He Was So Cunning That
He Would Not Give Above 15 Pounds Of Grains For A Bason, And Would
Sometimes Offer Us A Small Dishful, Whereas We Had A Basket Full For
Each The Day Before.
Seeing that we would not accept what he offered,
the captain of the negroes went away, and caused all the boats to depart
likewise, thinking perhaps that we would have followed and agreed to his
terms; but on perceiving his drift, we hauled up our grapnel and went
away likewise.
We landed at a small town, to see the manners of the
people, and about 60 of them came about us, being at first shy, and
seemingly afraid of us; but seeing we did them no harm, they came up in
a familiar manner, and took us by the hand. We then went into their
town, which consisted of about twenty small hovels, covered over with
large leaves. All the sides were open, and the floor was raised like a
scaffold about a yard high, where they work many ingenious things of the
barks of trees, and there also they sleep. In some of these hovels they
work in iron, making very pretty heads for javelins, tools for making
their boats, and various other things, the women working as well as the
men.
[Footnote 232: That is grains of paradise, so the Italians called Guinea
pepper when they first saw it, not knowing what it was. We took the name
from them, and hence came the name of the Grain Coast - Astl.
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