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Barbot, Dapper, Davity: A Critique of Sources on Sierra Leone and Cape Mount

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

P.E.H. Hair
P.E.H. Hair*
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
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Extract

It is over a decade since Professor Lawrence made a plea “for subjecting the sources for African history to that kind of critical appraisal which has customarily been applied to Greek and Roman authors.” Among Anglophone African historians, the plea has largely gone unheard. Could this conceivably be because critical source analysis is dull stuff for minds accustomed to the excitement of filling blank plains of African history with elephants of speculation and castles of moralistic stance? The opportunity provided by the reprinting of the standard sources has all too frequently been lost. One editor of an essential west African source is content to remark that the contemporary translation into English he is reprinting, considered together with another contemporary translation into French, are “all [sic], for the most part, considered faithful renditions of the original Dutch.” Standards of source-verification in published African history not uncommonly fall below the standards demanded in other fields of history; even reputable publishing houses occasionally produce works whose standards of historical enquiry are so low that they have been termed, unkindly but not altogether unjustly, “Academic Oxfam for Africa.” Perhaps a case does exist for speculation and commitment in African history, perhaps non-written sources may inform in detail as well as stimulate in general; but if the African historian dares to step outside the ivory tower of African studies, and is concerned that his subject be taken seriously by the historical profession as a whole, he must perform his exercises on the common ground of historical enquiry. This means that he must include a measure of dull critical analysis of written sources. Professor Shepperson once suggested that the time had come for more ‘dull’ African history: the present paper is intended as a contribution to this and to no other good cause.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 1 , 1974 , pp. 25 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1974

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References

Notes

1. Lawrence, A.W., “Some Source Books for West African History,” JAH, 2 (1961), p. 227.Google Scholar

2. An exception must be made for the volumes published by the Hakluyt Society, especially those on Ethiopia-though, significantly, the scholars concerned might not care to call themselves “African historians.” An earlier instance of critical editing of primary sources on Africa, including a section of Dapper, was Schapera's, I.The Early Cape Hottentots (Cape Town, 1933).Google Scholar In the field of west African history, Anglophone historians have failed to follow up the critical editions of primary sources published since 1950 by French and Portuguese scholars, particularly by R. Mauny and A. Teixeira da Mota.

3. Amusing instances of hagiography and odium theologicum in African history are not hard to find in the relevant journals (e.g., in reviews in JAH, 10 [1969], pp. 333–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and IJAHS, 2 [1969], pp. 295–6).Google Scholar

4. Bosman, W., A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (London, 1705 [reprinted 1968]), p. xix.Google Scholar On reprint editing, see the comments of Fage, J.D., JAH, 8 (1967), pp. 157–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Holden, J.A., “Academic Oxfam?”, THSG, 8 (1965), p. 161.Google Scholar

6. A most valuable paper, published in 1968, presented a critical examination of historical sources, including Dapper and Barbot, for a section of the Cameroons coast, and drew the attention of anthropologists and other scholars to “the intricacies of the documentary tradition.” See Ardener, E.W., “Documentary and Linguistic Evidence for the Rise of the Trading Polities between the Rio del Roy and Cameroons, 1500-1650,” in Lewis, I.M., ed., History and Social Anthropology (London, 1968), pp. 81–126.Google Scholar Ardener noted that “there can be no substitute for recourse to the original texts: even the best editions (and all the translations) may let us down” (p. 113).

7. Thilmans, G., “Le Sénégal dans l'oeuvre d'Olfried Dapper,” BIFAN, B 33 (1971), pp. 508–63.Google Scholar

8. The corresponding editor of the project is Professor J.D. Fage, Director of the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

9. Naukeurige Beschrijvinge/der/Afrikaensche/Gewesten/van/Egypten, Barbaryen, Lybien, Biledulgerid / Negroslant, Guinee, Ethiopien, Abyssinie:/Vertoont/In de Benamingen, Grenspalen, Steden, Revieren, [1676: Revieren, Steden.] Gewassen,/Deeren, Zeeden, Drachten, Talen, Rijkdommen./Godsdiensten en Heerschappyen./Met Lantkaerten en afbeeldingen van Steden, Drachten, &c./na't Leven getekent, en in Kooper gesneden/Getrokken uyt verscheyde hedendaegse Lantbeschrijvers en geschriften/van bereisde Ondersoekers dier Landen./Door/Dr. O. Dapper./[1616: Den tweeden druck van veel fouten verbetert.] t'Amsterdam,/By Jacob van Meurs, op de Keysers-gracht, in de Stadt Meurs,/Anno M.DC.LXVIII [M.DC.LXXXVI]. Subsequent references will normally give only the page number of the 1676 editions, since this is more commonly available. All the material to be discussed falls within the second pagination of the 1676 edition; therefore this is not detailed in references. The second pagination of the 1676 edition can be converted to the pagination of the 1668 edition by adding either 369 or 370. We define the account of Sierra Leone and Cape Mount to include a brief section on the Susu (preceding the Siena Leone section), since this is based on the same sources.

10. E.g., Dauwala/Douwala (1668, p. 385; 1676, p. 16), Namady/Namadi (1668, p. 408; 1676, p. 40). In both editions Navah (1668, p. 385; 1676, p. 15) is a misprint for Mavah.

11. Umbstandttche und Eigentliche Beschreibung von Africa… Durch O. Dapper, Dr. /In Amsterdam,/Bey Jacob van Meurs/auf der Kaisers-Graft, in der Stadt Meurs/Anno M.DC.LXX. The dedication was signed by the publisher, not by Dapper, and the Privilegium allowed him to publish versions in Spanish and French, as well as in German. This German translation has been reprinted, in a shortened version (Stuttgart, 1964) and in full (New York, 1967). Thilmans, (“Le Sénégal,” p. 508)Google Scholar ascribes the translation to Dapper. If this is stated in the volume, the reference has escaped me, and in view of the fact that Dapper published another bulky compilation in 1670, it would seem unlikely that he prepared the translation himself.

