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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
day_n	fair_a	night_n	weather_n	4,455	5	10.7928	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64941	A relation of the coasts of Africk called Guinee with a description of the countreys, manners and customs of the inhabitants, of the productions of the earth, and the merchandise and commodities it affords : with some historical observations upon the coasts : being collected in a voyage made by the Sieur Villault ... in the years 1666, and 1667 / written in French, and faithfully Englished.; Relation des costes d'Afrique appellées Guinée. English	Villault, Nicolas, sieur de Bellefond, 17th cent.	1670 (1670)	Wing V388; ESTC R3207	80,121	290

Rope they dip the other in the Sea and throw their handfull upon his head which is intended as a great instance of kindness and amity and in this they are so pertinatiously superstitious that without it they will never be forc'd nor perswaded to enter any Ship and when they would affirm any thing with more vehemence than ordinary they use the same ceremony They are so diffident and distrustfull they will never begot with all the art can be used either under deck or into any of the Cabains which the Mores of all other parts would do very freely They have a great fancy for bracelets of Iron with rings and bells upon them with which kind of Gallantry most of their arms and legs are plentifully furnish'd they have great store of Mulettoes among them We could not understand their language nor they speak one word of Portugais When they came first aboard us they cryed Qua Qua Qua which we found afterwards to be as much as you are welcome or good morrow for which reason the Hollanders have given the name of Quaqua to a good part of this Coast they made great use of that word especially if their Gutts had been filled The Commodities which this Countrey yeilds are Elephants teeth so large sometimes that they weigh 200 weight a piece and then they are worth 10000 livers If we may credit those that live on the Gold Coast which are their Neighbours they have so great number of Elephants that they are forc'd for their security against them to make their houses under ground They kill as many of them as they can but that which accommodates them with so many teeth is that the Elephants doe shed them every three year as the Staggs doe their Horns This Countrey affords likewise good store of Cotton of which they make a pritty sort of stuff strip'd with white and blew about three quarters broad and three or four ells long which is much valued amongst them and sold afterwards at a good rate upon the Gold Coast to cover their Pesantry there They have Gold amongst them likewise undoubtedly for without any Commerce or communication with their Neighbours they bind up their hair for the most part with hair laces of Gold very curiously made I made a sign to one of them to know which way they came by it and he show'd me the great Mountaines up the Countrey afar off and sign'd to me from thence for which reason he that should make further discovery of these parts would questionless encounter many rarities and without any great difficulties in regard the Countrey consists for the most part of Plaines The Inhabitants here are more afraid off fire armes then of all the inventions in Guinee The 26 of February we weigh'd anchor and continuing our course all Sunday about evening we made the Golden Coast and stood to it directly COSTE D' OR OR THE GOLD COAST With a Relation of our occurrences there MVnday the last of February we came to an anchor at sixteen fathom low water at Asbini the first place upon the Gold Coast The Countrey thereabouts is very low the Town is seate'd upon the mouth of a River of that name which runs up North-West amongst the Hills and South into the Sea we stay'd there 3 days bartring for Gold-Sand The 4th of March we past before Albiani Tabo and other Towns upon that Coast The Countrey there is but low likewise very full of Trees but no River at all Those Canoes which came aboard us having assured us they had no Gold we gave them the go by and past on We thought to have doubled the Cape of Apollonia that night but two of their Canoes coming up to us and promising fair we beleived them and cast anchor The next day some of their Canoes brought some Gold which we bought of them though it was not much This Cape throws it self a far into the Sea and raising it self by degrees into Hills and then into a Mountain makes no unpleasant prospect But it is of no good access the Sea beating so violently upon it there is great danger in approching We weigh'd anchor again that night but the weather being calme we could not reach Axime before Sunday in the afternoon at which time we came to an anchor Axime is a Fort belonging to the Hollanders some twelve leagues distant from the Cape Apollonia situate upon the side of a River which runs up Northward also into the Countrey and abounds with Gold-Sand which is esteem'd the best of all that Coast Its banks are higher than either Asbini or Cape Apollonia Before this place we stay'd all Sunday and Munday but perceiving the Dutch obstructed the Mores coming aboard us we weigh'd anchor on Tuesday and doubled the Cape de Tres-Puntas so called from three Mountains which appear so at a distance and by the convenience of their position do make two little but convenient