[1] Put metaphorically for a Ship’s Cockpit; and answers to the dark
Cellaring of a House.
[2] At the Changes of the Moon appears a Pillar of Fire in the
North, which darting its Rays every way, moves from Place to Place,
enlightning not only _Greenland_, but _Iceland_ and _Norway_; and
sometimes further, till the returning Sun obscures it. (_Harris_, p.
635. Vol. II.)
[3] _Finis Terræ_, the Westermost Extremity of _Europe_, and formerly
thought a _Ne plus ultra_.
[4]
Sold 2 half-worn Suits for a Pipe of Wine.
3 Second-hand Wigs —— —— Ditto.
Loaf-Sugar sells 20_d._ _per_ lib.
Cheshire-Cheese, 8.
Bisket, 2.
Beef _per_ piece 10.
Bought Citron at 15_d._
Lemons _per C._ 20.
[5] Vide _Harris_’s Voyages.
[6] Ten-pounders are like Mullets, but full of small Bones, like
Herring-bones.
[7] Old-wives; a scaly, flat Fish, half as thick as long, called so
from some Resemblance the Face is fancied to have, with that of a
Nun’s.
[8] Cavalloes; a bright, silver-colour’d Fish, with a prickly Ridge
on each side, half its length.
[9] Barricudoes; a well-tasted Fish, one Foot and an half long, not
wholesome if the Roof of the Mouth be black.
[10] Sucking-Fish; something like the Dog-Fish; underneath he has
an oval Flat, of three Inches and an half over, granulated like a
Nutmeg-grater; with this he sticks so fast, as difficultly to be torn
from the Deck. He often infests the Shirk, sticks fast, and sucks his
Nourishment from him.
[11] Cat-Fish, so called from four slender Fibres like Whiskers,
sprouting from the under part of his Mouth.
[12] Lollas, are Places cleared of Wood, but barren; the Habitations
only of Bug a bugs, the Species of an Ant; build not above a Foot
and half high; are whitish, smaller than the common sort, sting, and
devour Cloaths.
[13] Lugars; open, clear Places, sowed with Rice, _&c._
[14] _Plantanes_ and _Bananoes_ are a very common Fruit, shaped like
Cucumbers, but slender and longer; peeled of their Coat, they are
roasted and eat as Bread, fried, or eaten raw. The latter is the
juicier, and of a preferable Taste. The Plant bearing them grows as
high as a Cherry-tree, with a Leaf three Yards long, and one over; an
admirable Detergent in foul, sanious Ulcers, stripped of the inner
Skin, and applied as you do Housleek in Corns.
[15] The Pine-Apple is their Prince of Fruits; does not grow so high,
but about the Bigness of a Pæony; a beautiful green and yellow; firm
and juicy as a Melon; eaten with Wine and Sugar. Some of strong
Fancy, imagine all sorts of Fruit to be tasted in it; to me, it
always left a stinging abstergent Flavour.
[16] Lime-trees, about as big as our _Apple_, arise by several Roots,
and have an oval Leaf; the Fruit smaller, but of sharper Scent and
Flavour than Lemons. In the Woods also are many _Sevil_-Orange Trees,
the Fruit largest and best tasted of any I ever met.
[17] Papais, the Size of a moderate _Melon_, green as that, and full
of Seeds, which thrown out, and the outside pared, is used with Meat,
buttered and salted. They grow 20 or 30 Foot high. _Bosman_ says,
Male and Female (the _Alcoran_, that all Fruits grow so, p. 213.) the
Male blossoming, but bearing no Fruit.
[18] Rice is sown in swampy Grounds; grows the height of our Wheat,
and from the top of the Stems shoot very slender Stalks, bearing the
Rice grained one above another to a vast Increase; a Peck yielding
above 40 Bushels: Yet such is their Idleness, there is often a
Deficiency supplied from _Sherbro_, &c.
[19] The _Civet_ is about as large as a Ram Cat, comes from about
_Sherbro_; it’s Head like a Foxes. The Male only affords this, at the
rate of 3 or 4 Grains a day, gathered with a Quill out of a little
Cod or Hole, near the Intestin. rectum.
[20] General _Phips_ at Cape _Corso_, was so nettled at this (he
receiving but 19 for 21) that it took his Stomach off Victuals two or
three Days.
For as in Fight the Gun or Drum
Will make the Warriour’s Stomach come;
So eke in Play; if two miss Fire,
The Stomach palls with wax’ning Ire.
[21] The Word _Fetish_ is used in a double Signification among the
_Negroes_: It is applied to Dress and Ornament, and to something
reverenced as a Deity (a Lake, a Stone, a Tree, _&c._) both so far
agree, as to be regarded as a Charm. That by a Peculiarity, and this
by some inherent Essence, can _attract Good, or divert Evil_. Here
they sometimes hide the _Fetish_ in secret parts of the Woods; on
urgent Occasions make a sort of Appeal to them, separating some the
_Friday_, some the _Saturday_, and keep within doors the whole day,
in a Moaning, or what you may call a Devotion to it.
[22] Salaries 80_l._ _per Ann._
[23] Boiled by the Negroes to the bigness of half-penny Rolls, and an
Accy purchases nine a day of them for a Month. The _English_ bake it.
