1. This is a printing error which must have been introduced into the second edition.

2. A “groaning treat” or meal was the special meal made on the occasion of the birth of a baby. In Holland the custom survives in that on such a day the family offers to all visitors “beschuit-met-muisjes” a kind of rusk with anise seed-flavored grains.

3. Spruiten: in modern Dutch it just means sprouts, i.e., something growing, or flowing, outwards, but even on nineteenth-century maps the word can still be found in the sense of “small tributary” flowing into a bigger river. Here both tributaries and outflowing branches of the (Niger) delta could have been meant.

4. It is not certain what kind of half “hour” this is supposed to be: sailing or walking. But as there is no accepted average sailing speed, the distance of an imaginary walk of half an hour, about 2 km must -have been meant, and certainly not half a dutch mile, which would be nearly twice as long.

5. “dat hy er 't hagje by sal insehieten” is an idiom which cannot be translated literally. Hacht, diminutive hachtje or hagje, really means boy or young man and iets erbij inschieten is a curious expression simply meaning to lose something. In this context hagje has come to stand for “life.”

6. It is not clear what is meant by the word alhoewel (although) in this sentence, unless one adds the word ook (too). Certainly, the Dutch text does not convey the suggestion that Makelaars(brokers) are in any way inferior to Fiadors, Fiador is a Portuguese word for surety, bondsman. This seems an unlikely word for a chief. Vedor or veador, on the other hand, means overseer, especially of hunting grounds. It is of course possible that the Portuguese originally used that word as a kind of derogative term for “minor chief.”

7. onder de onse gestoken. The verb steken (stook, gestoken) has many meanings: put, push, thrust, sting, stitch, shift, etc. Onder not only means below, but also among. The sentence could therefore also be translated “their Factors and Brokers were pushed among ours.” In that case however, one would expect the use of the reflexive zich (themselves), since one could hardly imagine who could have “pushed” them.

8. The WIC “lodge” Meiborg was probably not named, as Bosman seems to have thought, after a Factor of that name. It is true that in 1690 one Willem Meiborg was charged with the command of the Company's station in Ardra (i.e., at Offra) near what is now known as Godomey, and may also have paid visits to this station in Benin. But there are several earlier references in the Company's records to a place called Mobor or Mabor. According to the Minutes of the Council at Elmina of 20 September 1688, not only Beeldsnyder had misbehaved: “The Negroes of the Benyn” had on their part killed a Company slave called Caloor, whom Beeldsnyder had sent in order to claim a large debt they owed the Comapny. It was suggested that the attack on Beeldsnyder was made on account of that bad debt rather than because of his misbehavior with the royal wives.

9. Nicolaas Sweerts was Director-General at Elmina from 1684 to 1690 and was regarded by Bosman as the man largely responsible for the outbreak'of the Komenda Wars (cf. Letter III).

10. Clearly a reference to the Benynsche Cleetjens or Symons Cleet, locally-woven cotton cloth which was much in demand on the Gold Coast. The word “pane” which has disappeared from the English and Dutch languages,survives in the French word pagne, still current, especially in West Africa, and which derives from the Portuguese word pano, cloth.

11. These three “Great Men” (in Portuguese homens grandee) were probably the three senior Palace Chiefs, the Unwague, Eribo and Osodin.

12. The Portuguese word falador simply means speaker.

13. The Dutch word kunst now means art or ability, but in Bosman's time it probably had more the meaning of craft or technical knowhow. It is curious that Van Nyendael seems to have been so prejudiced about the “inferiority” of African craftmanship and art that he has so little to say about the now so famous Benin art in bronze, ivory, and wood.

14. “Raf en reekel” is no longer current as a Dutch expression but it must have been something like mixed small fish. Rekel still stands (as a rather old-fashioned word) for rascal. In present-day Ghana this kind of small, dried and/or smoked fish is known as “Keta Schoolboys.”

15. The word Wyventimmer was probably Bosnian's own invention: a kind of pun on the German word Frauenzimmer, a rather derogative word for Frau, woman. The Dutch word timmeren means carpenter, and this must have given the English translator the false clue that Bosman was referring to a (wooden) carpentered apartment.

