The trade with Europe, by being afterwards laid open, was almost annihilated; the share which the subjects of England at this time hold in it, supports not more than two or three annual ships; and I am informed that the gross value of British exports is under £20,000. The French and Danes still maintain a small share, and the Americans have lately sent a few vessels to the Gambia by way of experiment.
The commodities exported to the Gambia from Europe consist chiefly of fire-arms and ammunition, iron ware, spirituous liquors, tobacco, cotton caps, a small quantity of broad cloth, and a few articles of the manufacture of Manchester; a small assortment of India goods, with some glass beads, amber, and other trifles: for which are taken in exchange slaves, gold-dust, ivory, bees-wax, and hides. Slaves are the chief article, but the whole number which at this time are annually exported from the Gambia by all nations, is supposed to be under one thousand.
Most of these unfortunate victims are brought to the Coast in periodical caravans; many of them from very remote inland countries; for the language which they speak is not understood by the inhabitants of the maritime districts. In a subsequent part of my work I shall give the best information I have been able to collect concerning the manner in which they are obtained. On their arrival at the Coast, if no immediate opportunity offers of selling them to advantage, they are distributed among the neighbouring villages, until a slave ship arrives, or until they can be sold to black traders, who sometimes purchase on speculation. In the meanwhile, the poor wretches are kept constantly fettered, two and two of them being chained together, and employed in the labours of the field: and I am sorry to add, are very scantily fed, as well as harshly treated. The price of a slave varies according to the number of purchasers from Europe, and the arrival of caravans from the interior; but in general I reckon, that a young and healthy male, from 16 to 25 years of age, may be estimated on the spot from £18. to £20. sterling.
The Negro slave merchants, as I have observed in the former Chapter; are called Slatees; who, besides slaves, and the merchandize which they bring for sale to the whites, supply the inhabitants of the maritime districts with native iron, sweet smelling gums and frankincense, and a commodity called Shea-toulou, which, literally translated, signifies tree-butter. This commodity is extracted, by means of boiling water, from the kernel of a nut, as will be more particularly described hereafter: it has the consistence and appearance of butter; and is in truth an admirable substitute for it. It forms an important article in the food of the natives, and serves also for every domestic purpose in which oil would otherwise be used. The demand for it is therefore very great.
In payment of these articles, the maritime states supply the interior countries with salt, a scarce and valuable commodity, as I frequently and painfully experienced in the course of my journey. Considerable quantities of this article, however, are also supplied to the inland natives by the Moors; who obtain it from the salt-pits in the Great Desart, and receive in return corn, cotton cloth, and slaves.
In thus bartering one commodity for another, many inconveniences must necessarily have arisen at first from the want of coined money, or some other visible and determinate medium, to settle the balance, or difference of value, between different articles; to remedy which, the natives of the interior make use of small shells called kowries, as will be shewn hereafter. On the Coast, the inhabitants have adopted a practice which I believe is peculiar to themselves.
In their early intercourse with Europeans, the article that attracted most notice was iron. Its utility, in forming the instruments of war and husbandry, made it preferable to all others; and iron soon became the measure by which the value of all other commodities was ascertained. Thus a certain quantity of goods of whatever denomination, appearing to be equal in value to a bar of iron, constituted, in the traders phraseology, a bar of that particular merchandize. Twenty leaves of tobacco, for instance, were considered as a bar of tobacco; and a gallon of spirits (or rather half spirits and half water), as a bar of rum; a bar of one commodity being reckoned equal in value to a bar of another commodity.
As, however, it must unavoidably happen, that according to the plenty or scarcity of goods at market in proportion to the demand, the relative value would be subject to continual fluctuation, greater precision has been found necessary; and at this time, the current value of a single bar of any kind is fixed by the whites at two shillings sterling. Thus a slave, whose price is £15. is said to be worth 150 bars.
In transactions of this nature, it is obvious that the white trader has infinitely the advantage over the African, whom, therefore, it is difficult to satisfy; for, conscious of his own ignorance, he naturally becomes exceedingly suspicious and wavering; and indeed so very unsettled and jealous are the Negroes in their dealings with the whites, that a bargain is never considered by the European as concluded, until the purchase money is paid, and the party has taken leave.
Having now brought together such general observations on the country, and its inhabitants, as occurred to me during my residence in the vicinage of the Gambia, I shall detain the reader no longer with introductory matter, but proceed, in the next Chapter, to a regular detail of the incidents which happened, and the reflections which arose in my mind, in the course of my painful and perilous journey, from its commencement, until my return to the Gambia.