12. Three paragraphs are missing in the translation. One (Dutch text, p. 49) is merely introductory; the other two are only of one sentence each but factual (p. 13 on crocodiles and water-elephants, p. 20 on Maniguette). Some of the very long Dutch sentences are sensibly broken up in German. In sections examined closely, I found that occasionally sentences were shortened and factual content lost (e.g., p. 12, information on rice-planting omitted). An item was lost in the list of goods on p. 10.

13. The following discrepancies have been noticed: distances were occasionally simplified (p. 12, 24-25 becomes 25), or changed (p. 3, 15-20 becomes 25; p. 5, 2½ becomes 1½). A vernacular term (P. 39, Jilly) was omitted. A misprint in the Dutch was corrected (p. 24, Tonton becomes Fonton), as was a slip in the wording of the Dutch (p. 42, Kquoja call Folgia lords).

14. E.g., Kquoja becomes Quoja, Hoqualla becomes Hockwalla (Dutch, p. 18; German, p. 390). Sometimes the new version usefully suggests how the curious Dutch-style spelling was intended to be pronounced (Kquwawoe becomes Kuwawu, pp. 42/411), but there are inconsistencies in the transliteration (Qunamore/Kunamora, pp. 12/384, but Quolou/Kwolou, pp. 52/420). Some respellings are dubious (Borrouw/Borrau, pp. 18/389), others surely wrong (Monou/Monau, Cilm/Zilm, Bolouw/Bolan, pp. 4/375).

15. Africa, Being an Accurate Description of the Regions of Aegypt, Barbary… [roughly a translation of Dapper's title] … Collected and Translated from most Authentik Authors and Augmented with Later Observations; Illustrated with Notes, and Adorn'd with Peculiar Maps and Proper Sculpture, by John Ogilby Esq., Master of His Majesties Revels in the Kingdom of Ireland, London. Printed by Tho. Johnson for the Author, and are to be had at his House in White Fryers, M.DC.LXX. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, holds what appears to be a proposal for this work. It consists of a title-page, beginning “An Accurate Description of Africa,” and four pages of text (Introduction, pp. 1-2; Africa in general, pp. 2-4), the whole in different type-faces and setting from those of the 1670 volume, and dated 1669.

16. Hence, there are two separate references in Cox, E.G., A Reference Guide to the Literature of Travel (Seattle, 1935), pp. 1, 361Google Scholar, and three in Wing, D., Short-Title Catalogue 1641-1700 (New York, 1948) (0 162 [1669], 0 163 [1670], D 241 [Dapper, 1670]).Google Scholar

17. J. Ogilby, 1600-1678, “King's Cosmographer and Geographic Printer,” is in DNB. In his preface to Africa, he wrote: "When, as in my former Acquisitions, I shew first at the highest and best Poetick Authors, so now as more ambitious, I pitch'd upon the like Accomplishment in Prose, and no less serves my turn than the Reducement of the whole World, viz., A New and Accurate Description of the Four Regions thereof, the first of which being AFRICA; wherein, having made some Progress, still Collecting more Materials towards the completing of so great a Work, a Volume lately Publish'd beyond Sea in Low-Dutch, came to my hands, full of new Discoveries, being my chief and onely Business to enquire after, set forth by Dr. O. Dapper, a Discreet and Painful Author whose large Addition, added to my own Endeavours, hath much accelerated the Work.” Ogilby did provide illustrations lavishly in the various works he published, but those in Africa were almost all taken from Dapper. Of the double-page topographic drawings, the only one not from Dapper was the sketch of Tangier (then a British possession, the only one in Africa, and so mentioned in the dedication to King Charles) by the English artist Robert White. The remainder were printed with English titles and legend added below or beside the original Dutch. Very curiously, these revised plates were then used by the Dutch printer for the German version of 1670 and the second Dutch edition of 1676, in both of which these topographical illustrations are captioned in English and Dutch. (Even more curiously, one drawing, that of Salee, while it has captions in English and Dutch in the German and Dutch volumes, has them only in Dutch in Ogilby.) It looks as if Ogilby obtained the original Dutch plates, and after having had English captions added, sold them back to the Dutch printer. For other comments on the 1676 plates, see Dozy, CM., “Olfert Dapper,” Tijdschrift Aardrijkskundig Genootschap van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch, 2de ser., 3 (1887), pp. 414–35.Google Scholar Ogilby does not state the name of the translator.

18. Information is lost on elephants (Dutch, p. 13; English, p. 378), on islands in the river (pp. 14/379), on a distance inland (pp. 17/381), on Admiral Lam and on Hondo (pp. 31/394). Instances of the translation altering the sense are on pp. 4/370, Serborakassa (the Dutch is not consistent, the English tidies up); pp. 8/374, 27/391, 41/401, Nederlanders becomes “European merchants”; “English” is inserted. Mistranslations include pp. 4/370, “begrijpt over de dertien revieren” becomes “containeth above thirty rivers”; pp. 5/371, “net roode verf-hout” becomes “red sand”; pp. 13/378, “d'inwoonders of de zwarten van het dorp” becomes “the Inhabitants are blacks of this town”; pp. 36/398, “spreken niet alleen hun eigen en de Timmasche … tale” becomes “speak not only their own Timnian … languages”; pp. 49/406, female circumcision, a euphemism in the translation.

19. Omissions include si (pp. 20/285), wosoey (pp. 24/287), koberes (pp. 27/390), killing (pp. 44/403). Misprints include doco for dorro (pp. 25/388).

20. E.g., “een gebruis der neer-stortende zee-baren weergalmt, met eenigh gelijkenis na het brullen eener leeuwinne” becomes “when the Winds bluster, and the stormy Billows rage, proceeds a terrible noise, like the furious roarings of a robbed Lioness” (pp. 3/369).

