^ Pepper and Gold 



They again visited the coast of Liberia, hut fared better 

 as regards trade, and were well treated by the natives. The 

 voyage commenced with a fight against a French pirate which 

 endc^d in a British victory ; but when they reached the coast 

 of Liberia, as usual nine of them quitted the big ships and 

 entered the Liberian rivers to trade in their boats. Somehow 

 the big ships were lost sight of and never seen again. The 

 mariners went through the most terrible sufferings from hunger 

 and thirst (though they constantly touched at the coast and 



29. KRU CANOES 



obtained wild food from the natives). After extraordinary 

 adventures they reached the Gold Coast. Here the Portuguese 

 received them with outrageous cruelty. After a desperate 

 fight for their lives, they passed along the coast, and then 

 in despair landed through the surf on the shore of some 

 Negro kingdom, where they were received with far greater 

 kindness. After long and dreary waiting, during which six 

 out of the nine died of fever, the remaining three were picked 

 up by a French vessel, which conveyed them back to France, 

 where they had to lie in captivity until they were ransomed. 



69 



