Some Historical Account of Guinea | Page 6

soil on the Gambia, he says,[A] "It is rich and deep, and
amazingly fertile; it produces spontaneously, and almost without
cultivation, all the necessaries of life, grain, fruit, herbs, and roots.
Every thing matures to perfection, and is excellent in its kind."[B] One
thing, which always surprized him, was the prodigious rapidity with
which the sap of trees repairs any loss they may happen to sustain in
that country: "And I was never," says he, "more astonished, than when
landing four days after the locusts had devoured all the fruits and leaves,
and even the buds of the trees, to find the trees covered with new leaves,
and they did not seem to me to have suffered much."[C] "It was then,"
says the same author; "the fish season; you might see them in shoals
approaching towards land. Some of those shoals were fifty fathom
square, and the fish crowded together in such a manner, as to roll upon
one another, without being able to swim. As soon as the Negroes
perceive them coming towards land, they jump into the water with a
basket in one hand, and swim with the other. They need only to plunge
and to lift up their basket, and they are sure to return loaded with fish."
Speaking of the appearance of the country, and of the disposition of the
people, he says,[D] "Which way soever I turned mine eyes on this
pleasant spot, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature; an agreeable
solitude, bounded on every side by charming landscapes; the rural
situation of cottages in the midst of trees; the ease and indolence of the
Negroes, reclined under the shade of their spreading foliage; the
simplicity of their dress and manners; the whole revived in my mind
the idea of our first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in
its primitive state. They are, generally speaking, very good-natured,
sociable, and obliging. I was not a little pleased with this my first
reception; it convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable
abatement made in the accounts I had read and heard every where of
the savage character of the Africans. I observed both in Negroes and
Moors, great humanity and sociableness, which gave me strong hopes
that I should be very safe amongst them, and meet with the success I
desired in my enquiries after the curiosities of the country."[E] He was
agreeably amused with the conversation of the Negroes, their _fables,
dialogues_, and witty stories with which they entertain each other

alternately, according to their custom. Speaking of the remarks which
the natives made to him, with relation to the stars and planets, he says,
"It is amazing, that such a rude and illiterate people, should reason so
pertinently in regard to those heavenly bodies; there is no manner of
doubt, but that with proper instruments, and a good will, they would
become excellent astronomers."
[Footnote A: Idem, page 164.]
[Footnote B: M. Adanson, page 161.]
[Footnote C: Idem, page 171.]
[Footnote D: Ibid, page 54.]
[Footnote E: Adanson, page 252, ibid.]

CHAP. II
_The Ivory Coast_; its soil and produce. The character of the natives
misrepresented by some authors. These misrepresentations occasioned
by the Europeans having treacherously carried off many of their people.
_John Smith, surveyor to the African company_, his observations
thereon. _John Snock's_ remarks. The Gold Coast and Slave Coast,
these have the most European factories, and furnish the greatest
number of slaves to the Europeans. Exceeding fertile. The country of
Axim, and of Ante. Good account of the inland people Great fishery.
Extraordinary trade for slaves. _The Slave Coast. The kingdom of
Whidah_. Fruitful and pleasant. The natives kind and obliging. Very
populous. Keep regular markets and fairs. Good order therein. Murder,
adultery, and theft severely punished. The King's revenues. The
principal people have an idea of the true God. Commendable care of
the poor. Several small governments depend on plunder and the slave
trade.
That part of Guinea known by the name of the Grain, and _Ivory
Coast,_ comes next in course. This coast extends about five hundred

miles. The soil appears by account, to be in general fertile, producing
abundance of rice and roots; indigo and cotton thrive without
cultivation, and tobacco would be excellent, if carefully manufactured;
they have fish in plenty; their flocks greatly increase, and their trees are
loaded with fruit. They make a cotton cloth, which sells well on the
Coast. In a word, the country is rich, and the commerce advantageous,
and might be greatly augmented by such as would cultivate the
friendship of the natives. These are represented by some writers as a
rude, treacherous people, whilst several other authors of credit give
them a very different character, representing them as _sensible,
courteous and the fairest traders on