21. Description de l'Afrique, contenant les Noms, la Situation et les Confins de toutes ses Parties … Traduite du Flamand d'O. Dapper, DM., À Amsterdam, Waesberge, Boom & van Someren, M.DC.LXXXVI. A review of the work, largely a summary, appeared in the Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique (Amsterdam, 1686), 2:341–385.Google Scholar

22. E.g., “De Hollanders en andere volken komen in de reviere van Serre-Lions, van de Kaep van Sint Anne en in de reviere van Selbole met hunne Europische waren, om die aen d'inwoonders, in mangeling van de waren, die daer. vallen, te verhandelen” becomes “Les Hollandais trafiquent beaucoup sur la Rivière de Sierra-Lionna” (pp. 10/250).

23. A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea; and of Ethiopia Inferior, Vulgarly Angola; Being a New and Accurate Account of the Western Maritime Countries of Africa. In Six Books. … Illustrated with a Great Number of Useful Maps and Cuts, Engraven on Copper; Very Exactly Drawn upon the Place. By John Barbot, Agent General of the Royal Company of Africa, and Islands of Africa at Paris. Now First Printed from His Original Manuscript. This work forms volume 5 of Churchill's A Collection of Voyages and Travels (London), surprisingly, since the first four volumes appeared in 1704, but this fifth volume not until 1732. Barbot's volume was issued with the others in a “third edition” in 1746. See Lynam, E., Richard Hakluyt and His Successors (London, 1946), pp. 80–1.Google Scholar Henceforth this text is referred to as Barbot/1732.

24. Little is known about Barbot's life, either in France or in England. The entry in Dictionnaire de Biographie Française (Paris, 1951)Google Scholar will be enlarged slightly in the introduction to a forthcoming edition of Barbot's 1678–79 journal, by G. Debien and M. Delafosse, to appear in BIFAN (we are much indebted to the editors for allowing us to see their work in progress). The company Barbot served from 1681 was the third Senegal Company (Compagnie du Sénégal et Coste de Guinée) (Cultru, P., Histoire du Sénégal [Paris, 1910], pp. 60–2Google Scholar; Ly, A., La Compagnie du Sénégal [Paris, 1958], pp. 151–93Google Scholar–Barbot's ship is named on p. 152 but not recognised). Barbot became a naturalized Englishman in 1686 and died in 1712 or 1713, probably at Southampton (Lawrence, , “Source Books,” p. 229).Google Scholar

25. “In November 1711 when I was writing this at Southampton” (p. 424); “whilst I was writing this I received a letter from Lisbon dated July 24th N.S. 1710” (p. 539); there are also references to 1712 (p. 538) and to 1713 (p. 570).

26. References to prisoners-of-war, pp. 424,428. Barbot also received “observations from the late Mr. Henry Greenhill, my particular acquaintance when he was agent at Cape Corso castle, and ever since in England” (p. 540; cf. p. 170). Greehill (1646-1708) had a distinguished career in England after serving on the Gold Coast, in 1691 becoming one of the principal commissioners of the navy (DNB). A drawing of Cape Coast Castle by Greenhill is reproduced in Lawrence, A.W., Trade Castles and Forts of West Africa (London, 1963), plate 37 and p. 96Google Scholar; it was published, apparently in the 1690s, with engravings of some of Barbot's drawings. English acquaintances included men of substance and distinction: in the later 1680s Barbot showed Robert Boyle, the scientist, his “French manuscripts relating to Guinea” and Boyle took “particular notice” of a description of a thunderstorm on the Gold Coast (p. 577).

27. Barbot/1732, p. 428.

28. Ibid., p. 423.

29. Though there is no dated reference in the text later than 1713 Lawrence has drawn attention to a reference to an exploration of the Senegal river, supposedly carried out by one Des Marchais, who was subsequently knighted and whose discovery was “printed in French” (p. 424); the exploration took place eleven or twelve years before Barbot was told about it in November 1711. Lawrence argues that this reference indivates an interpolation to the text made long after 1711. He supposes that the reference was to the well-known exploration of André Brue in 1698 and that the name Des Marchais was mistakenly inserted by an editor who had read about Des Marchais' visit to Senegal in 1724 in the work published by Labat in 1730. See Lawrence, , “Source Books,” p. 229.Google Scholar However, it now appears that Des Marchais may have made two separate journeys to the west coast of Africa. In the British Museum (Add. 19560) is a lengthy manuscript entitled “Journal de navigation du voyage de la coste de Guinée, îles de l'Amérique, et Indes d'Espagne …” by Sieur Des Marchais. This voyage covered the period from January 1704 to January 1706, and though this doesn't tally very well with Barbot's dating it seems certain that this is the voyage to which Barbot referred. The existence of this manuscript precludes the necessity for arguing away this reference. It is to be hoped that this manuscript may soon find an editor.

30. I am indebted to the Librarian of the Admiralty Library, Ministry of Defence, for permission to inspect the manuscript, and to have a microfilm made. Henceforth this text is referred to as Barbot/1688.

31. At the end of the section on Leone, Sierra and Mount, Cape, the text reads: “il m'est tombé entre les mains au mois de Decembre dernier (1687) …” (Barbot/1688, p. 145).Google Scholar

32. “Fragment d'une lettre de feu mr. Savouret Libraire à Amsterdam, qu'il m'ecrivoit au sujet des mes manuscrits que je luy avois rendu en 1688.”

33. E.g., “a French prisoner at Southampton told me on Christmas eve in the year 1710 …” (Barbot/1732, p. 76).Google Scholar

34. The publishing history of Churchill's voyage is obscure, and it is not clear why the fifth volume, Barbot's work, was not published until 1732. Barbot's “Introductory Discourse” spoke of being “press'd to hasten this volume to the press, after about ten years expectation of it” (p. 9). This remark may have been written at the same time as the Supplement; that is, in 1710-1713, in which case Barbot must have had definite expectations of immediate publication before his death. It is also possible that the introduction was written around 1700, when the Churchills were collecting material for publication, and the “ten years” would then have referred to the period since the unsuccessful attempt to publish the work in French. Evidence from the publisher's side is equally inconclusive. The license issued in 1700 listed various accounts which were to appear, but Barbot's was not among these. However, the “Publisher's Preface” of 1704 (1:ii) referred to “divers other Relations, some in Manuscript … fallen into our hands … since the undertaking of this Design … [which] we have resolved to publish then in one or more volumes of folio.” Thus, there are three possibilities. Either Barbot's main text in English was with the publishers by 1704, and while awaiting publication was revised slightly and given a supplement; or the main text and supplement reached the publishers together, immediately after they were completed in 1713; or the whole text reached the publishers not long before 1732. The third possibility is, however, the least likely, since the engravings in Barbot/1732 were done by Jan Kip, who died in 1722; presumably it was the publisher who hired Kip, and therefore they must have had the manuscript many years before it was published.

