Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	great_a	king_n	people_n	5,724	5	4.8029	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64941	A relation of the coasts of Africk called Guinee with a description of the countreys, manners and customs of the inhabitants, of the productions of the earth, and the merchandise and commodities it affords : with some historical observations upon the coasts : being collected in a voyage made by the Sieur Villault ... in the years 1666, and 1667 / written in French, and faithfully Englished.; Relation des costes d'Afrique appellées Guinée. English	Villault, Nicolas, sieur de Bellefond, 17th cent.	1670 (1670)	Wing V388; ESTC R3207	80,121	290

with his sword lying by him Being of several places they have a different way of Trading those who live farther up the Countrey and are neither acquainted with the language nor manner of Commerce which is practis'd by the Whites are constrain'd to make use of a sort of Brokers to negotiate for them and do usually give them good recompence for their pains this is an advantage accrews particularly to such as live near the Sea-side and so generally are they devoted to their profit the greatest Merchants amongst them will not refuse the imployment if there be the least prospect and expectation of gain Most commonly it is those who live upon the Coasts or within 10 leagues distance of the Sea that buy up the Commodities which are brought in by such Ships as come into their Roads and sell them afterwards when the Ships are gone to the Inlanders seldome for less profit than six per Cent. Having been deceived sometimes formerly they are now grown so subtil and wary there is no cheating them any more it is our business now rather to be upon our guards lest they be too cunning for us They have so great judgment insight into Merchandise they will distinguish whether a piece of Saye be dyed at Leyden or Harlem When their bargains are made and their business done they fall a begging and bawling for some present or other which they call Dache and will never be satisfyed without it The Hollanders brought up this Custom at first to cajole and work them off from the Portugais But what they did voluntarily then is become now such a Custome that some of the Mores are so confident as to demand what present they shall have before they will admit any proposition of Traffick They have one pretty odd kind of superstition amongst them if a Merchant sneezes as he comes out of his house and turns his head by accident towards the right hand which they call Eninfan they believe they shall run a great hazard of losing their goods that day If he turns it to the left which they call Abnicon though they were sure to gain the profits of a Kingdom they would not stir out that day from their houses When they return from our Ship they have alwayes store of boys young fellows attending upon the shore to carry the Commodities they have bought to their houses for which the Merchant gives them some little pieces of gold as a reward Those who live higher up the Countrey have all their Commodities brought down upon the backs of their Slaves making no use of horse or any other Creature in that business which is no small inconvenience to a Merchant that comes a hundred leagues to us cross the Countrey and forces them to travel with their Arms. Fishing being their principal imployment every morning there are twenty or thirty Canoes to be seen sailing out of their harbours dividing themselves instantly into all quarters when they come out to Sea In each of them they have commonly two men one to fish the other to manage the Canoe and by them they have their swords and their Victuals Their Canoes are very neat and beautiful painted and adorned with all possible care they fasten Fetiches to them to preserve them from storms disasters and when they have done fishing they draw them up under a place on purpose to keep them dry They are so light two men will carry one of them as they please In this manner they go a fishing every morning yet not so much by design as by natural impulse the wind from the hills forcing them as it were to Sea and altering at night and blowing hard upon the shore they are brought home again by the same necessity and violence and this they do constantly every day but Sunday never failing when the weather will endure it The most general way of fishing is with little hooks of which they fasten twenty sometimes to one line others make use of lines with a kind of slipping nooses but this is as rarely at Sea as it is ordinary in their Rivers and Lakes within Land They are much delighted with fishing in the night which they do by the light of Torches greas'd over with Oyl of Palm or Rosen hooking the fish up as they come near them Others go up to the bellies into the Sea with a lighted Torch in one hand and a Net in the other which they throw over them with great dexterity and from hence we may collect how industrious they are neglecting no time nor labour to get themselves a livelyhood At their return they are attended by several boyes who are alwaies waiting in the harbour to help them home with their fish and to make up their Lines and their Nets for them for which pains they usually gratifie them with some little present of fish But the Fisherman and Merchant are no sooner return'd but the Receiver of the Office in which the Duties and Customs