1. The title page: It is not clear why the English translator chose the title New and Accurate Description. None of the Dutch editions was called “new,” even though the second and successive editions in Dutch were in many respects different from the first (1703) edition, which served for the English translation. The English translation of Opperkoopman (Chief Merchant) as Chief Factor is somewhat misleading: the equivalent of Chief Factor would be Oppercommies. The Dutch West Indian Company had several such Chief Factors in its service on the Guinea coast, and they were all members of the Council at Elmina, like the Chief Merchant. The latter was, however, more powerful and, as indicated on the Dutch title page, was “second Person[ality] ” on the coast. “This last impression …” really refers to the second edition which was reprinted several times.

2. The Dedication to the Assembly of Ten “meeting at present in Amsterdam” was intended to mollify Bosman's former employers through words of gratitude, but it hardly disguises the fact that Bosman wanted to warn them at the same time that he intended to say certain things which might not be pleasant for them should they be widely heard. In principle the Assembly of Ten could meet in any of the five “Chambers” of the Company (Middelburg, Rotterdam, Enkhuizen, Groningen, or Amsterdam) but, virtually without exception, it met at the “Presidiai Chamber” in Amsterdam.

3. Bosman's remarks on the gold and slave trade show his disagreement with the policies of Van Sevenhuysen's successor, William de la Palma (1702-1705), who tended to neglect the gold trade in favor of the slave trade, which he regarded as “the sole cornerstone” of the Company's interest.

4. It is curious that Bosman or his editor did not delete this phrase from the first edition, especially as Bosman got at least drawings of the missing forts for the second and later editions.

5. This “Letter” is really in the form of a poem; as the translation here is literal, its rhyme could not be maintained.

6. Dr. Havart could have added that Bosman had an African wife. It is not known how many children Bosman sired on the Guinea coast but at least one, also called Willem, played an important role in 1718 and 1719 as negotiator between John Conny, the African merchant prince who controlled Fort Gross Friedrichsburg at Pokesu (Princess Town) in Ahanta, and the Dutch. Bosman Jr. was originally in the service of the West Indian Company but apparently took service with Conny, and possibly with the Prussian Company, which previously had controlled Gross Friedrichsburg. He was a competent letter writer and asked his former Dutch employers at one stage to be “repatriated,” which, however, was refused. In the end Conny had him killed on suspicion of working with the Dutch. Journal Engelgraaf Rohbertsz, 19 February 1718 and 6 March 1718; letter from Bosman dated 27 February 1718; Butler to Assembly of Ten, 31 May 1719, Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague, WIC 104. Today there are still several people in Ghana with the surname Bos(s)man. By the “Language of the Franks” probably is meant (pidgin) Portuguese, then the lingua franca of the coast, and not French.

7. N.N. probably stands for Jan Dirck Ingelby who was Oppercommies at Axim in 1702-03. The English translation is very misleading; Dr. Havart's nephew was by no means “Principal Factor” at Axim but simply one of the garrison there. It is therefore impossible to ascertain his name. Note that the ultimate power in African affairs was shared by the factor at Axim and the chiefs, and did not lie with the factor alone.

8. Note that in the Dutch text there is no mention of a “monarchy” in connection with Axim.

9. This episode referred to the action of Jan De Liefde, alias Jan de Mancke (i.e., Jan the Cripple), the last commander of the short-lived Fort “Ruychaver.” This was built in 1654 on a hill on the right bank of the Ankobra near Awudua, about twelve miles downstream from modern Prestea. It was essentially of wood but materials to transform it into a real stone fort had already been brought to the site at the time it was blown up in 1659. Some traces of the building, e.g. some red Dutch rooftiles, were recently found at the site. See van Dantzig, A., “The Ankobra Gold Interest,” THSG, 14 (1973).Google Scholar

10. This “Chief of the English” obviously referred to the commander of Dixcove fort and not to “the Chief Governor on the Coast,” as the translator stated. This kind of mistake may have contributed to the anger of a man like Sir Dalby Thomas (who was the chief British Governor on the coast) over Bosman's book.