35. Barbot offered the following explanation in his “Avis” (passages from Barbot's manuscripts retain his individual use of diacriticals). “A l'égard de la disposition, je dis de la maniere d'êcrire par lettres; je l'ay prize du Chr.Piétro de la Vallé je la trouve commode, agreable, et familiere; on s'arrête quand en veut, le discours est plus libre, que dans ce qu'on appelle un Chapitre, et le Lecteur s'y ennuye moins.” Pietro de la Valle's account of the East was published in Italian from 1658, in English in 1664, and in French in 1662-5, with a second edition in 1670. It was based on actual letters which in some cases were only very lightly edited. Barbot probably read the 1670 French version: this included summaries at the head of each letter and along the margin which were not in the original, a device which may have encouraged Barbot to add marginal summaries to his letters. The extent to which Barbot based his text on actual letters, if he did so at all, is not clear. Letter 28, however, begins: “Mr., en Transcrivant, comme je fais, les lettres que je vous ay écrites il y a trois ans ….”

36. The digressions attempt to relate African religious practices to heathen or Jewish rites described in the Old Testament, and their partial omission raises doubts as to whether the final editing was done solely by Barbot. As befitted a man whose Protestant beliefs had led him into exile, throughout his 1680s text Barbot was eager to demonstrate his knowledge of the Scriptures. Yet some of this discussion of comparative religion was cut in 1732. This may indicate the editorial scissors of an Augustan Englishman.

37. On p. 11 of the “Introductory Discourse,” Barbot notes that “it is requisite for the person that designs to travel into those parts to learn the languages, as English, French, Low-Dutch, Portuguese and Lingua Franca… to have some skill in drawing and colouring… [and] to be instructed in cosmography and astronomy, and no less in navigation.” Next, Barbot notes what the suitably qualified traveller is to observe: “the country; the nature and fertility of the soil; the inhabitants in general; their employments, professions, natural genius, and temper; their habits, houses … their languages, manners, customs, religion, government… their wars, armies, weapons and taxes … The forts and castles of the Europeans; the inland and coastal trade;… the beasts … plants, fruit; the distempers and diseases, … minerals and mines … the rains, hurricans … thunder and lightning, meteors, comets, ignes fatui, declination of the sun, variations of the compass …” (p. 12). In drawing up this list, Barbot was almost certainly influenced by contemporary guides for scientifically inclined travelers. In 1666-7, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society published “General Heads for Natural History of a Country,” prepared by Barbot's acquaintance, Robert Boyle, and a series of “Inquiries” about specific countries, including a brief “Inquiries for Guiny” (by Abraham Hill). See Philosophical Transactions, 1 (1666), pp. 186-9, 360–2Google Scholar; 2 (1667), pp. 467-71, 472, 554–5; and Hodgen, M.T., Early Anthropology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Philadelphia, 1964), pp. 188–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38. Barbot/1732, p. 13. He has already remarked that the traveler is “to take along with him … a parcel of the best geographical tables, maps and sea-charts, and the most valuable accounts of these countries that have been publish'd” (p. 11).

39. The most explicit reference is in Barbot/1688, p. 111. “Voila Mr. ce que je puis vous dire de plus positif de la Côte depuis Sierra-Lionna jusques à Rio Sestro. J'ay pris quelques petites Singularites dans mon Auteur hollandois. Le reste est de moy. [?: the question mark inserted in the text in a contemporary hand] Mais ce que j'auray a vous dire cy-après du dedans de tous ces differens Pais, sera presque tous de Luy, ou d'autres de nôtre nation, qui y ont fait quelque Séjour, ainsy il y aura peu de choses du mien (que la Traduction, que J'ay faite).”

40. E.g., “de bien qu'il n'y ait aucun Mahometan” becomes “tho' I did not hear of any Mahometan” (Barbot/1732, p. 106), implying that Barbot had visited the place (Sherbro Island), which almost certainly he had not.

41. British Museum, Add. 28, p. 788, “Journal d'un voyage de Guinée.” Henceforth this manuscript journal is referred to as Barbot/1689. We are indebted to the editors of the forthcoming edition for a transcript. It is to be noted that the journal is a polished version produced, according to the dedication dated “La Rochelle 20e Octobre 1679,” as a report to Jean Massiot the Younger. Barbot may have retained an earlier version, and he almost certainly retained notes made during the voyage: in his “Introductory Discourse,” he says that he copied notes daily from a pocket-book into a “Table-book”, before making up his journal (Barbot/1732, p. 13). Barbot sailed from La Rochelle on 22 October 1678 in the Soleil d'Afrique (Ly, , Compagnie du Sénégal, p. 152Google Scholar).

42. The first reference is in Barbot/1732, p. 523. The ship was Le Joly (for accompanying ships, see pp. 572-5); the voyage is documented in Ly, , Compagnie du Senegal, p. 178nl5.Google Scholar

43. Barbot/1732, pp. 33, 48, 62, 539.

44. Ibid., p. 111.

45. Barbot/1688, p. 104: “que j'ay designé en 1681”–this remark was cut in Barbot/1732.

46. Barbot/1732, p. 537; but since Barbot sketched the mouth of River Galinhas, the ship must have turned towards land a few miles before Cape Mount.