Bayes In the afternoon we appear'd before Botrou which is another little Fort belonging to the Hollander situate beyond the Cape upon an eminence at whose foot runs a brook that is not unpleasant We stay'd here as long as we had any Trade and departed the 11th being Friday We weigh'd anchor at that time and came to anchor again betwixt Saconde and Takorai about six leagues distant from Botrou they are seated amongst the Mountains which lean as it were upon the banks of the River they lye so near it at which place we received Letters from the Governour of Frederisbourg not far from Cape Corse offring us his road if we pleased in consideration of the alliance betwixt France and Denmark desiring us also to secure some of his Merchandise for him We remained there Friday and Saturday and it was no small trouble to me to see an antient Fort which had been formerly ours in its ruines and rubbish it was at Takorai upon a Mountain which commanded the whole Countrey the sides of it spake it but barren being quite naked of either Trees or Grass and the stone of a reddish complexion On Sunday the 23th we weigh'd anchor and in two hours appear'd in the road de Comendo whose Inhabitants are greater lovers of the French than of any other Europeans The Town that may consist of about a hundred houses is built on the Sea-side and watered by a Rivulet which falling into the Sea likewise on the South forms a pritty Channel and Harbour for Canoes and Shallops The East-side lyes low but the West rises into a hill which being flat a top is very convenient to build upon The house appertaining formerly to the French stands upon the North-end of the Town which runs up into the Countrey and raises it self into little hills by degrees at whose feet there are very fair Fields and Meadows planted up and down with variety of fruit The Mores which came aboard us were in great anxiety and disorder to resolve which way they should signifie their joy Their King held

to dance and to sing Presently the King took an arrow which he shot up into the aire and presently all run to the place where it fell and happy was he that could take it up first and bring it to him after this he made a show of shooting directly amongst them they throwing themselves down again with great acclamation continued this pastime for a quarter of an hour In this triumpth and grandour he was conducted to us we received him as honorably as we could saluting him with volleys of small shot He was a grave and venerable old man of about threescore years of age or upwards they called him Falam Boure he was very sensible and majestick his habit was the same with the rest of the Gentlemen saving that his was quite blew and the Robes of the Gentlemen Officers and Nobility of that Countrey are always strip'd like the Captains of Rio-Fresca with white and blew We payed him what respect vve could and after vve had made him such presents as vvere usual he retired into another Arbor the Mores had made for him and left us very graciously to our Negotiations I vvaited upon him to his Arbor vvhere he entertained me in Portugais and told me that it vvas four years since he had seen any Whites and vvith teares as it were of joy assured me that the French should be alvvays vvelcome to him that indeed they were a little quick and capricious but otherwise honest men that he and his Country which he thought was not contemptible I would be eternally at their service And in truth were all the rest of Africk like this part of it it was indubitably to be preferred to any part of Europe No sooner is your foot upon the ground but you are presented with a faire plaine planted on this side and that with curious groves perpetually green and in their leaves not unlike to our Laurel The prospect is bounded to the South with the Mountain of the Cape and on the North by a large grove which gives a shade to a little Island in a little River which casts it self hard by into the Sea though it be navigable for a Canoe only or perhaps with some difficulty for a shallop Eastward there is no stop nor termination of the eye it may delight and lose it self in vast meadows and playnes beautifi'd and perfum'd with excellent verdures and water'd with several pritty Rivers which open and expan'd themselves to the Mores and seem to invite them to a communication with those that live higher up in the Countrey In this place their Rice their Millet and their Mais of which their bread is made is more plentifull and grows in greater quantity than in any other part of Guinee whatsoever They have Citrons Oranges Amants Berrys Melons Gourds and a sort of plums not much unlike our Brugnons but not so well tasted They have great variety of fowl as Hens and Pidgeons and Ducks and Mallard and Teal which must be very plentiful by the price they are sold for Goats and Hoggs are very common and Apes too but ugly ones They have great store of Fish both Sea-fish and in their Rivers which I have said they value much above flesh they have Tortoises likewise are excellent meat but their shels not worth a farthing They are very neat in their feeding they roast their meat upon wooden spits turning them with great care and observing very curiously least one side be more roasted then the other Whilst he was at dinner in his own appartment I took the confidence to begin a health to on of his Sons Wifes in their Palme-Wine and she answered me in French Monsierje