1. Here, and elsewhere in this Letter, the words Cocosnooten boomen were translated as “Coco Tree.” In modern Dutch these plants are called cocos-palm. Cocoa was not yet known in this part of the world at that time -- being introduced into Ghana only in the 1870s.

2. The Dutch word for kernel is pit. In fact, the English version makes more sense than the Dutch original. This product, described as “good to feed hogs” is obviously the pulp remaining after the extraction of the red palm oil, rather than the extremely hard kernel. It is curious that Bosman should not make mention of palmkernel oil, the clear oil inside the kernel. Possibly people were not yet aware of its usefulness. In Fante the clear oil of the coconut is called angua (lit. white oil), the red oil of the palmnut ngo. Yet, the clear oil of the kernel is known as adwe-ngo (lit. kernel red oil).

3. What Bosman describes as the wilde cocosnooten-boom, otherwise known as Palmyt is obviously the fan palm (Borassus Aethiopum). The French word palmite stands for the marrow of the trunk of a palm tree.

4. Here Bosman compares the fruits of the “Orangie-appel-boomen” with those of the Elmina Garden, which taste like “Appelen China.” If he had meant “those of China,” as the English text suggests, he would have written “uit China” or “Chineese.” “Appelen China” seems rather an archaic form of sinaasappel, the modern Dutch word for orange, till quite recently still known as appelsien (cf. German Apfelsine). On the other hand, it is also quite possible that he referred to tangerines, which taste more like European oranges and which, significantly, are known as mandarijnen, like the Chinese officials.

5. Probably a printing error. Fort Batensteyn at Butri is meant here.

6. Limoenboomen. “Lemon-trees” would have been Citroenboomen. It is worth noting that lime growing and processing has remained the principal industry of the Asebu traditional area in which Moure is situated. Recently the Ghana Government established a new lime processing plant. The term Brambaes is rather difficult to identify: it may be derived from the Fante aborankaa (abrankaa) meaning bitter orange. Limmetjes (or lemmetjes) is still the term used for bitter limes in Surinam, where they are quite propular in the form of Zoute Lemmetjes, which must be the same as the “pickled small lemons” mentioned on page 290 I/5, in the Dutch text: ingeleide Limoentjes.

7. It is not clear who this “Mr. Kirschen” may be. It is probably not a misprint for “Kirchen” (or Kircherus) the Jesuit author mentioned earlier (p. 147, cf. HA 5(1978), 256n), since in that case Bosman would presumably have referred to him as “Father Kirschen.” Moreover, both Kirchen and Kirschen are German words, meaning churches and cherries, respectively.

8. Bosman clearly uses the word voeg (joint) to describe a recess between the huge buttress-like roots of the Bombax. It is interesting to note that the Dutch word voeg no longer has the double sense of “room” or “recess” which “joint” has in modern slang. One wonders whether the word voeg also had the pejorative sense the modern American word has, in view of Bosman's prejudice against Roman Catholicism: an “oratory” in a “joint” is not exactly flattering!

9. Bosman clearly refers here to a form of millet, and not maize, which is well described in the preceding paragraphs. The kind of millet he describes is probably pennisetum americanum or bulrush millet, first described by Linnaeus, who mistakenly thought that it originated in America. It is indigenous to West Africa.

10. Bosman wrote: Aerdakers, which must be a (humoristic?) corruption of aardappels, lit. earth-apples, still the Dutch word for potatoes.

11. There is no reason to believe that seventeenth-century pineapple juice was “hotter” than it is now. Most of the pineapples which are at present cultivated in West Africa are of American origin, with larger, sweeter fruits. The indigenous wild pineapple, which is much smaller, has very sharp bristles. If the fruits are not properly peeled they may cause bleeding in the mouth. Possibly the American type of pineapple had not yet been introduced by 1700.

12. The “Gold Quarter of a Jacobus” mentioned in the English version must be a quarter of a golden coin worth one Pound Sterling, which was indeed equal to one Dutch Rijksdaalder of that time. The coin with the effigy of “Jacobus” was probably the famous Guinea made of West African gold, which carried the portrait of James, Duke of York (later James II), who was one of the chief patrons of the Royal African Company.

13. Amersfoort is a town in the province of Utrecht. Its sandy soil was probably suitable for the cultivation of tobacco. Still, locally-grown tobacco is considered rather “rough” in the Netherlands.

14. This Kool should be pronounced like English “coal” (kool in Dutch means both coal and cabbage). Here the term obviously refers to the kolanut, which is chewed in order to extract the stimulating juice, after which the pulp is usually spit out. Bosman's suggestion that it is “commonly eaten with salt and pepper” seems to indicate that he himself was not an experienced consumer.

15. It is curious that the word “bite” was not used either in the Dutch or English versions. In other Dutch documents of this period the word “steecken” (sting) can also be found in connection with snakes.

16. In the Dutch context Jongens (boys) did not mean “slaves” as the English “belonged to” seems to suggest. People of the lower ranks, like tradesmen, were often referred to as Jongens (no matter their age), as opposed to the Messieurs.

17. Bosman seems to suggest that he and others had in fact seen elephants from some distance. As the Europeans seldom penetrated into the interior, it seems to suggest that these animals were not all that exceptional in the coastal area at that time.

18. It is interesting that Bosman should have felt the need to justify his account. Perhaps he had not been condemned for the falsehood of his story but for the lack of feeling he displayed. It is worthwhile comparing Bosman's description with George Orwell's essay “Shooting an Elephant,” which tells a very similar story in a very different manner. To Orwell the sight of the slow death of the beast he had to shoot after it had killed a man was nearly unbearable.