16. Perhaps the translator's interpretation is correct and should the expression “shake hands” be regarded as a euphemism for “have sexual intercourse,” but some civilizations do have extreme taboos with regards to pregnancy.

17. The Dutch text seems to suggest that the three Hommes Grandes received one slave each, rather than having to share one among the three of them, as is suggested in the English text. Note that here, as in the rest of the text, Hommes Grandes was translated as “Great Lords.”

18. Bekennen means both acknowledge and “know” in the sense of being initiated into sexual life. The “conniving at” and the following sentence seem to suggest that this is indeed what is meant; on the other hand, it is unlikely that the son had sexual intercourse with his own half-sisters or that the author considered prostitution to be an “honest” means of subsistence.

19. So het met soharp is geschied: if it was done with sharp; what exactly this means is not clear. Met scherp sahieten means to shoot with a ball. Het seherp van een mes means the sharp edge of a knife. Here it probably means to (kill) intentionally, with a (deadly, sharp) weapon, as opposed to causing accidental death.

20. “Dat het sigselven schaemt”: it is not clear what is really meant by this phrase, but is is more likely to mean “that it is a shame” than “that they (themselves) are ashamed of it, which would be “dat sy sigselven schaemen” (erover).

21. It is uncertain what Bosman meant. He must have been aware that elephants are not carnivorous, but verslinden devour, is generally used together with the expression “met huid en haar,” “together with skin and hair,” which can hardly be said of plants. It is even less likely that the people of Benin “reckoned” elephants among the carnivorous animals. Presumably, the author meant merely “harmful” by this expression: in West Africa elephants were indeed notorious for destroying farms.

22. Normally, the word “heavy” is not used as an adjective to “income,” but rather to “expenses.” It is, however, clear from what follows that the king's income must indeed have been quite heavy, on account of the enormous quantities of cowrie-shells with which it was paid to him.

23. “Vier mylen lands beslaet”: if four square miles are meant, this would be 2 by 2 or about 14 by 14 km. Perhaps the author really meant an area whose circumfrerence equals four Dutch miles, that is, an area of one square mile, which is large enough for what he insists on calling the Village of Benin!

24. Chintz comes indeed from India and looks a little like silk, but it really is printed and glazed cotton cloth. The word Pavillioen which was translated as “canopy,” really means tent or marquee.

25. Straat-Koningen: the word “straat” is often used in Dutch for “common,” “vulgar:” a straatjongen is a street urchin or a rascal.

26. It is strange that the English translator should have changed the date of this letter by nearly one year. Even if he had tried to adapt the Dutch date to the still-prevailing “old style” calendar in England, the difference would have been far smaller.

In September 1702 Van Nyendael was the Comapny's ambassador in Kumase from which mission he returned on 12 October 1702 sick and tired, only a die eight days later “without having submitted his report.”

27. In the Dutch text the whole rest of this Introduction is put in the third person plural, obviously meaning: “the author and his party.” Jan Snoeck was one of the many “Company servants” who fell in disgrace under Van Sevenhuysen's successor De la Palma. In 1705 he even “conspired to cause a public rebellion” against that Director-General, who as a result became so angry that he was “gripped with violent fever” and died a week later.

28. I.e., to the observer from the sea.

29. It is not clear why the dates were omitted. From the description, it is clear that the Johanna Maria, like all sailing ships, had to make an enormous detour, nearly crossing the Atlantic, in order to reach the “Upper Coast” coming from the “Lower Coast.” Snoeck and his party probably left Elmina in May or June of 1702.

30. Although in the Dutch text, too, the expression hoog genoeg is used, this should be understood to mean in longitude not in latitude, as the modern reader might presume: “high” in the wind means “to the windward,” which, in this part of the world means: to the West.

31. vodde-markt; the “broker” the translator referred to was no doubt the pawnbroker's shop.