are paid for the King in whose Dominion that Port is stands ready alwaies to receive them and to carry with him a full third of whatever they bring on shore to bring the Merchant to a higher composition for there being no fix'd prices set it is the Merchants business to get off as cheap and the Receivers to hoist him as high as he can besides these duties the foreign Merchants which are not of that Kingdom are oblig d sometimes to give a Mark of gold more for a free passage through the territories of the neighbouring Princes But those who live upon the Sea-side are exempted from any tribute in this nature provided the worth of their Merchandise exceeds not two ounces of gold at one time if it does they pay as other people The duty upon their fish is paid punctually to the Receiver every day who as punctually sends it every day to the King not one Fisherman daring under a great penalty to sell one morsell till it be paid this tribute being designed to the sustenance of his Royal Family for which reason whatever fish is taken is brought immediately to the Office where the Receiver has a great measure about the bigness of a Peck which he fills and delivers frankly to the Fisherman that done he measures the rest and reserves a fifth part for the King which is sent away presently by the Slaves for the use of the house These Receivers are for the most part the Sons Brothers or near Relations of their Kings Of the Kings of those Countreys their Courts Authority and manner of living with their Courtiers of their Wives and Children of the Succession of their Kingdoms their Revenues Feasts Deaths Burials and Elections of another King THe Kings being the chief heads of so many people I ought in justice to have given them the precedence and have spoken of them in the first Chapter but having never seen them my self and what I write is but from the report of such as have lived there

six or seven year I have thought it best to put this and the three subsequent Chapters by themselves having been an eye-witness of what I have writ before what I shall write hereafter of the Fruits Productions of that Countrey But these Chapters I took out of the Memoires of the General Minister of Frederisbourg who are in the Kingdome of Fetu as their manners and customs all along those Coasts are every where the same speaking of one I shall give sufficient prospect and information of them all The King of Fetu as they represented him to me is no unhandsome man he is a great lover of the Whites has exprest it upon several occasions he is about five forty or fifty years old Majestick requires honour and respect rich and very liberal he has come many times to visit the Governour of Frederisbourg made him several presents Liberality is very ordinary in these parts and used to inveigle the people and oblige them to parties He keeps a great Court passing away the time in drinking laughing in a great Hall in the middle of his Palace about Sun-set he sets himself down at the Gate drest very sine with his bracelets and necklaces of Gold clad in the richest habits can be bought for money in this manner if he be at peace he passes away his time with his Ladies whose principal business is to wash and keep him neat against night at which time he has dancing constantly and balls His subjects have all of them a great veneration for him are in much aw and apprehension of his displeasure by reason that whoever amongst them has but once disobey'd their King he is ipso facto by the Laws of that Kingdome made incapable of any publick office His authority is so absolute he does what he pleases and no body dares to controul him He has alwayes a great number of Slaves and Souldiers guarding his Palace which is very large and neat and incomparably much handsomer than a house he has near the Sea-side it consists of above two hundred chambers and is built in the midst of a Town with large Courts round about it when he goes abroad he is always attended and carried upon the shoulders of his Slaves all people endeavouring to please him where-ever he comes To gain the affections of his Courtiers and the Grandees of his Countrey above all things it is necessary he be Noble for they hate avarice and look upon it as ignominious in a great person on whom all people do depend to be too parsimoniously intent upon hoording up Gold Yet this liberality that is look'd for consists only in treatings banquets which he makes very often for them if the Whites at any time make him a present he distributes it amongst them if it be of Strong-waters he drinks it merrily amongst them preferring their company in that case to his Wives and Children to whom notwithstanding he allows a proportion He has as many Wives as he pleases who are all disposed into several appartements with whom he dines or sups sometimes as he thinks good but very seldom when they go abroad they are carried likewise on the shoulders of their Slaves they are abundantly proud and imploy their whole time in diverting and indulging the King some of them are admitted into his company after dinner in the great Hall and are very happy if they may but wash and dress him in the morning they having servants enough to dispatch what else is to be done in the house when they have spruc'd him up they fall to work upon themselves combing and curling their hair in several postures their cloaths are very rich alwaies and