vous remercie and told me afterwards in Portugais that her Husbands Father had lived always amongst the French when they were in those parts and that she could distinguish easily by our aire that my self and Lacquey were the only Frenchmen in our whole company The inhabitants are generally handsome good natured tractible and speak a kind of corrupt Portugais They go all naked both women and men only a little cloth before them but the women wear theirs from their stomack to their mid-legg they are more chast then the rest and their Husbands commonly more jealous For their Religion do what I could I could not inform my self only one of them told me the Whites pray'd to God and the Blacks to the Devil Yet I could perceive many of them were Circumcised and all of them had their Fetiches At our landing there was not above five or six houses to be seen and those belonging to such as made Salt there and carryed it afterwards into the Country But within two dayes time the plaine which was about a league in circumference was cover'd over with houses which the Mores from all parts had built in order to their traffick with us In the Kings houses or the houses of their Nobility they have a distinct appartment where their beds are made either upon plancks or mat about a yeard from the ground about which they hang a cloth in stead of curtains and vallence and so sleep all night upon them For their repose in the day time they have a sort of delicate neat mats exquisitely made of which the Hollander buys great store for their Chambers where laying themselves down with their heads in their Wives lapps they spend much of their time in combing and ordring their Husbands hair For four days together we had a very good Trade The commodities we bought were Mats Rice and Ivory which in those parts is plentiful and excellently good And in this place certainly if any where a man may live happily all things contributing to make his life pleasant the beauty and bounty of the Countrey the humour and disposition of the people the aboundance of all necessaries the considerableness of the gain and the aptness and convenience for building in all places wherever you come On the thirteenth we went a shore again but seeing they had no Ivory left though the King promis'd in three dayes time we should have ten times as much as we had bought aleady we set sayle that night for Cap-Miserado CAP-MISERADO THe next day being the 14th of January steering or course East-South-East and by South we discovered the Cap-Miserado but the weather being duskish and a thick fog interrupting our prospect we were glad to cast anchor at three leagues distance from the shore imagining notwithstanding we had been nearer then we were and afterward we shot off 2 Guns to give the Mores notice of our arrival The fifteenth we discovered our mistake yet by reason of calme we were forc'd to continue at anchor till noon at which time we perceived a Canoe making towards us with 2 Mores in it which coming up demanded who we were and of what Countrey we told them of Holland and they desired us to come nearer land but would by no means be perswaded on board us till they saw us take the advantage

his leave of us and we fill'd him a great Gourd with strong water which he had brought full of Palm Wine which is the best in their Countrey I went on shore with him and interrogating him about those following things for several hours he inform'd me that Rio-Fresca is a Town of about 200 houses that it hath a convenient Harbour on the West-side of it and capable of a shallop That the houses are but small and according to my computation like our thatched houses in Normandy built only with mud and sticks layed a cross That there were not above 300 men in the Town besides women and children The East-side is covered with a Wood thorow which I past four or five hundred paces and discovered large fields beyond it which my eye could not compass This Wood consists of Palm-trees and other very lofty Trees which in Europe are unknown The aire though the place be fourteen degrees on this side the Line is as good and as warm as any on these coasts for which reason both women and men go naked only a little linnen before to cover their pudibunda which the men doe not scruple to laave off when they go to Sea Their Religion is so various and intermixt that besides the Portugal Catholicks which are there in great numbers they have other circumcized Catholicks that come near to the Jews as also Mahumetans and Idolaters These latter have little baggs of leather which they wear constantly about their necks and call them Fetiches which is as much as to say their Gods as I shall demonstrate more at large in my Chapter of the Superstition of th●● which inhabit the Golden Coast in which likwise they have so great confidence they beleive that unless it be the Whites there is no body can doe them any harm They eat very little flesh though they have Oxen Cows Sheep Goats Kids Hens Pidgeons a kind of Phesants and small Birds in abundance Their chief diet is Fish as the Guilthead the Shadfish the Pilcher which they take day and night in great numbers besides many other unknown among us Their fishing is in little Canoes cut out of the Trunk of a Tree and made hollow with a stick instead of a Mast set up in the middle when the wind is down but otherwise when it is high they stand right up and row with a kind of oares some four or