11. W.G. van Focquenbroch acquired a certain literary fame in the Netherlands as a playwright of light-hearted comedies and as the author of lengthy poems like Afrikaensche Thalia (Amsterdam, 1678)Google Scholar, in which he wrote of his experiences on the Gold Coast as Oppercommies for the WIC in the 1660s.

12. The addition of the word “just” in the Dutch text may be significant. Sekondi may have flourished for a short period as a result of the war, before fighting reached the coast, as many people may have sought refuge there with their gold, while others may have sold war captives as slaves.

13. In the 1650s Caerlof, on behalf of the Swedish Company, tried to establish a post at Takoradi but failed. When he returned to the coast in Danish service he declared all former Swedish possessions to be Danish but this could not have been relevant to Takoradi.

14. I.e., from 1688 to 1692.

15. The Second Anglo-Dutch naval war (1665-1668). In fact the expedition of Admiral Holmes against the Dutch forts on the Gold Coast took place before the official declaration of war, as did De Ruyter's counter-expedition. That the fort at Shama was in ruins (and not “level'd to the ground”) was a result of neglect rather than of an attack.

16. In other words, Jabi was essentially an interior state with only one outlet to the sea, at or near Shama.

17. “in my day” and not “during my Residence there” as in the English text, because Bosman was never stationed at Shama.

18. Locally burned lime of sea shells was an important commodity for the maintenance of the forts and castles, which had to be whitewashed about every three years. The English and Dutch had frequent disputes about the right to collect shells on certain beaches. Cheeks are wood-blocks which hold a mast in place. It is surprising that Bosman did not mention the very important manufacture and trade of canoes at Shama and along the Prati river. Many captains bought canoes at Shama and took them on board for use along the Slave Coast.

19. “Island” is probably a misprint for “Inland” in the English edition.

20. Nuyts was Director-General from 1705 to 1708.

21. Bosman's use of the expression “on behalf of our Company” is significant; he probably felt that the Company itself, i.e., the Assembly of Ten, could not be held responsible and that they would rather know “the naked truth.”

22. “reveal the secrets of the Mass” is a literal translation of the Dutch idiomatic expression de geheymen van de Mis te openbaren, that is, to tell the whole story.

23. At the time of Bosman's return to Holland Van Sevenhuysen had to appear before a Commission of Enquiry established by the Assembly of Ten to probe his administration.

24. A typical example of sloppy translation: eet/eat + maal/meal; but etmaal means a space of twenty-four hours.

25. Probably Joël Smits, Director-General from 1690 to 1694.

26. The translator was inconsistent in his renderings of the words Mijl (mile) and Uur (hour); sometimes he translated Mijl as hour, and sometimes as mile. The Dutch mile was about four statute miles, or six and one-half kilometers, corresponding to about ninety minutes' walk. This hill, only about two kilometers northwest of Dutch Komenda (Kankan) is probably the same as Abrobi Hill, where the Portuguese met with a mining disaster in 1623. It is still known to the people of Abrobeano (about two and a half miles west of the modern sugar factory at Komenda) as a place where gold once was mined. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the Akan word for ‘goldpits’ is nkomena. The Fante name for Komenda is Akitakyi. Komenda, or Commany, has—as far as I know—no meaning either in Portuguese or in Dutch; perhaps the Europeans thought that the term nkomena referred to the village and corrupted the word into Komenda or Commany. The Dutch usually referred to the hill as Sica Bergh, while the English called it “Money Hill.”

27. The “Forces of Elmina” were, as it appears from the use of the term Minas, volunteers from Elmina town, not regulars from the Castle's garrison.

