PALM-OIL TRADE. 341 



make trade with us, as they termed it ; and King 

 Boy, who came on board occasionally, was, as 

 usual, always begging for everything he saw. He 

 told us frequently, in an exulting manner, that he 

 could supply a ship with fifty puncheons of oil in 

 a month, or one moon. It will be recollected the 

 Susan filled in two months, or nearly so, when 

 she lost her men ; but oil is now very plentiful, as 

 great quantities of it are brought from the Eboe 

 country by the Brass traders to Brass Town, 

 where it is purchased, as well as slaves, by the 

 Bonny traders. The oil is obtained in the Eboe 

 country for four or five pounds per ton. The 

 best goods for this trade are muskets, powder, 

 red beads, white baft, common scarlet cloth, blue 

 beads. Bandanas, romals, coarse stuff hats, pipes, 

 tobacco in leaf, and looking-glasses. A puncheon 

 of oil is termed so many bars, varying according 

 to the state of the market : a gun is six bars ; 

 a head of tobacco, two bars ; and so on in pro- 

 portion. Cowries are taken at Eboe, and all up 

 the country. The Brass traders, like most other 

 black traders, are not to be trusted ; they re- 

 quire to be closely watched, and the commander 

 of a vessel should not allow them to gain the least 

 ascendency over him. Having once obtained 



