These Duties Or
Customs Are Generally Collected In Person By The Alkaid, Or Governor
Of Jillifrey, And He Is Attended On These Occasions By A Numerous
Train Of Dependants, Among Whom Are Found Many Who, By Their
Frequent Intercourse With The English, Have Acquired A Smattering Of
Our Language:
But they are commonly very noisy and very
troublesome, begging for everything they fancy with such earnestness
and importunity, that traders, in order to get quit of them, are
frequently obliged to grant their requests.
On the 23rd we departed from Jillifrey, and proceeded to Vintain, a
town situated about two miles up a creek on the southern side of the
river. This place is much resorted to by Europeans on account of
the great quantities of beeswax which are brought hither for sale;
the wax is collected in the woods by the Feloops, a wild and
unsociable race of people. Their country, which is of considerable
extent, abounds in rice; and the natives supply the traders, both on
the Gambia and Cassamansa rivers, with that article, and also with
goats and poultry, on very reasonable terms. The honey which they
collect is chiefly used by themselves in making a strong
intoxicating liquor, much the same as the mead which is produced
from honey in Great Britain.
In their traffic with Europeans, the Feloops generally employ a
factor or agent of the Mandingo nation, who speaks a little English,
and is acquainted with the trade of the river. This broker makes
the bargain; and, with the connivance of the European, receives a
certain part only of the payment, which he gives to his employer as
the whole; the remainder (which is very truly called the cheating
money) he receives when the Feloop is gone, and appropriates to
himself as a reward for his trouble.
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