28. Jan Staphorst was Director-General from 1694 to 1696.

29. The ruins we can see presently at British Komenda are those of this fort as it was reconstructed later in the eighteenth century, following a rather extraordinary design. It consisted of a tiny but very tall central building-really a tower with four bastions—standing in the middle of a much wider and lower enclosure of congruent design, to which it was linked at one point by a stone bridgi.

30. The Dutch word Ton is used not only to indicate a measure of weight but also the amount of 100,000 guilders. Half a ton, therefore, is about 50,000 guilders. As the guilder was worth about two shillings, the equivalent value of £5000 Sterling is correct.

31. The English translator's omission of the Acanist peoples is surprising. In those days the “Acanists” certainly were considered more important than the Adorns. They played a very important role as gold traders, particularly in the area of the greatest concentration of trading stations. They have been identified as the people living at that time between Asante and the Prah river, controlling a bridgehead to the south at Kushea. This passage shows that at this stage of the war the peoples of the far interior were already involved.

32. The English translation is misleading; the defeated party, consisting mainly of people not resident at the Castle, returned home (not “to the Fort”), “With their socks on their head” (mei de kous op het hoofd) is an idiomatic expression equivalent to “with a flea in their ear.”

33. Jan Van Sevenhuysen was Director-General from 1696 to 1701.

34. I.e., Jan Staphorst.

35. I.e., Bosman himself. If a Director-General died in office—as Staphorst did—or was for other reasons suddenly removed from Elmina, the Chief Merchant as second in command took over under the title of “President of the Council” until a new Director-General arrived.

36. Here the English translation makes more sense than the Dutch original. De Braffo alleen means literally ‘the Braffo alone’ but Only the Braffo' clearly is meant. In Dutch this would have been de Braffo als enige or alleen de Braffo.

37. A remora is a kind of fish which attaches itself to sharks and whales, and sometimes to ships’ hulls, and which was believed to slow them down. The Dutch version simply has the word hinderpaal, ‘impediment’ or ‘stumbling block.’

38. Jan Van Sevenhuysen.

39. Bosman apparently learned the date of the foundation of Elmina Castle after the publication of the first Dutch edition of his work. It is surprising that he offers 1638 instead of 1637 as the year of the Dutch capture of the Castle, particularly since there is a commemorative stone on the wall above the main gate of the Castle which was likely to have been put there shortly after the capture. This clearly indicates that the expedition sent from Brazil by Johan Maurits of Nassau captured the Castle on 29 August 1637.

40. The Director-General had his quarters in the main building dividing the great and small courtyards; the Chief Merchant had his in the octagonal tower above the main entrance; the Fiscal had his in the round tower on the northeast corner of the Castle.

41. This passage obviously was added to the second edition. Of these “tower-like ornamental structures” only two are still readily recognizable. These are known as “Prempah's Rooms” because Prempah I of Asante resided there with part of his family for some time in 1896 on his way to exile. The third of these turrets, on the northeast side of the great courtyard, has been transformed into a house with a gabled roof, and the fourth, on the northwest side, must have been incorporated into the building with the loggia constructed in 1806 to the north of the octagonal tower.

42. The Dutch version is more explicit. This “daub and wattle” technique is still widely used in the construction of houses in Ghana. Bamboo sticks are used to reinforce mud walls much in the same way as iron bars are used in reinforced concrete structures. In Asante, particularly, this technique was perfected to a high degree in a sophisticated architectural style characterized by “fihgrain screens.”

43. The tower of Coenraadsburg was originally one story higher than it is now. The “Room in the middle” probably corresponds to what now forms the roof of the tower. The addition of “when they come from the Windward” in the Dutch version stresses further the practical and strategic use of this tower. Since larger ships always came from the west enemies could be recognized in time to put Elmina in a proper state of defense.

44. The English translation is misleading; Eguafo (Commany) never was “subject” to Fetu. The Wheel is the wheel of fortune.