47. Barbot/1688, p. 99: “Je vis a mon dernier voyage … un autre Anglois que je trouve mouillé ä Sestre ä mon voyage precedent…” (in Barbot/1732 the last four words are translated as “afterwards”, p. 105). Barbot/1732 states that Barbot met an English captain at Rio Sestro who told him that he had spent five weeks crossing the Shoals of St. Anne (p. 105); Barbot/1679 notes that in 1678 Barbot met at Rio Sestro Captain Leonard Woodfyn of London who told him that he had spent three weeks in the Shoals (p. 14). A misprint was probably responsible for the conversion of 3 to 5.

48. Barbot/1732, pp. 423, 572: all the dated references to personal experiences in the Gold Coast refer either to 1679 or to 1682 (pp. 151, 155, 158, 170, 176, 177, 180, 182, 183, 274, 275, 323). The statement in Hodgkin, T., Nigerian Perspectives (London, 1960), p. 140n1Google Scholar, that Barbot accompanied his brother to New Calabar in 1699 appears to be incorrect.

49. Barbot/1679, pp. 5-12.

50. Barbot/1688, p. 92 (cf. Barbot/1732, p. 101). The journal puts all the Sierra Leone information under one date, 27 November, the date of arrival, and the next entry, 6 December, records the ship sailing south. This indicates that Barbot wrote his journal at intervals, either from notes or perhaps from his “table-book”.

51. Barbot/1688, p. 90: “Celue qui y commandait en 1678 étoit un nommé Jean Thomas d'extraction roialle, un bon veillard d'environ 70 ans” (with the date omitted, Barbot/1732, pp. 97, 100). The reference in the Supplement (Barbot/1732, p. 426) to an attack in 1704 on the English fort "distant nine leagues from the road, before the house of John Thomas, a Negro-chief does not indicate that John Thomas was alive at this date. Barbot meant that the road was located, in his day, near the house of the local chief. Jean Thomas was mentioned in other sources: e.g., Villault, Nicholas, Bellefond, Sieur de, Relation des costes d'Afrique, appellées Guinée (Paris, 1669), p. 64Google Scholar; Gröben, O.F. von der, “Guineische Reise-Beschreibung,” in Orientalische Reise-Beschreibung (Marienwerder, 1694), p. 25Google Scholar; cf. Fyfe, C., Sierra Leone Inheritance (London, 1964), pp. 55–6.Google Scholar

52. Barbot/1688, p. 90; Barbot/1732, p. 97.

53. Barbot/1732, p. 97. The corresponding passage in Barbot/1688 merely says of the Kumbas that they are a people “dont le naturel farouche s'est pourtant un peu radoucy ce têrns là, et bien qu'ils soient toujours sauvages et impitoyables on dit cependant qu'ilz sont infiniment plus radoucis qu'ilz ne létoient alors.”

54. Barbot/1679, p. 7: “Carte de la Rivière de Siera Lionna 1678.”

55. Barbot/1679, p. 8. Bysama is not mentioned in the 1688 or 1732 texts, perhaps because he did not fit into the Kquoja scheme which Barbot had adopted from Dapper. On Bysama, cf. “Charges to Brandy, given John Thomas and sent the King by Samma att several times 4 gallons” (from the 1678 accounts of the English fort at Bunce Island, quoted in Kup, P., A History of Sierra Leone 1400-1787 (London, 1961), p. 150.Google Scholar Kup notes the reference to Bysama in Barbot/1679, but fails to give a reference. The element By- in the name is the vernacular title bai, ‘king’, ‘chief’ (Thomas, N.W., Timne-English Dictionary [London, 1916]Google Scholar).

56. Barbot/1679, p. 9; Barbot/1688, p. 97; cf. Barbot/1732, p. 104.

57. Barbot/1688, p. 95; cf. Barbot/1732, p. 103.

58. Barbot/1688, p. 95; Barbot/1732, p. 103.

59. Barbot/1688, p. 96; Barbot/1732, p. 104.

60. Barbot/1688, p. 93. Since the statement repeats a similar remark in Dapper, the information is probably not original.

61. In Barbot/1688, p. 103, he stated that an English friend had promised him more details about the factory at Bagos on the Bum-Kittam River. The reference was omitted in Barbot/1732, presumably because the details had not been forthcoming.

62. Barbot/1732, p. 429. In the previous year Barbot had invested in a trading voyage to New Calabar, but the ship was lost (p. 384).

63. Ibid., pp. 106-7.

64. For the account of the coast, see Barbot/1688, pp. 85-7, and Barbot/1732, pp. 93-5. The references to the Susu, which Dapper placed immediately before his account of Sierra Leone, were in Barbot/1688, pp. 80-1.

65. Barbot/1679, p. 5.

66. The toponymy is that in de Figueiredo, Manuel, Hydrografia… com os roteiros de Portugal pera… Guiné… (Lisbon, 1614 and 1625), ff.45v–47v.Google Scholar But it is far more likely that Barbot or his editor was drawing on a later work, which I have not seen but which is said to plagiarize Fugueiredo, Carneiro, Antonio de Mariz, Regimento de pilotos e roteiro de navegaçam… do Brasil… Cabo Verde… (first edition 1642; fifth edition 1655).Google Scholar See/the comment in da Mota, A. Teixeira, Topónimos de origem Portuguesa na costa ocidental de África (Bissau, 1950), pp. 39–40.Google Scholar Since we have no other evidence that Barbot read Portuguese, another possibility is that the information in Figueiredo was repeated in some work in French or English with which I am not acquainted, from which it was borrowed for Barbot/1732.

67. Barbot/1688, p. 111; cf. Barbot/1732, p. 108, Villault, , Relation, pp. 105–6.Google Scholar The toponym Duro and a false etymology of Mesurado (Barbot/1688, p. 108; Barbot/1732, p. 109) are taken from Villault.

68. See the quotation in note 39.

69. Principally some digressions about comparative religion (Barbot/1732, pp. 119, 124, 127); an anecdote about a pet civet cat (p. 114); an account of mangrove in America (p. 113); and a reference: “I have brought home [Barbot/1688: à la Rochelle] some such quills” (p. 114).