loaden sometimes with such abundance of Gold it is a wonder which way they can bear them Whilst their Father lives their Children are brought up at the charge of the publick when they go abroad out of the Palace they are carried by their Slaves likewise and have alwayes their Trumpets and one Drum by which formalities they are distinguished from other people and as they pass recei●e great honour and respect The succession of the Kingdom goes not to the Children is it does in Europe but devolves upon him that is next of Kin to his Majesty that the Crown may be sure never to go out of the Royal Family for this reason the Kings Children make hay whilst the Sun shines lay up what they can whilst their Father is alive they work and take pains too as well as the rest having no other advantage but exemption from tribute living alwayes with their Father whilst he lives himself they have opportunity of getting laying up against an evil day If they marry the Father gives them only the quality of Nobles not but he would willingly do more but dares not the greatest priviledge they have is to keep Slaves but the King disposes of all as he pleases The principal Offices of the Kingdome are reserv'd for them as well as the chief Commands in the Armies in times of war In time of peace they are sent frequently as hostages to other Princes to secure their Leagues and to inform themselves of their manner of Government If they be brave men and generous they are respected when their Father is march'd off but if covetous and base on the contrary they are abandon'd by their Relations and contemptible to every body else they will oftentimes complain that their Father durst not do any thing indirectly to inrich them that they are poor and indigent and yet have vast treasures conceal'd The Revenue of the King consists in Fruit Fish Wine Oyl of Palm Millet Rice Mays Flesh and whatever else is necessary to the life of man all which are brought in daily to his Palace that he may have no cares upon him nor no room left for any thing but diversion The Revenue of the Estate arises from the Customs and Fines which are adjudg'd to him in Civil and Criminal cases which the Receivers deliver every 3 months to his Treasurer who makes the whole disbursement both for matters of State for the expence of his Court for the payment of the Souldiers in time of war for his privy purse buys all the Cloths for the King his Wives and his Children upon which score he never stirs from him accompanies him where ever he goes and has an appartment in his Palace this Office of Treasurer is the best Office in the Kingdome and the Treasurer is in more repute amongst all people then any child of the Kings Besides Sundays which the King passes ordinarily after his devotions are ended amongst his Wives and his Children he observes several Festival days in which he buys up all the Palm-wine and Fowl the Peasants bring that day and regales the Treasurer his Courtiers Nobles of the Countrey in the company of his Wives and his Children The first and chief Feast which he observes is on the day of his

generation of people they call Muletto's or Olive-couler'd and have by that means acquired such an interest amongst them as have been the cause we have made no farther discoveries there and that they doe to this day go away with the whole Island Trade he that should endeavour to share with them being certain to be destroyed by their great influence and authority with the Nigros So that they have ingross'd that whole commerce to them selves passing up and down every where as they please and running up the Niger as far as Benin which is more then 800 leagues They it is that have been the loss of Cantozi to the Danes which is a little Island upon the Niger two hvndred leagues above the mouth of the Gambie Their authority over the Mores upon the Coasts is so great they manage them as thy think good and we can never read that they have at any time rebelled against them as they have frequently done against the rest of the Europeans Nay so absolute is their Empire they are many times served at the table by the Sons of that King which is so superlative a command there can be nothing beyond it Yet if any other European does but quarrel or affront any of their Grandees there is nothing but they will attempt which may contribute to their revenge One of them who came to traffick with us at Sierra-Leone told me he did use every year to go to Senegal which is two hundred leagues from Sierra-Leone and that where he had not the conveniency of a river both himself and his Commodities were carryed up into the Countrey on the backs of the Mores They have all of them little Chappels built near their houses in which they use all possible means for the conversion of those people and when they have had any success and made a prosilite they hang Chappelets about his neck and have a particular care of them ever after THE COAST OF GRAIVES CALLED MALAGUETTE UPon the three and twentieth of January the same day we set sayle from Rio-Sextos we came to an anchor before Rio-Sanguin where the Coast of Malaguette or Manigette begins and extends it self sixty leagues to the Cape de Palmes about three degrees and forty minutes of Northern latitude comprehending all these places Ri●-Sanguin Cestre-Crou Brova Bassou Zino Crou Crousestre Wapo Batou Grand-Sester Petit-Sester and Goiane all which places we