Some years ago a three-masted vessel took me to a wild country on the West Coast of Africa near the Equator.
It was a very wild country indeed.
As we came in sight of the land, which was covered with forest, canoes began to start from the shore towards us; and, as we neared the land, we could see the people crowding down on the beach to look at the strange sight of a vessel.
The canoes approached the vessel in great numbers. Some of them were so small that they looked like mere nutshells. Indeed, some of the men paddled with their feet; and one man carried his canoe ashore on his shoulder.
At last, the natives came on board, and what funny people they were! I could not discern one from another; they seemed to me all alike.
What a queer way of dressing they had too! You would have laughed to see them. Some had only an old coat on. Others had an old pair of trousers which probably had belonged to some sailor; these wore no shirt or coat. Some had only an old ragged shirt, and some again had nothing on except an old hat. Of course none of them had shoes.
How they shouted and hallooed as they came about the vessel! They seemed to speak such a strange language. No one on board appeared to understand them. They made so great a noise that I thought I should become deaf.
One of them had a fowl to sell; another brought an egg or two; and another a few bunches of plantains.
Our captain knew the coast; for he had long been an African trader, though he had never been at this place before.
The ship cast anchor. It was not far from a river called Benito.