70. Barbot heard of the French translation before he completed his 1688 manuscript, and may have obtained it and used it in later sections. “Il m'est tombé entre les mains au mois de Decembre dernier [1687] la Bibliothèque Universelle et historique de l'année 1686. J'y ay veu qu'on a imprimé une traduction en Francois de … Dapper” (Barbot/1688, p. 145).

71. Dapper's Kquoja chapters run to 30,000 words; the French translation paraphrases in 20,000, Barbot in 16,000. Barbot cut severely the descriptions of magic and witchcraft, perhaps because he had doubts about the propriety of publicizing heathen superstitions (cf. “It would be too tedious to relate the many stories they tell of these sorcerers …,” Barbot/1732, p. 120).

72. Villault, , Relation, p. 85Google Scholar; Barbot/1688, p. 98; Barbot/1732, p. 104. Though neither Villault nor Barbot seems to have realized this, the reference to “Abraham”, i.e. Ibrahim, indicated the presence of Muslims.

73. I will not detail the original information in Barbot further, since most of it can be found in Barbot/1679, the publication of which is imminent.

74. An exiguous account of Dapper (1636-1689) appears in Nieuw Nederlandsche Biografisch Woordenboek, 7 (Leiden, 1927)Google Scholar; see also Dozy, “Dapper”, and Thilmans, , “Senegal”, pp. 508–9.Google Scholar Dapper, a doctor of medicine, published works which included a history of Amsterdam (1663), a translation of Herodotus (1665), an account of Dutch contacts with China (1670), a description of Asia (1672), and another of Syria and Palestine (1677). It would be expecting too much to look for standards of modern scholarly editing in works produced so rapidly and covering such varied fields. Studies in west African history which have extensively employed or commented on Dapper's material are listed in Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, p. 562.Google Scholar

75. Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, pp. 509–10.Google Scholar

76. Dapper, Beschrijvinge, second unnumbered page, “Aen den Lezer.”

77. Ibid., as follows (in translation): “There became available by good fortune certain writings of one Samuel Blomert, written by him partly from his own experiences and notes (for he had long been in that area) and partly from information from the natives and from people who had been to these regions, written some few years ago; and these were passed to me by the learned Isaac Vossius, the official historian. In them were represented a number of kingdoms, provinces, towns and villages (previously never mentioned by any writer, or even known from hearsay), with their plants, animals, customs of the natives, trade between blacks and whites, religion–[all] fully discussed, but in rough, and requiring to be put in order.” This importnat statement is also translated by Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, p. 514.Google Scholar

78. Journal ofte Beschryvinghe van de wonderlicke reyse, ghedaen door W.C.S., in de Jaren 1615, 1616 en 1617 (Amsterdam, 1618).Google Scholar For bibliographical details, see Engelbrecht, W.A. and Herwerden, J.P., De ontdekkingsreis van Jacob le Maire en Willem Comelisz Schouten in de jaren 1615-7, Linschoten-Vereeniging 49 ('s-Gravenhage, 1945).Google Scholar The section on Yawry Bay appeared in English in Purchas, Samuel, Purchas his Pilgrimes …. (1625)Google Scholar, pt. 1, bk. 2, chap. 7.

79. Guerreiro, F., Relaçam anual das cousas que fizeram os Padres da Companhia de Jesus nas partes da India Oriental en emalgũas outras… Tirado tudo das Cartas dos mesmos Padres… (Evora-Lisbon, 1603–1611)Google Scholar, reprinted in modernized spelling, ed. A. Viegas (Coimbra, 1930-42); Jarric, Pierre du, Histoire des choses les plus memorables tant ez Indes Orientates, que autres pais de la descouverte des Portugais… et principalement de ce que les Religieux de la Compagnie de Jésus y ont faict … (Bordeaux, 1608–1614).Google Scholar Dapper apparently used this French version of du Jarric and not the Latin version (1615). Du Jarric slightly abbreviates Guerreiro: correspondences of relevant material are as follows-Guerreiro, part 1602-3 (published 1605), liv. 14, cap. 9, ff. 135-7v (reprint, 1:407-10) = du Jarric, 3:368-74 (with a cut in f. 136v); G 1604-5 (1607), liv. 4, cap. 8, ff. 148v-156 (reprint, 2:199-209) = dJ, 3:387403 (cut in f. 149); G cap. 9, ff. 156v-158v (reprint, 2:209-12) = dJ (omitted); G 1607-8 (1611), cap. 1-5, ff. 224-244v (reprint, 3:239-62) = dJ, 3:404-40 (cuts in ff. 229v-230, 233-233v, 239v); G cap. 6-7, ff. 244v-257v (reprint, 3:263-77) = dJ, 3:440-57 (cuts in ff. 244v-245v, 248, 250, 250v, 256). The translation appears to be reasonably accurate. Extracts from du Jarric on Siena Leone appeared in Purchas, , Pilgrimes, pt. 1, bk. 9, chap. 12, para. 5, pp. 1558–61.Google Scholar

80. Ruiters, Dierick, Toortse der Zeevaerten… (Vlissinghen, 1623)Google Scholar, reprinted and ed. S.P.L. Naber, Linschoten-Vereeniging 6 ('s-Gravenhage, 1913). Ruiters refers to his own experience in Siena Leone on pp. 289/59, 293/63, 296/65. His account of the Sherbro Island district, if not from personal experience, was based on contemporary Dutch experience. He apparently did not visit Cape Mount, and has very little to say about this district.

81. Ruiters' list of trade goods (pp. 283–4/57) resembles but is not the same as Dapper's (p. 10). Ruiters' account of the ceremony before the King of Sierra Leone (pp. 288-9/60) parallels Dapper's description of Kquoja royal behavior (p. 39), to the extent of reporting the same form of address in the vernacular.