visited in ninteen days which we dedicated to our traffick in those parts Rio-Sanguin runs into the Sea South South-East and will carry a Petach about twelve leagues and no more upon its bank it has a Town of about a hundred houses and large Trees on both sides of it but is not five hundred paces broad at the widest part of it That night there came a Canoe aboard us with three Mores one of them was the Kings Brother who having been three years in Holland spake very good Dutch he sent back his Company and his Canoe and supp'd and lodged with us that night At supper he told us that above a Month before there was a Flemish Ship put in at Rio-Sanguin for fresh water and wood but that discovering an English Vessel makeing towards them he weigh'd anchor 〈…〉 being a good sayler got off and that the Vessel that chaced them returned and steer'd his old course for Rio-Sextos He described the bulk of it so well we concluded it was the Ship we had seeing crusing up the Coast of Petit Dieppe He told us moreover that a while since the English had a house at Rio-Sanguin but for four years last past they had none and that a little Vessel going by lately had surprized about a douzen Mores near Crousester and carryed them away As we were hoisting sayle on the five and twentieth the King of Rio-Sanguin came aboard us attended with two other Canoes and about ten or twelve Mores He was an ancient man very grave and venerable his hair very white yet his person large and lusty his habit blew like their habits at Cap de Monte. That which was most remarkable was he drank neither Wine nor Strong-water nor Palme-Wine nothing but pure water he and his Brother both stayed with us till night and having received some presents they departed We had passed the place abovesaid as far as from Rio-Sanguin to Wapo where being at anchor the third of February about Sun-rising we discryed a Vessel at Sea making towords us with all the sayle she could make We thought at first it had been the English Piqueroon we had been told of for which reason we stood all that night to our armes but the next day the hopes we had of over-powring and takeing her vanished with the Vessel which we could never see more Till Saturday the fifth we spent our time wholly in traffick on which day having come to an anchor at Batou we discovered another Vessel coming towards us also with full sayles The number of Mores who were then aboard us hindered us from discovering them perfectly but coming nearer we could discry the Vessel to be as bigg as ours whereupon we dismist our Merchants weigh'd anchor and stood towards them directly resolved not only to defend our selves but to venture upon them When we were come within a league of him he hung out his Dutch colours and clapt his Cornette upon his Sprit-sayle and we hung out our French When we came nearer we knew the Ship to be a Frigat of Amsterdam of about 400 Tunn and 36 pieces of Ordnance set out by a private person and by the authority and consent of the East-Indy Company sent to Ardres The Captain called Wilere having boasted when we were in the Texel that if he found us upon these Coasts he would either sink or take us we took down our French colours and put up a red flagg endeavouring and tacking three hours together to get the wind of him he had all his sayles out and his caps up and yet sayled worse than we About Sun-setting he furled his sayles and having lost the wind and we within 20 paces of him he made signes with his hat to know if we were not the Europe he told us his name and calling for a glass of Wine began a good soup to our healths and we did him reason in our turn After which he took his leave continued his course to the Mine and we came that night to an anchor before Grand Sestre called formerly by the French Paris where the rest of our time we spent in our Negotiations and Trade This Coast is called the Coast of Malaguette in respect of the Pepper which I have mentioned before at Rio-Sextos which amongst the French is called Malaguette or Maniguette which commodity is more profitable than can be imagined especially if Pepper be dear and the Indy Fleet comes not unluckily in but if that falls out it sells not altogether so well This is the principal Commodity of this Coast and is sharper and hotter than the

as a Slave and can never redeem himself afterwards If the criminal be escaped his Kindred are to pay it unless they will choose to leave the Kingdome rather and that without hopes of ever coming into it again If the accusation be for adultery that is to say with the first wife of another Man the Husband has power to divorce himself from her but he cannot make her a Slave If it be matter of homicide fratricide or disobedience to his Majesties Orders they are carryed before the King as crimes extraordinary and if the thing be not very soule indeed he condemnes them only in a sum of Money one half to be pay'd to his Courtiers who are present at the Tryal which is always in publique and the other to be pay'd into the Kings Treasury If the Offender be judged to dye he is led out of the Town blindfolded and at the place of execution run thorow with a Javelin his head cut off and hung upon a Tree and the rest of his body cut in mammocks and thrown into the aire If one be accused in any Civil or Criminal case and he desires to purge himself by oath in drinking or eating his Fetiche he is permitted and