- Astl. I 163. b. - The river
called Jack Lahows river, in Long. 4 deg. 14' W. - E.]
On the 14th we came within _Saker_ shot of the castle of Mina, whence an
Almadia was sent out to see what we were, but seeing that we were not
Portuguese, she went immediately back to the large negroe town of
_Dondou_ close by the castle. Without this there lie two great rocks
like islands, and the castle stands on a point resembling an island. At
some distance to the westwards the land for 5 or 6 leagues was high, but
for 7 leagues from thence to the castle the land is low, after which it
becomes high again. The castle of Mina is about 5 leagues east from Cape
Three-points[263]. Here I took the boat with our negroes, and, went
along the coast till I came to the cape, where I found two small towns
having no canoes, neither could we have any trade. At these places our
negroes understood the natives perfectly, and one of them went on shore
at all the places, where he was well received by his countrymen. At a
place called _Bulle_, about 3 leagues east from the eastermost point of
Cape Three-points, we learnt from the natives by means of our negro
George, that about a month before there had been an engagement at this
place, in which two ships had put one to flight; and that some time
before, one French ship had put to flight four Portuguese ships at the
castle of Mina.
[Footnote 263: Mina is in Long. 1 deg. 60', Cape Three points in 2 40' both
west, the difference of Longitude therefore is about 50 minutes, or
nearly 17 leagues. - E]
On the 16th we went to a place called _Hanta_, 12 leagues beyond the
cape, but did no good, as the natives held their gold too dear. We went
thence to _Shamma_[264], where we landed with 5 boats well armed with
men and ordnance, making a great noise with our drums and trumpets,
suspecting we might have found Portuguese here, but there were none. We
sent our negroes first on shore, after which we followed and were well
received. The 18th we agreed to give the negroes 2 yards and 3 nails of
cloth, as a _fuffe_, to exchange for an angel-ducat weight; so we took
in all 70 ducats, of which the Frenchmen had 40 and we 30. The 19th I
took 4 libs. 2-1/2 oz. of gold, and the boat of the Hart had 21 oz. This
night we were informed by the negroes that the Portuguese meant to
attack us next day either by sea or land, and as we were about to return
on board we heard several shots in the woods, but they durst not come
near us. The 20th we went on shore well armed, but heard no more of the
Portuguese, and this day the negroes informed us there were some ships
come to _Hanta_, a town about 2 leagues to the west.
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