a more dreadful Evil. And others of them (for there are a great Diversity) have as a Charm, cured a Sickness, been propitious in their Journeys by Land or Water, in their Hunting, Fishing, or other Exercises; that is, they have been safe, they have observed, and protected from Danger, Distress, or Hurt, while they bore such a Fetish about them, or in the House, or Boat, they lodged or travelled in; which are the Reasons, and all the Reason they can give for their Choice. And some have descended from Father to Son with great Reputation, two, three; or more Generations, until the Proprietor could not observe any of the usual Effects, or was improsperous; and thus, whether he imputes it to the Age and Decay of the Fetish, I cannot tell; but he rejects it, and from some lucky Accident to him takes a newer, and consequently a better: Immemorial Custom giving strength to the Persuasion and the Practice.

Nor does this appear that unaccountable and ridiculous Folly some would have it. All material Beings are equally incomprehensible as to their Seed and real Essence; the Existence of a Straw as mysterious as the Existence of the Sun: Quodcunque vides, Deus est. No Man can comprehend how Matter came first into being, nor, which is nigher him, how the Atoms that compose a Stick, Stone, or Metal, are supported and hang together in that Bulk; or what diversifies them, that one should be fusible, another malleable, some both: I say, to consider these, and some other Attributes of Matter in the Essence, it will be impossible to explicate, without putting the Deity to it; and if infant Reason cannot reach above a material God, what I think would first and most naturally occur, would be the Objects about us, as they did us good or hurt, the Fetishes of the Negroes. The original Gods, obvious to the first and darker days of Reason, were in my opinion, Stocks and Stones, Serpents, Calves, Onions, Garlick, &c. Not that these things appeared to them in the exalted Attributes of Spirit, Creator, Omniscience, &c. then inconceivable: No; they only could observe that all the parts of Nature were mysterious in their Essence and Operations, and therefore attracted their Esteem and Worship.

That the wiser Idolaters (as called) set up the Sun to worship, from the prodigious Advantages of Light and Life to the World, I take to be a Refinement on this ancienter Heathen Mythology; an improved Understanding that perceived the Heavenly Bodies, the Sun in particular, to be the Source of all Benefit and Fertility to the Earth. That this was so, I am more inclined to think, from the ignorant and contrary Conclusions still made by many People born in more enlighten’d Countries, concerning the Influence and general Benignity of them. It is hard to persuade some of such universal Good, when they are evidently, they think, Sufferers in the failure of their Crops, Plagues, and Famine. Too much Rain or Sun-shine must ever have disturb’d some body, and mixed Murmur with Devotion, removed only, as Knowledge increased:

The dripping Sailors curse the Rain,

For which poor Farmers pray in vain.

Again, if we can think they have conceived any Notions of a future State, as is not improbable; have a natural Affection or Respect; the Custom was on neither account; preposterous of John Conny, to bury Pipes, Tobacco, Brandy, or what else the deceased loved or wanted. It answers to the Pomp and Decency of our own Funerals, only more significant.

From the Negroes Religion, may be drawn these Observations. First, The Foundation of all Men’s Religions is taken from this visible Universe, as ancient as the Creation. The greater Lights that have from time to time appeared in the World, are only Refinements and Superstructures upon this Prop; first Milk, and then Meat.

2. The grossest Idolatries are not a proper Subject of Laughter: It is a case all Mankind seem bewilder’d in, some more grossly than others indeed, and bespeaks the Pity of greater Light and Knowledge.

3. The Negroes Ignorance of Good and Evil was equal, before their Acquaintance with us; and as they are acknowledged to advance with greater pace in the latter, discerned between the trading and the country People brought down for Slaves; the question might be ask’d, Whether ours or their own Religion contributes most to it?

4. The essential Point in all, is to mend Men’s Morals, to make them good and virtuous to their Neighbours, obedient to Superiours, and where it fails, the true Politician will account it bad by whatever Name denominated. The Faiths that cannot produce good Works, are certainly faulty, and may be spiritualiz’d into Vapour and Shadow, as well as materializ’d into Dross and Chaff.

