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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

adorn themselves with variety of colours and from that instant conceive a mortal and implacable hatred against their Enemies if the injury be great and the warr likely to be long they take their Wives and Children with them into the field burning their houses lest it should be their misfortune to be beaten and they become a prey to the Foe if the quarrel be but small they send them to the next Town where there is peace to attend their success They meet precisely at the day and place the Captains with Casques upon their heads some of them made of the Skulls of such people as they have kill'd in the preceedent wars others of the Skins of Lyons or Crocodiles with plumes of feathers upon them if they have any on their left arm they carry a large Buckler made of the Skin of a Tygre or Oxe with a Dart in thei● right hand they have no defensive armes nor any thing at all upon their bodies but a peice of linnen before that they may be the more active and agile when they come to be ingaged before them they have their swords carryed behind and of each side their Slaves with their Bows and Arrows The common Souldiers are armed with a kind of Battle-axe and Swords and having of late by their Commerce with the Eu opeans some of them got Musquets they are look'd upon as ●rave fellows plac'd in the Front Being come near one another they give a great shout and fall on they threw their Darts immediately shoot Arrows without number covering themselves with their Bucklers against the blows of their Enemies when they once come to the Sword they are Devils and not men the very Women and Children kill and slay and adding their cries to the noise of the Trumpets and Drums which are playing incessantly they increase the fury in their Parents and excite them to more inhumanity The slaughter continues till one side be defeated but when they see the victory clear they give quarter then and fall a taking of Prisoners which are made Slaves out of hand and can never be ransom'd upon any terms whatsoever When the battle is over some of them as an expression of their hatred to their Enemies and devotion to their Prince will eat the bodies of those they have kill'd but all of them cut off their under Jaws and hang them afterwards before their doors as a mark of honour which is the 11 step as it were of recommending them to the Nobility As their wars are commenced upon frivolous occasions so they are like a wisp of straw no sooner kindled but extinguished Sometimes they last longer indeed than others but seldome any considerable time If after a lusty ingagement they be any better inclin'd they agree upon a place where they meet exactly bring their Fetiches along with them upon which they swear solemnly on both sides to do no hurt for the future to retain no malice nor to remember their past hostilitie and for their further securitie hostages are delivered which are commonly the Sons of the Kings or if they have none the principal Persons of the Countrey The rest of the day is spent by both parties in mirth singing dauncing making good cheer after which Trading revives betwixt them and they live as lovingly as if they had never had warrs Whilst we were in that Country there was a very fierce War brake out upon this occasion Abrambou is a Seigneury which has six Towns under it independant of any of their Kings and holding of no body but the Emperour of Achim or Acanis Grand The Predecessor of him that possess'd it then who was dead about 4 years before would needs put a duty upon the Merchants of Acanis the less and all such as past through his Dominions nor was there any of the Neighbouring Kings durst expostulate the business so great was his courage and power After his death the Merchants of Acanis demanded restitution of such goods as had been taken away by violence before and were in possession of the present Prince but they were refused whereupon those of Acanis declared warr against him the King of Fetu's Son being by accident at Acanis ingaged generously with the Town and was slain in the first battail His Father having no more Sons and resenting the loss of him the more because he was so extraordinarily hopeful joyned himself with the Town of Acanis against the Lord of Abrambou and ingaged all his allyes in the quarrel also in so-much as the war continued above four years had destroyed more then 60000 men and put a stop to all Commerce and Trade The Generals of the English Danes and Hollanders used all possible means to accommodate the difference but in vain and in memory of a Battail gained by the King of Fetu in this war was the great Feast at Frederisbourg I have spoken of before There was a quarrel also betwixt the Kings of Fantin and Sabou about a Noble man of Fantin who had been in love with a Lady of Sabou and stolen her away the difference not being to be