A lean Goat you may get by chance for five Accys; a _Muscovy_ Duck, a
Parrot, or couple of Chickens, for one.
[24] _Miscell. Curiosa._ Vol. iii. has a Journal of the Weather at
Cape _Corso_ for 12 Months, from Mr. _Hillier_, who says, that was a
Year of the most Rain that could be remembred.
[25] _Tittwees_, like a large Wolf or Mastive, very fierce, and rob
their Towns in the Night, of what Kid or Poultry they find.
_Tigers_, not so adventurous, but are seen by them sometimes: There
are two now in the Castle.
_Serpents._ I have heard the Gentlemen of the Factory say, they have
been seen here 30 foot long, able to swallow a Child whole; (_Bosman_
says, a Man, or a full-grown Deer.)
_Deer._ Those whose Feet are tipped, and used as Tobacco-Stoppers,
are the bigness of a large Cat. The General had one in his Kitchen,
the Feet as thick as the middle Finger; whence I judge, those very
slender ones we see, are the Abortives of this Animal.
[26] These sort of Tryals have much the same View with the _Water of
Jealousy_ among the _Jews_, or _Ordeal_ with our _Saxon_ Ancestors,
that is, a Tryal by Fire or Water: The former was proving their
Innocency by walking on hot Plough-Shears un-hurt: The latter was
used hot or cold. They run their Arm into it scalding hot; or the
Priest gave an Imprecation to a Draught of Holy-Water. The Person
swore to his Innocence, and being tied Hands and Feet, was thrown
into a River or Pond; if he sunk, he was adjudged innocent, if he
floated, guilty: And these ways continued till K. _Hen._ III.
Another way with the _Saxons_, was single Combat; if a Woman, she
appointed her Champion.
Another, since we are upon Tryal, was by two Ounces of Bread and
Cheese taken after the Communion, the Priest thus imprecating; May
it stick in your Throat, turn pale, your Limbs convulsed, _&c._ if
guilty; but if innocent, may you swallow it easily, _&c._
_Rapin._
[27] _Hæmac_ is a _Brasil_ word, and signifies a Net slung to rest
in; made there from the Rind of a Tree.
[28] _Milton._ B. 10, & 11.
[29] A _Negrish_ Name.
[30] See the Appendix to the _Navy-Surgeon_, in which are Physical
Observations on the Moisture and Density of the Air.
[31] There is a square Fort on the Larboard Point of the Bay, and
Anchorings about a League from it.
[32] Some pretend to have found what they call a material
Thunder-bolt; such a one is said to have fell on the _Turkish Mosque_
at _Adrianople_ _A. D._ 1693; and such are shewn in the _Museums_
of Princes. At _Copenhagen_ they have a large piece of metallick
Substance, said to be Thunder-bolt.
[33] A Word used by our Sailors, for the _Grout_ is made of it.
[34] _Moquissin_ is a name given to any thing they think has an
incomprehensible Virtue. _V. Geographic. Atlas._
[35] The _Portuguese_, who trade hither from _Erasil_, chuse their
Cargoes all Boys and Girls, if they can, as more ductile for
Conversion; there being Fathers appointed to instruct them in their
Creed, and to baptize them, on their arrival; _but then they are
Papists_.
[36] Made of a peculiar Earth from _Germany_, and bear (those that
are good) the most intense heat.
[37]
There’s but the twinkling of a Star,
Between a Man of Peace and War.
_Hud._
[38] At this Place I would observe, in relation to heaving the Lead,
that there is a _Nisus_ in Bodies of Water from below upwards, which
makes ’em to sink neither so fast, nor so direct, at any considerable
Depth, as near the Surface; all at 200 Fathom or less, being
bottomless; _i. e._ unfathomable.
This _Nisus_, or resisting Motion to the Descent of Bodies, is not
only perceptible in the Lead, but more sensibly declares itself,
_first_, in that black or green Skim, seen sometimes on the Surface
(even smelling) after long Calms, the Product of some intestine
Motion.
2. That _Divers_, or any floating Bodies, emerge with greater Force
than they sunk.
3. Mr. _Boyle_’s 20th Experiment observes, that a glass Bubble let
open into the Receiver, on the Exsuction of the Air, _the Water in
it manifestly rises a greater Height_; consequently the Expansion
and Rarefaction of the Air by the Heat of the Sun, makes room for
this _Spring_ in the Water, to exert itself; and therefore the Tides
themselves would more difficultly yield to the distant Attractions of
the Sun and Moon (I should think) without adding to that Theory this
conjoined Force, or natural Propensity of the Sea, to swell before.
In respect to sinking the Lead, also may be added, a greater
Coldness, and a greater Saltness of the Sea, in proportion to the
Depths; (both which are very probable,) and will create a greater
Buoyancy, or Resistance to sinking, as will likewise the drawing out
a greater Quantity of Line, (less apt to demerge.) So that although
falling Bodies in Air, have their Velocities encreased, the nearer
they approach the Earth, yet contrarily in Water, it diminishes with
the Descent.
[39] Depend much on the preceding Season, (hot and dry Weather) apt
to raise greater Plenty of elastick Vapours on the _Terra firma_,
and will explode themselves now here, now there, as the greater
Rarefaction of Air (more towards one Island than another) may invite.
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