Lastly, The Fear of the Fetish keeps them from injuring one another a little, that is, one another in the same Combination; but has little or no Influence in respect to us; whom they rob, cheat, or murder, as best answers their Conveniencies. They are like the Articles of Pyrates, which keep up a sort of Honesty among themselves, tho’ they despoil every body else. John Conny is very upright and just himself in all Bargains; but then he does not want what the others are thieving; it is below his Game: rigorous also in exacting his Dues, or inflicting Punishments. There was a Murderer a few Weeks since, (we understood) whom John had condemned, altho’ there were some Circumstances of excuse, (a se defendendo, which John did not understand) and made the Criminal’s own Brother, one of his trustiest Servants to be the Executioner before his Face, by tying a vast great Stone like a Mill-Stone about his Neck and throwing him into the Sea from a Canoo.

He has engrossed by his Riches and Power, the Trade of the Place; and by that means has reduced the Traders Profits to 20 per Cent. a Disadvantage they themselves have contributed to in some measure, by underselling one another. His People allow less, for in the little Traffick they had with us, they paid all in Crackra Gold, not a quarter the value it was taken at. They are all marked with a Cross in their Cheek, unless John Conny himself (who told me it was only Ornament) and none are circumcised.

The Women fetish with a coarse Paint of Earth on their Faces, Shoulders and Breasts, each the Colour they like best. In Marriage the Husbands spend four Ounces of Gold more or less, according to their Ability, on her Friends and Acquaintance; who by this are brought together as Witnesses, that he may have redress in case of Adultery; a Crime for which the Transgressor becomes the injured Person’s Slave. A Man likewise forfeits his Liberty for thievery among themselves; and Trade has so infected them with Covetousness and Fraud, that the Chiefs will put Snares both for the one and the other, driving at the Profit, and not the Punishment of a Crime.

Cabo CORSO.

At this Cape Corso on the Gold Coast, is the principal Fort and Factory of our English Company, to which their Ships constantly resort, and receive orders either by themselves, or with Supercargoes, where else to proceed.

The Company about this time of our Voyage had raised by Subscription 392400l. and in December 1722, made a Call of 5 per Cent. allowing the Proprietors, as had been accustomed, a Dividend of 3 per Cent. In December 1723, they exposed to Sale 200000l. Stock at 30 per Cent. which shewed their Affairs had an ill Aspect, notwithstanding their late Flourishes; confirmed next Winter, when they petitioned the Government (I find in a Pamphlet printed a few Years since) that they were undone, and the African Trade lost, unless they were impower’d to scheme it over again: The Projectors for the Company righteously proposed, that if the Legislature would give a Sanction, they would engage to raise the Stock-jobbing Humour, and raise a Million, whereof they would be liberal.

The Factory consists of Merchants, Factors, Writers, Miners, Artificers and Soldiers; and excepting the first Rank, who are the Council for managing Affairs, are all of them together a Company of white Negroes, who are entirely resigned to the Governour’s Commands, according to the strictest Rules of Discipline and Subjection; are punished (Garison fashion) on several Defaults, with Mulcts, Confinement, the Dungeon, Drubbing, or the Wooden Horse; and for enduring this, they have each of them a Salary sufficient to buy Canky, Palm-Oil, and a little Fish to keep them from starving: for tho’ the Salaries found tolerably in Leadenhall-Street (50 to 90l. per Ann. a Factor; 50 an Artificer) yet in the Country here, the General (for the Company’s good) pays them in Crackra, a false Money which is only current upon the spot, and disables them from taking any advantage of buying Necessaries from Ships coasting down. If the Subjects should have other, it’s against the Interest of the Company to suffer its being laid out any where from themselves, because their Stock would by that means lie dead. So that for the Support of Nature, or perhaps indulging youthful Follies, these thin Creatures are obliged to take up of the Company, and in effect by it sign over their Liberty; none being admitted to depart, ’till he has adjusted all Accounts. When the Man is too sober to run in Debt, there are Arts of Mismanagement, or loss of Goods under his Care, to be charged or wanting. Thus they are all liable to be mulcted for Drunkenness, Swearing, Neglects, and lying out of the Castle, even for not going to Church, (such is their Piety:) and thus by various arbitrary Methods, their Service is secured durante bene placito.