composed in an amicable way both Kings having taken cognizance of it they were so highly incensed they sell to war immediately endeavouring to have surprized one another as I have mentioned before for they doe not always come to a pich'd field but sometimes endeavour to destroy one another by surprizes and in-Roads by burning pillaging of their Towns and taking all prisoners they meet The Danish General told me that sometimes a Gentleman if he were wealthy and rich would be able to make war against his King so strangely are the Mores addi●t●●l to gain and indeed it is no wonder having so little affection or kindness for one another they will scarce give a wounded man a drop of water to save his life but will see one another die like doggs without any relief and for the most part the first that forsake them are their Wives and their Children At Frederisbourg we saw a poor creature abandoned by all people and the Mores admiring how we durst come near him but his infirmity being only an oppression in his Stomach our Chyrurgeon cured him with ease we saw him afterwards merry and drinking with his Camerades who used him then with a thousand caresses though but eight dayes before his Wife and children had deserted him as not knowing his malady Of their Civil and their Criminal Justice and of the Successions of particular men AMongst these bruitish and barbarous Nations Justice has its place and all crimes are punishable though not capitally but upon great offences To begin with their criminal Justice he which is accused of adultery or fellony is immediately cited by the Judge who having heard what he could say and found his defence to be impertinent sets a fine upon him out of hand which he is obliged to pay down into the hands of the Receiver of the Customs If he be not able to pay it he is sold

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 By the Sieur Villault Escuyer Sieur de Bellefond in the years 1666 and 1667. Written in French and faithfully Englished The Second Edition LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleet-street near Temple-Barr 1670. THE TABLE OF CHAPTERS A Relation of their Voyage from Amsterdam page 1 The Description of Cap-Verd p. 16 The Coast of Malegeta with the Kingdome of Sierra-Leone p. 29 The Description of Sierra-Leone or the Mountain of Lyons p. 37 Cap de Monte and its Description p. 54 Cap Miserado p. 66 Rio de Junco p. 73 Petit Dieppe p. 76 Rio-Sextos p. 77 The Coast of Graives called Malaguette p. 87 The Coast of Elephants Teeth p. 98 Coste d' Or or the Gold Coast with a Relation of our Occurrences there p. 114 The Description of the Golden Coast p. 131 Of the Stature and Proportion of the People of this Countrey of their Wit Inclination Industry and Habits p. 133 Of their Women their Genius Humour and Habits p. 140 Of their Mariages and the Education of their Children p. 145 Of their Houses Heusholdstuff Drink Meat Palme wine and how it is made p. 154 Of their Markets their manner of Buying and Selling with a Description of their Measures and Weights p. 162 Their Religion Of their Sundayes Feasts Devotions Gods or Fetiches of their Sacrifices Priests and Habits p. 166 Of their Superstition their Swearing upon their Fetiches their manner of pacifying them when they think they are angry and the Burial of the Dead p. 182 Of their Old Men their Slaves their Lame their Servants the Diseases they are usually subject to with their Cures and the way to prevent them p. 195 Of their Dances and Feasts both private and solemn p. 207 Of their Exercises their workmen their Trades their Merchandises their Fishing and the Duty they pay to the King p. 214 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 p. 223 Of their Nobles the manner of their making Warr the grounds upon which they do usually make it their Arms of their Cessations and Peace p. 238 Of their Civil and their Criminal Justice and of the successions of particular men p. 249 Of their Beasts their Birds and their Fish p. 255 Their Fruits Hearbs Bread Millet Mays their manner of sowing and making of Salt p. 260 Of their Gold where it is found and how with the variety of works they make of it p. 264 Of the Return of our Vessel for Europe p. 272 The Description of the Isle of Saint Thomas which lyes under the Line p. 274 A VOYAGE TO The Coasts of Africk called GUINEE With a Description of the several Countries Fashions and Manners of the People the Fruit and Commodities of those parts with the Trade and Commerce they afford THe Coasts of Africk commonly called Guinee comprehening a Tract of ground of seven hundred Leagues from Cap-verd in the fourteenth degree of Northern latitude and nintieth degree of longitude East to Cape Gonsalvo in the first degree of Southern latitude and 29 and a half of Eastern longitude are at present so little frequented by the French and all from an opinion they have taken up of the Malignity of the air that it cannot