five foot long and as broad at the end as a good large plate The men of this place are very personable and well not many of them Camous and from hence it is they have the best slaves in Africk The women and daughters are for the most part very common courting and solliciting of Strangers by that time they are fourteen years old and that in the midst of the streets so great a kindness and inclination they have for them The men have as many wives as they can keep will prostitute them for a small matter and somtimes offer them for nothing They have their haire tied up upon their heads which are always uncovered to which they fasten certain little pieces of wood and think them great preservatives against the heat of the Sun All of them both men and women speak a kind of corrupt Portugais The commodities this Country affords are Skins Gums Feathers Ivory Indigo Civet and great quantity of a kind of Cotten cloth stript with white and with blew which is immediatly put off again at the Golden Coast Though they are naturally great lyars and not to be beleived yet it is certain the Alcair gave advertisement to the Inhabitants up the country as he promised us but we thought it not fit to trust him according to the advice of another Vessell of Amsterdam which made advantage thereby We bought that day some Hens Pullets and Kids and delayed our time so long on shore our camerades were forced to give us a signal by discharging a great Gun that we should come back as apprehending some mischief might befall us from the Hollander That night we set sayle for the Sierra-Leoane or Mountain of Lyons neither thinking it convenient to make up the other Rivers or to pass directly to Gambay And on the six and twentieth of December we came to an anchor within three leagues The Coasts of MALEGETA with the Kingdom of Sierra-Leone THe next day by the benefit of the Tyde we came to an anchor in the River of Sierra-Leone aboot noon the Mores came aboard us to conduct us into the Bay de France which is the 4th from Cap-Ledo at the mouth of the River At six fathom deep low water we came to an anchor within musquet shot of the fountain where we took in fresh water and having landed we went that night to supper upon the banks of it where we killed a Goat which came thither to drink and found the water more pleasant and delicious in respect of our thirst then the best of our Wines We put out the colours of Ostend and not of France because there was an Englishman living in one of those Isles a long time where he had a faire house and four pieces of Canon and was besides well beloved and protected by the Kings of that Country The next day we sent two of our Officers up the River about ten leagues to wait upon the King of Boure with our usual presents and to desire permission to trade and to furnish our selves with fresh water wood and in the mean time our people fell to work to cut down wood and carry water the Notary my self one of my servants going along with them as a guard During our absence there came aboard our ship five or six Canoes in one of which there was one John Thomas Captain of one of the Isles in that River who brought some quantity of Ivory along with him The Captain who was the only Officer aboard received him very civilly saluted him at his entrance with a volley of great shot and regaled him as much as was possible but he bought none of his Ivory being too dear which gave so much dissatisfaction to Mounsieur Thomas he went away in a huff about five a clock and landed with 15 or 16 Mores in his company near the bank of the Fountain I have spoke of before The Clerk and my self were returning in our great shallop laden with balast and advanc'd as much as the tide which was then coming in would give us leave in so much that our shallop was afloat which being observed by the Captain and his Mores they put themselves into their Canoes again and made with all speed to our men who were cutting down wood upon the banks of the Bay At the same time they gave us a signal from the Ship by furling our colours which made us double our speed in apprehension there might have been some mutiny or sedition aboard but when we arrived we found it was only to give notice of the design of the Mores who were seen

with his sword lying by him Being of several places they have a different way of Trading those who live farther up the Countrey and are neither acquainted with the language nor manner of Commerce which is practis'd by the Whites are constrain'd to make use of a sort of Brokers to negotiate for them and do usually give them good recompence for their pains this is an advantage accrews particularly to such as live near the Sea-side and so generally are they devoted to their profit the greatest Merchants amongst them will not refuse the imployment if there be the least prospect and expectation of gain Most commonly it is those who live upon the Coasts or within 10 leagues distance of the Sea that buy up the Commodities which are brought in by such Ships as come into their Roads and sell them afterwards when the Ships are gone to the Inlanders seldome for less profit than six per Cent. Having been deceived sometimes formerly they are now grown so subtil and wary there is no cheating them any more it is our business now rather to be upon our guards lest they be too cunning for us They have so great judgment insight into Merchandise they will distinguish whether a