32. Not as strange as it may sound: the “river” the author refers to is probably Lake Piso or “Fisherman's Lake,” a large lagoon from which water runs into the sea during low tide and into which seawater runs back during high tide. Although there are very long lagoons along Sierra Leone's coastline, these are not in communication with this lagoon.

33. Dutch ananas: the word, also used in other European languages, seems to be of Peruvian origin. The skin of the pineapple resembles indeed that of the pine cone, which, before the introduction of the Peruvian fruit, probably was known in English as pineapple (as in current Dutch: pijnappel or denneappel).

34. Although the Dutch text is here less explicit, the implied meaning must have been the same.

35. “Double land” means successive rows of hills as they appear to the observer from the sea. The English translation is an improvement on the Dutch text, but still illogical: if the “middlemost” hills were indeed uniformly higher than those on the third plane, the latter must have been invisible. The author no doubt wanted to convey the idea, that some hills in the second plane appeared to be higher than those further inland.

36. Rio Junk: probably River St. John in Liberia.

37. Vuren is a verb which is normally only used for the firing of guns. The translator's interpretation seems to be correct.

38. Rio Sestre: River Cess or Cestos River in Liberia.

39. Lijfeigene is the Dutch word for serf, but could literally be translated as “body-own,” in this case, “descending from his own body,” a pun which could not be translated.

40. Pour rien donner: French for “for giving nothing,” i.e., free of charge, à don gratuit would have been better French. This kind of playing with expressions in foreign languages seems to betray Bosman's hand in Snoeck's account, which seems to be more “edited” than Van Nyendael's. The latter was probably better educated and was also related (probably a brother of) Anna Van Nyendael, first wife of Dr. Havart, Bosnian's close friend to whom he dedicated his book.

41. Stockvischvellen, to “have some stockfish-skins” in something was an old, no longer current, Dutch expression for having a share in a deal.

42. Sanguin: still known as Sangwin, between Rock Cess (“Little Sestre”) and Baffu (“Boffoe”).

43. The tree described here is probably the Hildegardia Barteri, which loses all its leaves during the dry season and has for some time only small flowers before growing new leaves.

44. “Druwyn” can be identified as (Grand) Drewin on the western part of the Ivory Coast.

45. St. Andrew: now known as the Sassandra river.

46. Selfs uit ons: it is not clear exactly what is meant by this. Perhaps one should really read door voor uit: i.e., even by us, Snoeck (and Bosman).

47. Welcke gedagten zy…niet souden voeden: lit. which thoughts they would not feed. Probably a pun. In English this phrase is meaningless, but in Dutch it means indeed something like “entertain an idea.”

48. Rookloven: contraction of Roode Kloven, Red Clefts or Gullys. The western part of the Ivory Coast is more rocky than the lagoon area east of Grand Lahou.

49. The author himself stated that the distance from Grand Lahou to “Jaque Lahou” is only three Dutch miles or about twenty-one km, which is definitely much less than what is generally referred to as the “Quaqua” Coast. The origin of that name is uncertain; it may derive from the name of a small Akan goldweight, the kokoa of.17 grams. On his map Bosman indicated that small quantities of gold were traded in this area. Some others maintain that the term derives from the Akan expression for “welcome:” akwaaba.

50. The wooden French Fort St. Louis at Assini did not survive for very long. In 1702 Director-General Willem de la Palma sent a rather ill-fated expedition against the French at Assini. After bombarding the fort for several hours, the Dutch seemed to have compelled the French to flee, but when Dutch crews made a landing, they were attacked by the local Nzimas under their chief Acassiny and lost several men.

In his Relation de Voyage du Royaume d'Issiny (Paris, 1714)Google Scholar, Godefroy Loyer gave a rather interesting explanation for the rather sudden flight of the French from their fort, which made the Dutch make their untimely landing: a cannonball had hit a beehive which stood in the yard of the fort, and the frightened bees rather than Dutch shells made them decamp. The expedition proved to be disastrous for both parties: the French soon had to give up and left Assini, only to return there more than 150 years later to lay the foundation of the Ivory Coast colony. The fort which was built on the foundations of the ill-fated Fort St. Louis was named Fort Joinville after Napoleon III's brother.