without great sence and reluctancy be consider'd how long and how unhappily they have been deserted by them and left as a prey to all other Nations without reserving so much as the least share in the most advantagious Commerce they afford I must confess having the heart and passions of a Frenchman I could not observe without great regret the cunning and artifice wherewith the English the Hollander and the Dane had possest us of the pernitiousness of the air and the unwholsomness of the place and that with so much subtilty they had almost perswaded us out of the whole country and to have given up those few places which are still in our power a practice of that Moment and importance to them all that from their traffique upon these coasts alone would they be ingenious and confess they must acknowledg they derive their most considerable profit and advantage And indeed what Frenchman is their in the world so stupid and impenitrable that can behold several Bays along these coasts by the inhabitants called Bays de France and several Towns as Petit Diep and others declaring at this day the Genealogy of their founders so intirely abandon'd by his countrymen that there is nothing remaining there now but their name and an indeliable desire in the natives that they would conquer them again what Frenchman I say can consider this without remorse or remember it without being affected True it is in the time of the civil wars wherewith it pleas'd God to afflict the Kingdome of France in the reign of Henry le grand our expulsion in those parts was compleated for having no leisure to reinforce such garrisons as we had there from the time of Lewis the Eleventh we were forc'd out of them all and constrain'd to yeild possession to the Portugais who at that time like an inundation overwhelm'd all we had formerly gained upon the Golden Coast and for better security of their conquests built a Castle called St. George de la Mine of which I shall give a more ample discription hereafter Yet as an argument that our interest was considerable there once and that our magnificence was suitable to our interest it is worthy observation that at this very day the Dutch make use of a fair Church built formerly by the French still adorned with our Monuments and Arms and the principal Battery they have towards the sea is still by the Natives themselves called la batterie de France Upon these Coasts we had once the possession of Akara Carmentin Cape-corse and Takorai at which last the Sweeds rais'd a new Fort since that and upon the ruines of ours but their late wars in Germany like our wars in France having caus'd it to be neglected and been an occasion of interrupting its supplies it is demollish'd as well as ours and hath nothing left now but rubbish to shew that ever it was there Besides this we have suffered the Hollander to incroach upon us in our days and to possess themselves of our Plantation at Commendo a Town some two leagues distance from the Chasteau de la Mine but they were glad to attend the death of two Frenchmen who had lived there along time built a fair house of which there is nothing now standing but the walls and comported themselves with that candor and integrity to the Natives that

10 minutes The mouth of it is known by three great trees which stand very high and three great Mountains over against them but at some distance into the land the mouth of it is near five hundred paces over but shallow the banks so well decorated with trees and flowers that considered with the smoothness and serenity of the stream they make a most admirable landship Orange-trees Citrons and Palme-trees are planted all along and in exquisite order and as the Mores which came aboard intimated to us they have abundance of all things especially Poultry and Palme-Wine We went aboard and perceiving no body came at us we set sayle that night and came the next moring before Petit Dieppe PETIT DIEPPE PEtit Dieppe is a Town not far from a River which casts it self into the Sea and in its passage twisting about a spot of ground forms it self into no contemptible Island it was formerly in the possession of the French but deserted long since at the disemboguement of this River there are many Rocks which make the entrance more then ordinary difficult We discovered a little Vessel upon this Coast and gave chase to it but without any success The 22d we came to Rio-Sextos whose description follows RIO-SEXTOS RIo-Sextos is a River which comes a great way down the land North and North-West and is about half a league over at the mouth of it On both sides it is set very pleasantly with Trees very large and very tall about three leagues up the River the English had formerly a house but there is nothing of it left but the Walls This River will carry a Yacht or a large Barke a douzaine leagues and more up in the Countrey It was called Rio-Sextos by the Portugais from a certain kind of Pepper which grows by