if he be found dead the next morning the informer goes to pot in his place and pays a good round sum as a penalty to the King But if there be several witnesses which depose against the Criminal in that case he is not allowed to swear They hate adultery mortally if committed with the first Wives for which reason they punish that as severely as any other Crime and so it happens sometimes that out of the malice they doe naturally 〈◊〉 to one another the Father accuses the Son and the Son the Father If an Offender escapes and is taken again he has a large fine set upon his head and is made a Slave into the Bargain without all hopes of redemption In their civil affairs whether for debt or any thing else they are cited before the Judge of that place which I saw my self in the person of one called Pitre at Frederisbourg being come before the Judge the Plaintiff spake first the Defendant answered after they had pleaded what they could on both sides the Judge pronounced sentence immediately which is so peremptory and Authentick there lyes no appeal against it in any other place but 't is executed forthwith Sometimes the business is so difficult the Judge will not undertake to determine it but transferrs it to the King in which cases their anger and indignation is many times so increast that of civil Offenders they become criminals and challenging one another they come into the field with three or four seconds on a side and a resolution to decide it by the Sword If one be killed upon the place the other is obliged to run out of the Kingdom If he be taken he is brought before the King who sets a good lusty Fine upon him upon the payment of which he is discharged This act of grace has such an influence and authority upon the people no body dares asperse him in the least with what is past no not so much as the Widow nor Children of him that is slain to whom by the Justice of the Country a moiety of the Fine does naturally belong if he has not wherewithall to pay his Fine he is made a Slave and delivered up to them to be sold into foreign Countries after which he is never to appear in his own again There was one Jean Classe Governour of Acanis who came aboard us every day he told us that having fought a duel upon occasion of a civil affair and killed his adversary he had a Fine set upon him of an hundred and seventy Marks of Gold and pay'd it every penny to the King The Judges are ordinarily the Captains of the Towns that the King may have no more Officers to pay than are necessary that more advantage might accrew to his Treasury by the Feasts and Presents they are oblig'd to make him For their inheritances which amongst us make the greatest part of our suits they have no controversie at all the next kinsman inheriting always amongst them to the exclusion of Wife and Children who have nothing left them and are sometimes constrain'd to serve for their living though their Husband Father died never so rich for which reason the good man uses them to work betimes that when he comes to dye it may be no news to them but that subsisting by their labour they need not be forced to turn Slaves for a livelyhood Of their Beasts their Birds and their Fish IN these Countries there are but few Elephants to be seen but great store of Lions Tygres Leopards Panthers and other beasts of prey they afford likewise multitudes of Oxen Cows Hogs Goats Sheep Stags Roe-bucks Wild-boars Deer ●ares other beasts which are very good meat besides Civet-Cats Apes of several kinds They have Dragons also and a sort of great Lizards which are good to eat they have Serpents of unmeasurable bigness as also Crocodils and Cameleons these last are about the bigness of our green Lizards in France and do not change their colour as is imagined but having their skins firm and scaly like glass they represent variety of colours according to the different reflections upon them which is the ground of that errour Their wild Fowl and Birds of prey are Eagles of which they have several kinds but one especially and which is to be found only in the Kingdom of Acara it has the feathers of a Peacock the leggs of a Stork the Beak of a Heron and a Crown of feathers upon the head The Commissioner at Acara sent a live one to Frederisbourg and another dead which was very good meat but the live one was sent to the King of Denmark From hence it is our gray Parrots with red tayls and wings are brought which are observed to speak sooner than from any other place their Paraquittes are very beautiful to the eye they have their bodies and their heads green and as small as Linnets their beak and feet like Parrots edg'd with a kind of redish Orange colour like our goldfinch their musick is not very pleasant but some say they learn to speak well enough they have a thousand sorts of little birds of all colours black red yellow green and mixt which they take commonly with nets Their Fowl for the Table are Hens Pigeons Pintades Geese Duck and Mallard Phesants and Partridge but smaller than ours Peacocks Feldisars Cranes Ring-doves Turtles and Be et in great multitudes in short they may be said to abound with all sorts of Birds which are visible amongst us unless it be Larks of which sort I could never see any Having spoken before of their Fish and manner of fishing I shall say nothing of their Fish again but of such as are to be seen upon the Coast having indeed nothing to say of such as