82. The major part of the political history is contained in the chapter “Verhael, op wat wijze de Karous de Landen Vey, Puy, en Kquoja-Berkoma door de wapenen, met bystant der Folgias zich onderworpen hebben,” Dapper, , Beschrijvinge, pp. 49–56.Google Scholar

83. First attempts at a critique were presented in Hair, P.E.H., “An Early Seventeenth-Century Vocabulary of Vai,” African Studies, 23 (1964), pp. 129–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “An Ethnolinguistic Inventory of the Lower Guinea Coast Before 1700,” African Language Review, 7 (1968), pp. 47–73, esp. pp. 45-57, and 8 (1969), pp. 225-56, esp. pp. 225-6.Google Scholar

84. That is, the seventeenth century antecedent of the African language now known as Vai.

85. Zwernemann, J., “Zwei Quellen des 17. Jahrhunderts uber die Vai in Liberia: Samuel Brun und Olfert Dapper,” in Lukas, J., Neue Afrikanische Studien (Hamburg, 1966), pp. 293–318Google Scholar; Little, K., “The Political Function of the Poro,” Part II,” Africa, 36 (1966), pp. 66–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “The Mende Chiefdoms of Sierra Leone,” in Forde, D. and Kabeny, P.M., West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1967), pp. 239–59.Google Scholar Little cites Kquoja material from Astley's Voyages, which summarize Barbot.

86. For references to points in this paragraph, with a fuller discussion of some of them, see Hair, , “Seventeenth Century Vocabulary,” pp. 130–1Google Scholar, and “Ethnolinguistic Inventory,” p. 62n20.

87. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Atlas Blaeuw, Bild 36/13, “Pascaert van Cabo de Monte.”

88. E.g., “Koning Flamboere … meer heeft heden zijn verblijfplaets op het eilant Massagh …” (“But today King Flamboere dwells on the island of Massagh”), Dapper, , Beschrijvinge, p. 15.Google Scholar Note that, a few sentences below, where Ogilby translates “about a year since” (p. 380), the Dutch reads “over eenige jaren” (“some years since”). Attempts to date the events described in the Kquoja account by external evidence (that is, by relating them to events described in sixteenth-century Portuguese sources), beg the primary issue-whether the Dutch and the Portuguese sources refer to the same events. Of interest as subject to this criticism is the dating of certain Kquoja events in Rodney, W., “A Reconsideration of the Mane Invasions of Sierra Leone,” JAH, 8 (1967), pp. 219–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The earliest misdating of Kquoja events occurs in the Bibhothèque Universelle et Historique (Amsterdam, 1686), 2:553 (for 353)Google Scholar, where a footnote suggests that King Flamboere (mentioned above) “regnoit environ l'an 1670.”

89. Sanson, N., “L'Afrique … La coste des Negres et Guinee etc apres les Observations de Samuel Blomart… 1655,” in Cartes Generates de toutes les parties du monde (Paris, 1658)Google Scholar; Blaeuw, J., “Novissima Africae descriptio” (1659)Google Scholar, inscribed “Monendus es, amice Lector, totam hanc oram Africae, quae Occidentem spectat et a promontorio Cabo Blanco dicto Lat. Sept. 20 gr. usq. ad prom. Cabo Negro Latit. Aust. 17 gr. extenditur, eme[n] data[m] ex accuratissimis Tabulis et variis ejusde[m] orae descript. Chorogr. Spectatissim. Viri D. Samuelis Blomart, dum viveret Directoris Societatis Indiae Orientalis” (quoted from Wieder, F.C., Monumenta Cartographica [The Hague, 1925–1934], col. 3, p. 73; but the inscription was missing on copies of the maps I have seen).Google Scholar

90. For Dapper's reference to Blomert, see note 77.

91. On Samuel Blomert (Blomart, Blommaert), 1583-1654, see Nieuw Nederlandsche Biografie Woordenboek; Kernkamp, G.W., “Brieven van Samuel Blommaert … 1635-41,” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 29 (1908), pp. 3–196Google Scholar; Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, p. 515.Google Scholar According to Wieder, Monumenta, col. 3, p. 73, some of Blomert's papers were preserved in the University of Leiden Library, of which Wieder was then Librarian, but extensive enquiries by the present staff have failed to trace any Blomert papers, in the Vossius collection or elsewhere in the Library (letter from P.C. Boeren, 3 September 1969).

92. Hair, , “Seventeenth-Century Vocabulary,” p. 131.Google Scholar

93. Hair, , “Ethnolinguistic Inventory” (1968), notes 26, 77.Google Scholar

94. Nine paragraphs about the Sierra Leone River, its islands and kingdoms (pp. 4-5), one and a half paragraphs on the rains (pp. 6-7), one paragraph on Serborakasa (p. 8), one paragraph on Kquoja rulers (p. 10), one paragraph on trade goods (p. 10), one paragraph about the attack on Bunce Island (p. 11).

95. Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, pp. 513–4Google Scholar: “En ce qui concerne la Sénégambie, loin de partir ex nihilo, Dapper a utilisé comme canevas une réédition de… Davity.” Thilmans calculates that the most important chapter on Senegambia in Dapper contains 1872 short lines (only averaging 28 letters in each), while the material Dapper borrowed from Davity took up in that work 229 normal lines (averaging 65 letters); thus, about one third of Dapper's material came from Davity. Dapper cut some of the material in Davity, and used no other printed source; two thirds of the material in the chapter came from unpublished sources.

96. Dapper adds three words, that the Bexerins or Islamic missionaries wrote “in Arabic letters”–which may have been mere supposition on his part, not based on additional information.

97. Dictionnaire de Biographie Française (Paris, 1948).Google Scholar For a more generous appraisal in relation to the material on Sénégal, see Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, p. 513.Google Scholar

98. I have not seen the 1637 edition. The English translation of Les estats is available on microfilm, in the STC series (reel 616). The 1627 edition of Les estats contains material on north Africa, Ethiopia, Congo, and “Monomotapa”, but nothing on west Africa except a few lines on the Cape Verde Islands. This work does not supply source references. According to Rinchon in the Preface to the 1643 work, the later editions of Les estats were prepared by publishers, not by Davity.