it and is called Sextos by them the same I suppose with what we call Malaguette which I shall speake of more particularly in the next Chapter We were told by their fisherboats that about a fortnight before there pass'd two Flemish Vessels that way to the Mine that we might finde good quantities of Ivory but that their Canoes being so small it would be necessary for us to carry our Merchanhise on shore whereupon we anchor'd about half a league from land in about 16 fathom water Some of our Officers went a shore in our shallop and carryed some Commodities along with them to begin the Commerce they carryed them three leagues up the River and their King who lived yet higher into the Countrey came down to see them and according to Custome had his usual presents They came back very late and the Notary at his return gave me this accompt of him that he was a very lusty man with a stern and supercilious aspect that he profess'd great frienship for the English That he brought down great store of Ivory with him but having furnished the two Flemish Vessels so lately he held it so dear there was no dealing with him for it That they seem'd worse natured then the Mores at Miserado But that the River was very fine and is full of little stones upon the shore like our Flints only these are harder and give more fire upon any collision Whilest they were amongst them there came about 10 or 12 of their Canoes aboard us with a kind of Sea-Pike an excellent good fish and several other sorts of which we bought some The people are generally well proportioned and bearing every one of them the name of some Saint or other I had a great curiosity to know how that custom came upon them I took one of them aside and having cajoled him with a glass of Wine and strong-water which they love better then their Wives I asked him the reason and he told me that when any Vessels passed that way and did the Natives any kindness it was usual to begg their Names at their departure which they gave afterwards to their children in memory of the courtesie they had received from them Which convinced me being imbellished with so noble a virtue as gratitude they could not be so bad as they had been represented to me and the rather because the King of them having upon the death of an English Merchant seized upon all his Ivory and goods did upon the arrival of the first English Ship voluntarily and without any solicitation deliver all to the Captain An invincible argument of their piety and saith I gave him that gave me this accompt two little knives for his pains and he was so surpris'd at the present he desired my name and I having told him he oblig'd himself if his Wife which was big at that time was brought to bed of a boy he should carry my name and if ever I return'd that way he would bring him to see me All along this Coast their manner of salutation is the same they take our sore finger and thumb into their hands and putting them into a certain posture they pull them hard and make them snap crying out Aquio when they have done which is as much as your Servant with us This Countrey is very fertil well furnish'd with Fowl and Rice and Millet of which they make all the bread which they carry with them in their Canoes when they go out a fishing which as I observed they are very neat and axact in keeping clean He that would stay upon the place might make very good advantage either by Rice or Pepper or Ivory which is excellently good their kindness has been always more conspicious to the French then either to the Hollander or Portugal neither of which they would ever suffer to cohabit with them On the 32th by break of day we discovered a little Fleet of Canoes of about 40 which were going a fishing and within a quarter of an hour they dispersed themselves every way Of the whole Armada there was but one came to us with some few Elephants teeth which he held so dear he had his labour for his paines and carryed them off as he brought them whereupon we also weighed anchor for Rio-Sanguin which is the first place upon the Coast of Malaguette and about twelve leagues from Rio-Sextos for four hours together we steer'd Southward to avoid the Rocks which ly in great numbers betwixt Rio-Sanguin and Rio-Sextos after which we steer'd East and by North and came safe to Rio-Sanguin That the French had the preoccupancy of these Coasts in respect of all other Nations of Europe I think is clear from the Names of several Bayes and a hundred other monuments of their glory But at present we have nothing left there nor indeed any body but the English who by means of seven or eight houses doe carry away as it were the whole pofits of the place The Portugais succeeded the French but being over-power'd by the English and the Dutch and beaten off from the Coasts in the year 1604. they retreated farther into the Countrey and marrying with the Natives have begot that

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