“The French commonly compose their cargo for the Gold Coast trade to purchase slaves and gold dust; of brandy, white and red wine, ros solis, firelocks, muskets, flints, iron in bars, white and red contecarbe, red frize, looking glasses, fine coral, sarsaparilla, bugles of sundry sorts and colours and glass beads, powder, sheets, tobacco, taffeties, and many other sorts of silks wrought as brocardels, velvets, shirts, black hats, linen, paper, laces of many sorts, shot, lead, musket balls, callicoes, serges, stuffs, &c., besides the other goods for a true assortment, which they have commonly from Holland.
“The Dutch have Coesveld linen, Slezsiger lywat, old sheets, Leyden serges, dyed indigo-blue, perpetuanas, green, blue and purple, Konings-Kleederen, annabas, large and narrow, made at Haerlem; Cyprus and Turkey stuffs, Turkey carpets, red, blue and yellow cloths, green, red and white Leyden rugs, silk stuffs blue and white, brass kettles of all sizes, copper basons, Scotch pans, barbers’ basons, some wrought, others hammered, copper pots, brass locks, brass trumpets, pewter, brass and iron rings, hair trunks, pewter dishes and plates (of a narrow brim), deep porringers, all sorts and sizes of fishing hooks and lines, lead in sheets and in pipes, 3 sorts of Dutch knives, Venice bugles and glass beads of sundry colours and sizes, sheep skins, iron bars, brass pins long and short, brass bells, iron hammers, powder, muskets, cutlaces, cawris, chintz, lead balls and shot, brass cups with handles, cloths of Cabo Verdo, Qua Qua, Ardra and Rio Forcada, blue coral, alias akory from Benin, strong waters and abundance of other wares, being near 160 sorts, as a Dutchman told me.”
I am sorry Barbot broke down just when he seemed going strong with this list, and I was out of breath checking the indent, and said “other wares,” but I cannot help it, and beg to say that this is the true assortment for the Gold Coast trade in 1678. The English selection “besides many of the same goods above mentioned have tapseils, broad and narrow, nicanees fine and coarse, many sorts of chintz or Indian callicoes printed, tallow, red painting colours, Canary wine, sayes, perpetuanas inferior to the Dutch and sacked up in painted tillets with the English arms, many sorts of white callicoes, blue and white linen, China satins, Barbadoes rum, other strong waters and spirits, beads of all sorts, buckshaws, Welsh plain, boy-sades, romberges, clouts, gingarus, taffeties, amber, brandy, flower, Hamburgh brawls, and white, blue and red chequered linen, narrow Guinea stuffs chequered, ditto broad, old hats, purple beads. The Danes, Brandenburghers and Portuguese provide their cargoes in Holland commonly consisting of very near the same sort of wares as I have observed the Dutch make up theirs, the two former having hardly anything of their own proper to the trade of the Gold Coast besides copper and silver, either wrought or in bullion or in pieces of eight, which are a commodity also there.
“The Portuguese have most of their cargoes from Holland under the name of Jews residing there, and they add some things of the product of Brazil, as tobacco, rum, tame cattle, St. Tome cloth, others from Rio Forcado and other circumjacent places in the Gulf of Guinea.”
USE MADE OF EUROPEAN GOODS BY THE NATIVES OF THE GOLD COAST. BARBOT.
“The broad linen serves to adorn themselves and their dead men’s sepulchers within, they also make clouts thereof. The narrow cloth to press palm oil; in old sheets they wrap themselves at night from head to foot. The copper basons to wash and shave. The Scotch pans serve in lieu of butchers’ tubs when they kill hogs or sheep, from the iron bars the smiths forge out all their weapons, country and household tools and utensils; of frize and perpetuanas, they make girts 4 fingers broad to wear about their waists and hang their sword, dagger, knife and purse of money or gold, which purse they commonly thrust between the girdle and their body. They break Venice coral into 4 or 5 parts, which afterwards they mould into any form on whetstones and make strings or necklaces which yield a considerable profit; of 4 or 5 ells of English or Leyden serges, they make a kind of cloak to wrap about their shoulders and stomachs. Of chintz, perpetuanas, printed callicoes, tapsiels and nicanees, are made clouts to wear round their middles. The wrought pewter, as dishes, basons, porringers, &c., serve to eat their victuals out of, muskets, firelocks and cutlaces they use in war; brandy is more commonly spent at their feasts, knives to the same purposes as we use them. With tallow they anoint their bodies from head to toe and even use it to shave their beards instead of soap. Fishing hooks for the same purpose as with us. Venice bugles, glass beads and contacarbe, serve all ages and sexes to adorn their heads, necks, arms and legs very extravagantly, being made into strings; and sarsaparilla.”—Well, I think I have followed Barbot enough for the present on this point, and turn to his description of the dues the natives have to pay to native authorities on goods bought of Europeans, which amounted to 3 per cent. paid to the proper officers; the kings of the land have at each port town, and even fishes, if it exceeds a certain quantity pays 1 in 5; these duties are paid either in coin or value. Up the inland they pay no duty on river fish, but are liable to pay a capitation fee of one shilling per head for the liberty of passing down to the sea-shore either to traffic or attend the markets with their provisions or other sorts of the product of the land, and pay nothing at their return home, goods or no goods, unless they by chance leave their arms in the village, then the person so doing is to pay one shilling.
The collectors account quarterly with their kings, and deliver up what each has received in gold at his respective post, but the fifth part of the fish they collect is sent to the king as they have it, and serves to feed his family.
No fisherman is allowed to dispose of the first fish he has caught till the duty is paid, but are free to do it aboard ships, which perhaps may be one reason why so many of them daily sell such quantities of their fish to the seafaring men.
Barbot, remarking on this Gold Coast trade, says: “The Blacks of the Gold Coast, having traded with Europeans ever since the 14th century, are very well skilled in the nature and proper qualities of all European wares and merchandize vended there; but in a more particular manner since they have so often been imposed on by the Europeans, who in former ages made no scruple to cheat them in the quality, weight and measures of their goods which at first they received upon content, because they say it would never enter into their thoughts that white men, as they call the Europeans, were so base as to abuse their credulity and good opinion of us. But now they are [perpetually on their guard] in that particular, examine and search very narrowly all our merchandize, piece by piece, to see each the quality and measure contracted for by samples; for instance, if the cloth is well made and strong, whether dyed at Haerlem or Leyden—if the knives be not rusty—if the basons, kettles, and other utensils of brass and pewter are not cracked or otherwise faulty, or strong enough at the bottom. They measure iron bars with the sole of the foot—they tell over the strings of contacarbel, taste and prove brandy, rum or other liquors, and will presently discover whether it is not adulterated with fresh or salt water or any other mixture, and in point of French brandy will prefer the brown colour in it. In short they examine everything with as much prudence and ability as any European can do.”
“The goods sold by English and Dutch, Danes, Brandenburghers, &c., ashore, out of these settlements are generally about 25 per cent. dearer to the Blacks than they get aboard ships in the Roads; the supercargoes of the ships commonly falling low to get the more customers and make a quicker voyage, for which reason the forts have very little trade with the Blacks during the summer season, which fills the coast with goods by the great concourse of ships at that time from several ports of Europe; and as the winter season approaches most of them withdraw from the coast, and so leave elbow room for the fort factors to trade in their turn during that bad season.