The African Trader | Page 9

wits, he handed it to one of his
attendants, and then applied himself to the breakfast, which had just
been placed on the table, and I dare not say how many cups of coffee,
sweetened to the brim with sugar, he swallowed in rapid succession.
Having received half a dozen muskets, as many kegs of powder, brass
pans, wash basins, plates, gunflints, and various cotton articles, as his
accustomed dash, and requested a dozen bottles of rum in addition, he
took his departure, promising to come again and do a little trade on his
own account.
The subjects of the sable potentate were now allowed to come on board,
and several canoes were seen approaching us from different parts of the
shore. One brought a tusk of ivory, others jars of palm oil, several had
baskets of India-rubber, or gum-elastic, as it is called. Besides these
articles, they had ebony, bees'-wax, tortoise-shell, gold-dust, copper-ore,
ground nuts, and others to dispose of.
We soon found that the business of trading with these black merchants
was not carried on at the rate we should have desired.
The trader, having hoisted his goods out of his canoe, would place them
on deck, and seat himself before them, looking as unconcerned as if he

had not the slightest wish to part with them. Some would wait till the
captain came forward and made an offer; others would ask a price ten
times the known value of the article, extolling its excellence, hinting
that very little more was likely to be brought down the river for a long
time to come, and that several other traders were soon expected. The
captain would then walk away, advising the owner to keep it till he
could obtain the price he asked. The trader would sit still till the captain
again came near him, then ask a somewhat lower price. On this being
refused he would perhaps make a movement as if about to return to his
canoe, without having the slightest intention of so doing; and so the
game would go on till the captain would offer the former price for the
article, when, perhaps, the trader would sit on, time being of no
consequence to him, in the hopes that he might still receive a larger
amount of goods. On other occasions the captain had to commence
bargaining, when he invariably offered considerably below the true
mark, when the trader as invariably asked something greatly above it.
The captain would then walk aft, and, perhaps, come back and talk
about the other ports he intended to visit, where the natives were more
reasonable in their demands. Captain Willis was too cool a hand to
show any impatience, and he thus generally made very fair bargains,
always being ready to give a just value for the articles he wished to
purchase. As each jar of oil, each tooth or box of gold-dust, or basket of
India-rubber, could alone be procured by this process, some idea may
be formed of the time occupied every day in trading.
Palm oil was, however, the chief article we were in search of; but two
weeks passed by, and still a considerable number of our casks remained
unfilled. Fever too had broken out on board. Three of our men were
down with it, and day after day others were added to the number. The
two first seized died, and we took them on shore to be buried. This had
a depressing effect on the rest.
When we returned on board we found that a third was nearly at his last
gasp. Poor fellow, the look of despair and horror on his countenance I
can never forget. "Harry," he exclaimed, seizing my hand as I went to
him with a cup of cooling drink, "I am not fit to die, can no one do any
thing for me? I dare not die, can't some of those black fellows on shore

try to bring me through--they ought to know how to man handle this
fever."
"I am afraid that they are but bad doctors, Bob," I answered, "however,
take this cooling stuff it may perhaps do you good."
"A river of it won't cool the burning within me," he gasped out. "Oh
Harry, and if I die now, that burning will last for ever and ever. I would
give all my wages, and ten times as much, for a few days of life. Harry,
I once was taught to say my prayers, but I have not said them for long
years, and curses, oaths, and foul language have come out of my lips
instead. I want to have time to pray, and to recollect what I was taught
as a boy." I tried to cheer him up, as I called it, but alas, I too had