99. Les voyages fameux du sieur Vincent le Blanc (Paris, 1648)Google Scholar (later editions 1649, 1659; Dutch translation 1654; English translation 1660), 3e. Partie, , “Voyage de Guinée,” pp. 26–35.Google Scholar Le Blanc visited Sénégal, but not other parts of Guinea, in the course of this voyage, which took place in 1592. References in the text to other parts seem to be editorial additions, borrowed mainly from du Jarric (1614). The account of Sierra Leone appears to be wholly based on du Jarric, with some editorial embroidery. As will be shown, le Blanc was the source for an addition in the 1660 Davity (concerning Machamala and what appear to be stalactites acting as rock-gongs [see Appendix], which appeared without any source reference. Le Blanc's editor must have obtained this information from an earlier printed source, probably in French, but though I have searched through a number of earlier French sources which mention Upper Guinea (Thevet 1575, Pyrard 1611, St. Lo 1637, Jannequin 1643), I have not come across the original reference.

100. Thilmans states that Dapper “did not re-read sources cited by his predecessor, with the exception of Sanuto and glancingly De Marees” (“Sénégal”, p. 513); and I have found no evidence that Dapper reread the sources on Sierra Leone cited by Davity.

101. According to Thilmans, , “Sénégal”, P.514Google Scholar, Dapper omitted about one quarter of Davity's material on Senegal.

102. Marmol, “The Italian Navigation to S. Tomé” (i.e., Ramusio's “Navigatione da Lisbona all'Isola di san Thomé… scritta per un pilotto Portoghese”), Vincent le Blanc, Cadamosto (also from Ramusio), S. Brun, Pyrard (the unsatisfactory reference from this peripheral source, criticised in 1643, p. 399, was cut in 1660).

103. But the reference on p. 417 of the 1660 Davity should read “chapter 46,” not “chapter 44.”

104. Manuscript copies of most of the letters from Barreira appearing in Guerreiro are extant and have been transcribed for the project referred to in note 106. Guerreiro shortened the letters slightly. Some of these letters, and certain other letters from Barreira, are printed in Tellez, B., Chronica da Companhia de Jesus na Provincia de Portugal (Lisbon, 1647), 2a. parte, liv. 6Google Scholar; and in Brasio, A., Monumenta Missionaria Afiicana, Africa Ocidental, 2nd ser., 4 (Lisbon, 1968)Google Scholar, passim. Apart from Barreira's unpublished letters, other material from the Jesuit mission to Sierra Leone is extant and unpublished.

105. Geography: rivers, Dapper, , Beschrijvinge, p. 4Google Scholar; Machamala, p. 7; Fatuma, p. 10 (correctly the name of a king). Ethnography: mazukas or gold rings, p. 8; female initiation and kings' burial, p. 9; justice and government, p. 10.

106. d'Almada, Audré Álvares, Tratado breve dos Rios de Guiné, ed. Silveira, L. (Lisbon, 1946)Google Scholar (page references to this edition); ed. A. Brasio (Lisbon, 1964). The work was first printed in 1733. A critical edition of Almada, using a variorum text, is being prepared under the direction of A. Teixeira da Mota, with contributions from the present writer; and it is hoped that it will appear as the second volume in a series of tri-lingual (Portuguese, French, English) critical editions of early Portuguese texts on Upper Guinea, to be issued by the Agrupamento de Estudos de Cartografia Amiga in Lisbon. The Sierra Leone material in Guerreiro's chapter 9 (part 1602-3, published 1605, liv. 4, cap. 9, ff. 135-137v; reprint, 1:407-410) derives mainly from two chapters of Almada: chapter 14 (justice and government, pp. 70-1), and chapter 15 (female initiation, kings' burial, masucos, pp. 72-3; toponyms, pp. 74-5; apes or daris, p. 75). Note the occurrence of these items in Dapper (previous note). Items in Dapper which derive from du Jarric/Guerreiro but are not in Almada are few; they include a reference to the conversion of the King of Sierra Leone (p. 10, Barreira is named) and the mistaken reference to Fatuma (previous note; for the king called Fatima mentioned by Barreira, see Guerreiro, part 1604-5, pub. 1607, liv. 4, cap. 8, f. 149v; reprint, 1:200).

107. On Almada, see Mota, A. Teixeira da, Dos escritores quinhentistas de Cabo Verde: André Álvares de Almada e André Domelas, série separatas 61, Agrupamento de Estudos de Cartografia Antiga, Junta de Investigacões do Ultramar (Lisbon, 1971).Google Scholar Almada lived in the Cape Verde Islands, where the Jesuit mission to Guinea had its headquarters.

108. Both modern editions of Almada use modernized spelling, but Bràsio's edition has notes on pp. 118, 120, and 122, which quote the original text and give “çapes” and “capes”. The original text alio has “çumbas”.

109. Pimental, M., Arte de navegar … e roteiros (Lisbon, 1762 and 1819Google Scholar; earlier editions not seen). The section of the roteiro describing the coast between Cape Verga and Cape Mesurado is based, via Figueiredo, on Pacheco Pereira.

110. Neglect of English sources is the more surprising inasmuch as a distinguished contemporary French source, Thevenot, M., Relation des divers voyages (Paris, 1663–1672)Google Scholar, announced on its title page that it included material translated from Hakluyt and Purchas. For an examination of Hakluyt's material on Guinea, see my contribution to Quinn, D.B., ed., The Hakluyt Handbook (London, 1974), 1:190–6.Google Scholar

111. I have drawn attention to Thevet's section on Sierra Leone in my “French Sources on Upper Guinea 1540-1560,” BIFAN, B 31 (1969), pp. 1030–4.Google Scholar For Hakluyt's criticism, see the introduction by D.B. Quinn and R.A. Skelton to the reprint of the 1589 Hakluyt, , Prmcipall Navigations (London, 1965), pp. xi–xii.Google Scholar