45. I.e., virtually half of them perished, from the Dutch idiom de geheele helft genoegzaam in de kaars is gevlogen, ‘like mosquitoes flying into the flame of a candle.’

46. This “fresh water River” is the Sweet river or Kakum, which has its mouth near Iture, halfway between Elmina and Cape Coast. It provided one of the few regular recreations for the inhabitants of the Castles at Cape Coast and Elmina, who liked to organize boating parties and picnics on the river. At present a dam built near Brimso, a few miles upstream, provides Cape Coast with drinking water.

47. This “Point” (punt) is the spur or enclosed outwork of the Castle. In the eighteenth century most forts were provided with such spurs-sometimes mere palisades-often triangular (pointed) in form, in front of the main entrances. At times of attack from neighboring peoples the townspeople could find some safety in these spurs. The spur of Cape Coast Castle is quite elaborate, with a number of rooms in the walls, and in fact forms an integral part of the Castle. At present it is used as a prison.

48. The Dutch word waterpas means level, not water passage.

49. verzope Fielen: this must be a printing error in the Dutch edition. Fielen is not in the Dutch vocabulary. Zielen (old Dutch Sielen) means ‘souls.’

50. Het hagje erbijinschieten: an idiomatic expression meaning ‘to lose one's life.’

51. The Dutch language uses a single word (vlees) for both meat and flesh.

52. Bosman probably had heard of the extensive report which Agent John Snow had written for the attention of the RAC's Board of Directors in 1705, but which was never published as a book. See Davies, Kenneth G., The Royal African Company (London, 1958)Google Scholar, Appendix V.

53. This was by no means peculiar to Cape Coast, nor only interlopers' business. Elmina supplied an even greater number of rowers to the Slave Coast and in the late seventeenth century Englishmen there often complained that they could not trust their rowers because they were all “Mina men.” The WIC encouraged the settlement of these rowers, particularly at Little Popo, where they constituted an important segment of the population and one that was instrumental in keeping the English out. In this connection it is worth citing a passage from a letter of Josiah Pearsons, English factor at Whydah, dated 15 April 1697: “… in ye meantime, downe came a Dutch ship with Mr. Bosman, a merchant, who hired ye Mina blacks to seize Henry Clewett in his Person. …” Rawlinson C.745-747, Bodleian Library, letter 1957 in Henige, David, A Guide to Rawlinson C. 745-747 (Madison, 1972).Google Scholar

54. The so-called Phipps' Tower, built shortly after 1700, was reconstructed in the nineteenth century, and is now known as Fort Victoria.

55. This “fine stone House” should not be imagined to have been very impressive. According to the Attestatie of Charles le Petit, made on 18 December 1690, the “Prince's Flag” was hoisted there only on Sundays and the lodge was “defended” by “a man with an axe.” Hazewinkel, H.C., “Twee Attestaties over de Nederlandsche Kolonisatie aan de Goud Kust,” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 53 (1932), pp. 250–59.Google Scholar

56. om den tuyn geleyd.

57. Here the English translation offers an improvement on the Dutch original. Ingenisian (or Anishan) is now known as Biriwa.

58. Note that Bosman made no mention here of English interlopers (although Anamabu was notorious among the English as an “interlopers' den”) and that he regarded the active trade at this place as a cause for the decline of trade at Cormantin and Elmina (“here”).

59. N.B. that the English translation here states exactly the opposite of what Bosman wrote, viz., that Fante was not internally divided.

60. Voorganger of Voorvechter (lit. ‘the one who goes first and fights first’).

61. Yet Quaker means in English something different from what it means in Dutch: something which makes one kwaken (quaken), i.e., quack like a duck.

62. I.e., Opper Koopman. It is rather surprising that Bosman, who was himself Opper Koopman, or second in command at Elmina, used this term instead of Opper Commies (Chief Factor).

63. Not a very charitable remark, since this village, known as Abandze (‘under the Fort’) developed there as a result of the construction of the fort.