THE HOUSE OF MINES. 331 



cotton jackets, could fight almost with impunity against 

 naked Moors, they entered rivers the banks of which 

 were lined with impenetrable jungles. The negroes, 

 perched in trees, shot down upon them from above, or 

 attacked the ships' boats in mid channel with their 

 swift and light canoes. The Portugiiese had no fire- 

 locks, and the crossbow bolt was a poor missile com- 

 pared with the arrows which the negroes dipped in a 

 poison so subtle that as soon as the wounded man 

 drank he died, the blood bursting from his nose and ears. 

 A. system of barter was therefore established, and the 

 negroes showed themselves disposed to trade. The Gold 

 Coast was discovered : a fort and a chapel were built at 

 Elmina, where a commandant was appointed to reside. 

 This ancient settlement has just been ceded to the 

 English by the Dutch. The ships carried out copper 

 bracelets, brass basins, knives, rattles, looking-glasses, 

 coloured silks, and woollen goods, green Rouen cloth, 

 coral, figured velvet, and dainty napkins of Flanders em- 

 broidered with gold brocade, receiving chiefly gold dust 

 in exchange. This trade was farmed out to a company 

 ' for five years, on condition that the company should each 

 year explore to a certain distance along the coast. 



The excitement which followed the discovery of gold 

 dust, and the institution of the House of Mines, gradu- 

 ally died away. The noble Prince Henry was no more. 

 The men who went out to the coast were not of the class 

 who devote their lives to the chivalry of enterprise. An 

 official whohad just returned from Elmina being presented 

 to the King, His Majesty asked him how it was that al- 

 though he had lived in Africa his face and hands were 

 so white. The gentleman replied that he had worn a 

 mask and gloves during the whole period of his absence 

 in that sultry land ; upon which the king told him what 