The same Method he takes with the Town Negroes, who, inconsiderate Wretches, are continually scoring up for Goods or Drams, and thus become Pawns to the Company, i. e. liable to be sold when the General thinks fit.

The Director-General is Supreme, or first Person in the Factory, at 2000l. per Ann. Two other Merchants at 300l. and a Secretary at 200l. are what compose the Council for the Company’s Affairs; send Factors to their outer Forts, and Supercargoes on board Vessels to collect the Trade, who are to transmit and make up their Accounts here. The General supports a Table for them; a [22]Chaplain and Surgeon, who have orderly Meals, without any idle Bottles.

Tho’ the General has but one Vote in Business, yet it’s tacitly consented, from his better Allowance and Power as Governour, that he shall lead the others, who sign only for their Salaries: He therefore disposes solely of Preferments to the Factors and Writers, who, as they please or displease, may be continued at, or removed to their advantage. For, as on Service from the Fort they are allowed a Commission in Trade, additional to their Pay; so, in some of the outer Forts (such as Accra, or in a Ship) they make considerable Increase; while at others again, Anamaboo, or Dixcove, they find a great deal of Trouble, wet Lodging, Scarcity of Provision, and no Profit; and as these last outnumber the good, I observed most of our Factors to have dwindled much from the genteel Air they brought; wear no Cane nor Snuff-box, idle in Men of Business, have lank Bodies, a pale Visage, their Pockets sown up, or of no use, and their Tongues tied. One Cause of their Slenderness indeed, is a Scarcity of Provision; little besides Plantain, small Fish, Indian Corn, and a great deal of Canky, to be bought at Market.[23] Poor T——d was a Youth well recommended, and lived as long as he could. I had once some Business in his Office, when a Negro Woman came bawling about his Ears for a Plantain he had stole from her: He would feign have concealed the meaning of her Musick, but at length I understood it was the only Morsel he had eat for three days past; one night’s Debauch, and several Mulcts having run him out of Pocket. The next Occasion I had of enquiring after him, I heard, that being too narrowly watched in this illegal Traffick, he pined with a Vacuum of the Guts, and died; leaving this Advice to his Countrymen, rather to run a remote hazard of being hanged at home, than chuse a Transfretation hither.

Another Instance how well they live, was the Captain of their Soldiers, in my time stealing away from the Castle in the night, to make his Escape on board a Brigantine going off the Coast; but, unlucky Gentleman, was chased and brought back by the Weymouth next day: The General, by Canon Law, fined the Master of the Vessel, 70 Ounces for this Misdemeanor, besides corporal Punishment.

The General does not feel this Want, for altho’ here be a Scarcity of neat Cattle, Kid, or Fowl, (no body having any besides himself) he supplies this Want from other Parts, by their own trading Vessels, and Dashees from Masters of Ships, and neighbouring Nations; and for Vegetables, he has a large Garden without the Castle, first planted by Sir Dalby Thomas, a former Governour, abounding not only with their’s, but Fruits of English Growth, and entirely for his own use. Of Taggys, a sweet Nut, they make Emulsions, and boil to a Custard.

Cromers grow in Pods like Peas, but larger, rounder, and full of little Seed; this, and Tantarraboys, a Fruit red and yellow, that grows wild, they put into their black Soupee, made here in the best and cleanest manner, washing the Palm-nuts with warm water, to bring away the Strings.