19. The “Gold Rivulet” (Goud-Riviertje) probably corresponds to the Amanzule stream and lagoon in Nzema. Curiously enough, it does not appear on the map of the second Dutch edition, while the map in the English edition does show a “Gold River” between the Ankobra and the “Rio da Jero da Costa” (= Comoé). On other maps of the period it is also called “Rio Manco.” Cabo Monte is Cape Mount in Liberia, near the Sierra Leone border.

20. In fact, Bosman was wrong: most of the Kwahu state is situated to the northwest (i.e. the windward) of Kpone. Many travellers were deluded by the optical illusion that the Akwapim range is parallel to the coast.

21. It is not clear whether Bosman meant “the whole area between Kpone and the Volta” or only the village of Kpone. Ladingcour is probably Ladoku, a town a little to the northwest of the frequently visited port of La(a)y, near or at the same site as the modern village of Leipongonu. “Alampo” or “Lampi” was probably the contemporary European rendition of Lekpo, which is regarded by several Adangbe groups in Ghana and in Togo as their place of origin. (cf. Sprigge, R.G.S., “Eweland's Adangbe,” THSG 10(1969)).Google Scholar

22. The Dutch word gehaeld means ‘taken.’ Bosman definitely seems to want to convey the impression that the Adangbe people were not merely middlemen in the slave trade, but slave raiders.

23. That is, even though these were slave raiders themselves.

24. Probably a reference to the many clay statues of the Legba deity of the Adja-Ewe area.

25. “tastte hy deselve in haer voordeel aen” could also be translated: “attacked them in their front part,” which is hardly a satisfactory translation either. What Bosman probably meant is “attacked them while they, the other party, were in an advantageous position.” The Dutch text does not convey the idea that the Coto party was stronger, which would also contradict the earlier statement that Coto and Popo were of equal strength.

26. met weynig onderscheyd; zonder onderscheid means: without exception, met weynig means with little, i.e. most (of the people). The verb onderscheiden means to differentiate. This probably made the translator think that Bosman meant to convey the idea that one could detect small differences between the languages spoken at Popo and Ardra.

27. Note that in this passage Bosman himself shows much less racial prejudice than is suggested by his translator.

28. It is not surprising that Bosman's translator had some difficulties with this passage: the meaning is by no means clear, if anything it is ambiguously suggestive.

29. oude herkoomens en kostuimen: it is not quite clear what is meant by this. Herkoomen may be an ancient form of herkomst, meaning origin, but if one were to translate the word ‘revenue’ literally one would also get something like herkoomen.

30. Gaerkeuken: lit. ready food kitchen. Probably something like the modern West African “Chop-bar” or wayside kitchens.

31. The remark is probably meant to be ironic: in other parts of the world people work before they eat, but on the Gold Coast people are so lazy that they will not work before having a good taste of food.

32. It is highly unlikely that the roof of the royal palace was tilted. It was probably covered with thatch, or, if it was flat, as that of the Dutch factory apparently was (cf. p. 350), it was probably made of palm wood and mud as are the roofs of many houses in the Fante area today.

33. It is not surprising that the translator did not attempt to translate this passage. It is not clear what the “unprintable” p … stands for. The last sentence is particularly intriguing.

34. lyvig, though it may sound like “lively,” really means fat, big, or stout.

35. In the Dutch text this passage really constitutes a pun: trouw means faithfulness, but trouwen means to marry.

36. The King probably wanted to assure Bosman that at Whydah he need not fear falling victim to a fate similar to that of his compatriot Van Hoolwerff at Offra in 1689. There is no doubt that Van Hoolwerff did in fact give considerable “umbrage” to the people of Offra -- first by arresting a man who had “offended” the Dutch flag on Offra beach, sending him down to Elmina for execution, and having put his severed head on a stake in front of the factory “as a reminder” to all future flag-offenders, and later by wounding three others in a fight, which seems to have been the immediate cause for his own arrest. Van Hoolwerff may in reality have fallen victim of the game of power politics which was at that time being played between Allada and Whydah and in which Offra was the major stake, its fidalgo trying to serve two masters. Certain it is that immediately after Van Hoolwerff's assassination Allada hired Ofori, the leader of the new Gã settlement in the area of Little Popo, to punish with his strong army the unruly people of Offra. Significantly, one rarely meets the name Offra after this episode, and Jaquin (Dzekin), whose geographical location must have been virtually the same as that of Offra, hence-forward became the port of trade of Allada. Offra has been identified as “Pla” which is also the name of a population which may have inhabited the coastal area between the Weme and the Volta before the arrival of the Adja-Ewe. Aflao was its most western settlement.

37. Pane (paan, paantje, panegoed): The Dutch used this word, derived from the Portuguese word for piece of cloth, pano, until the nineteenth century. In francophone West Africa the word pagne still denotes the same. Ells or Dutch yards were slightly shorter than an English yard, but to call 1-1/2 ell “a yard and half quarter” is not only a cumbersome translation but a miscalculation.

38. Van Overbeek was an inspecting officer of the Dutch East India Company who published a brief account of his visit to the Cape in 1671. Bosman referred to an anatomic peculiarity of Hottentot women. The Cape of Good Hope is normally called Kaap de Goede Hoop in Dutch; by using this (misspelled) Portuguese name Bosman probably wanted to accentuate the outlandishness of his story.