His seruants, some of them had cloth about their loines, and some nothing but a cloth betwixt their legges, and made fast before, and behinde to their girdles, and cappes of their owne making, some like a basket, and some like a great wide purse of beasts skinnes.
[Sidenote: Their weapons.] All their cloth, cordes, girdles, fishing lines, and all such like things which they haue, they make of the bark of certaine trees, and thereof they can worke things very pretily, and yron worke they can make very fine, of all such things as they doe occupy, as darts, fishhookes, hooking yrons, yron heads, and great daggers, some of them as long as a woodknife, which be on both sides exceeding sharpe, and bended after the maner of Turkie blades, and the most part of them haue hanging at their left side one of those great daggers.
Their targets bee made of such pils as their cloth is made of, and very closely wrought, and they bee in forme foure square, and very great, and somewhat longer then they bee broad, so that kneeling downe, they make their targets to couer their whole body. Their bowes be short, and of a pretie strength, as much as a man is able to draw with one of his fingers, and the string is of the barke of a tree, made flat, and about a quarter of an inch broad: as for their arrowes, I haue not as yet seene any of them, for they had wrapped them vp close, and because I was busie I could not stand about it, to haue them open them. Their golde also they worke very well.
When the Captaine was set, I sent him two elles of cloth, and two basons, and gaue them vnto him, and hee sent againe for a waight of the same measure, and I sent him a weight of two Angels, which he would not take, nether would hee suffer the towne to buy any thing, but the basons of brasse: so that wee solde that day 74. basons vnto the men of the towne, for about half an Angel weight, one with another, and nine white basons, which we solde for a quarter of an Angell a peece, or thereabouts.
We shewed them all our other things which we had, but they did not esteeme them.
About two of the clocke, the Captaine who did depart in the morning from vs, came againe, and brought with him to present mee withall, a henne, and two great rootes, which I receiued, and after made me signes that the countrey would come to his towne that night, and bring great store of gold, which in deed about 4. of the clocke they did: for there came about 100. men vnder 3. Captaines, well appointed with their darts and bowes, and when they came to vs, euery man sticked downe his dart vpon the shoare, and the Captaines had stooles brought them, and they sate downe, and sent a young man aboord of vs, which brought a measure with him of an ell, and one fourth part, and one sixteenth part, and he would haue that foure times for a waight of one Angell and twelue graines: I offered him two elles, as I had done before for two Angels weight, which he esteemed nothing, but still stucke at his foure measures aforesaide: yet in the ende, when it grew very late, and I made him signes, that I would depart, he came to foure elles for the weight abouesaid, and otherwise he would not deale, and so we departed. This day we tooke for basons sixe ounces and a halfe and one eight part.
The sixt day in the morning we manned our boates and the skiffe well, for feare of the Portugals which the last yeere had taken away a man from the other ships, and went on shoare, and landed, because they had no boates to come to vs, and so the young man which was with vs the night before was sent aboord, who seemed to haue dealt and bargained before with the Portugals for he could speake a litle Portuguise, and was perfect in weights and measures: at his comming be offered vs, as he had done before, one Angell, and twelue graines for four elles, and more he would not giue, and made signes, that if we would not take that, we should depart, which we did: but before we did indeede depart, I offered him of some rotten cloth three elles for his waight of an Angell and twelue graines, which he would not take, and then we departed making signes to him that we would go away, as indeede we would haue done, rather then haue giuen that measure, although the cloth was ill, seeing we were so neere to the places, which we iudged to be better for sale. Then we went aboord our ships which lay about a league off, and came backe againe to the shoare for sand and balaste: and then the Captaine perceiuing that the boats had brought no marchandize but came onely for water and sand, and seeing that we would depart, came vnto them, making signes againe to know whether would we not giue the foure elles, and they made signes againe, that we would giue them but three, and when they sawe that the boates were ready to depart, they came vnto them and gaue them the weight of our Angell and twelue graines, which we required before and made signes, that if we would come againe, they would take three elles. So when the boates came aboord, we layde wares in them both, and for the speedier dispatch I and Iohn Sauill went in one boat, and the Maister Iohn Makeworth, and Richard Curligin, in the other, and went on shoare, and that night I tooke for my part fiftie and two ounces, and in the other boate they tooke eight ounces and a quarter, all by one weight and measure, and so being very late, we departed and went aboord, and took in all this day three pound.
The seuenth day we went a shoare againe, and that day I tooke in our boate three pound 19 ounces, so that we dispatched almost all the cloth that we caried with us before noone, and then many of the people were departed and those that remained had litle golde, yet they made vs signes to fetch them some latten basons which I would not because I purposed not to trifle out the time, but goe thence with speede to Don Iohns towne. But Iohn Sauill and Iohn Makeworth were desirous to goe againe: and I, loth to hinder them of any profite, consented, but went not my selfe: so they tooke eighteene ounces of gold and came away, seeing that the people at a certaine crie made, were departed.
While they were at the shoare, there came a young fellow which could speake a little Portuguise, with three more with him, and to him I solde 39 basons and two small white sawcers, for three ounces, &c., which was the best reckoning that we did make of any basons: and in the forenoone when I was at the shoare, the Master solde fiue basons vnto the same fellow, for halfe an ounce of golde.
[Sidenote: 60. Portugales in the castle of Mina.] This fellow, as farre as we could perceiue, had bene taken into the Castle by the Portugales, and was gotten away from them, for he tolde vs that the Portugales were bad men, and that they made them slaues if they could take them, and would put yrons vpon their legges, and besides he tolde vs, that as many Frenchmen or Englishmen, as they could take (for he could name these two very well) they would hang them: he tolde vs further, that there were 60 men in the castle, and that euery yeere there came thither two shippes, one great, and one small caruell, and further, that Don Iohn had warres with the Portugals, which gaue mee the better courage to goe to his towne, which lieth not foure leagues from the Castle, wherehence our men were beaten the last yeere.