piece of Saye be dyed at Leyden or Harlem When their bargains are made and their business done they fall a begging and bawling for some present or other which they call Dache and will never be satisfyed without it The Hollanders brought up this Custom at first to cajole and work them off from the Portugais But what they did voluntarily then is become now such a Custome that some of the Mores are so confident as to demand what present they shall have before they will admit any proposition of Traffick They have one pretty odd kind of superstition amongst them if a Merchant sneezes as he comes out of his house and turns his head by accident towards the right hand which they call Eninfan they believe they shall run a great hazard of losing their goods that day If he turns it to the left which they call Abnicon though they were sure to gain the profits of a Kingdom they would not stir out that day from their houses When they return from our Ship they have alwayes store of boys young fellows attending upon the shore to carry the Commodities they have bought to their houses for which the Merchant gives them some little pieces of gold as a reward Those who live higher up the Countrey have all their Commodities brought down upon the backs of their Slaves making no use of horse or any other Creature in that business which is no small inconvenience to a Merchant that comes a hundred leagues to us cross the Countrey and forces them to travel with their Arms. Fishing being their principal imployment every morning there are twenty or thirty Canoes to be seen sailing out of their harbours dividing themselves instantly into all quarters when they come out to Sea In each of them they have commonly two men one to fish the other to manage the Canoe and by them they have their swords and their Victuals Their Canoes are very neat and beautiful painted and adorned with all possible care they fasten Fetiches to them to preserve them from storms disasters and when they have done fishing they draw them up under a place on purpose to keep them dry They are so light two men will carry one of them as they please In this manner they go a fishing every morning yet not so much by design as by natural impulse the wind from the hills forcing them as it were to Sea and altering at night and blowing hard upon the shore they are brought home again by the same necessity and violence and this they do constantly every day but Sunday never failing when the weather will endure it The most general way of fishing is with little hooks of which they fasten twenty sometimes to one line others make use of lines with a kind of slipping nooses but this is as rarely at Sea as it is ordinary in their Rivers and Lakes within Land They are much delighted with fishing in the night which they do by the light of Torches greas'd over with Oyl of Palm or Rosen hooking the fish up as they come near them Others go up to the bellies into the Sea with a lighted Torch in one hand and a Net in the other which they throw over them with great dexterity and from hence we may collect how industrious they are neglecting no time nor labour to get themselves a livelyhood At their return they are attended by several boyes who are alwaies waiting in the harbour to help them home with their fish and to make up their Lines and their Nets for them for which pains they usually gratifie them with some little present of fish But the Fisherman and Merchant are no sooner return'd but the Receiver of the Office in which the Duties and Customs are paid for the King in whose Dominion that Port is stands ready alwaies to receive them and to carry with him a full third of whatever they bring on shore to bring the Merchant to a higher composition for there being no fix'd prices set it is the Merchants business to get off as cheap and the Receivers to hoist him as high as he can besides these duties the foreign Merchants which are not of that Kingdom are oblig d sometimes to give a Mark of gold more for a free passage through the territories of the neighbouring Princes But those who live upon the Sea-side are exempted from any tribute in this nature provided the worth of their Merchandise exceeds not two ounces of gold at one time if it does they pay as other people The duty upon their fish is paid punctually to the Receiver every day who as punctually sends it every day to the King not one Fisherman daring under a great penalty to sell one morsell till it be paid this tribute being designed to the sustenance of his Royal Family for which reason whatever fish is taken is brought immediately to the Office where the Receiver has a great measure about the bigness of a Peck which he fills and delivers frankly to the Fisherman that done he measures the rest and reserves a fifth part for the King which is sent away presently by the Slaves for the use of the house These Receivers are for the most part the Sons Brothers or near Relations of their Kings Of the Kings of those Countreys their Courts Authority and manner of living with their Courtiers of their Wives and Children of the Succession of their Kingdoms their Revenues Feasts Deaths Burials and Elections of another King THe Kings being the chief heads of so many people I ought in justice to have given them the precedence and have spoken of them in the first Chapter but having never seen them my self and what I write is but from the report of such as have lived there