24 TRAVELS IN THE 
offspring at least, if not the parents, become entitled to all the 
privileges of the native class. 
The preceding remarks, concerning the several nations that 
inhabit the banks of the Gambia, are all that I recollect as ne- 
cessary to be made in this place, at the outset of my journey. 
With regard to the Mandingoes, however, many particulars are 
yet to be related ; some of which are necessarily interwoven 
into the narrative of my progress, and others will be given in a 
summary, at the end of my work ; together with all such ob- 
servations as I have collected on the country and climate, which 
I could not with propriety insert in the regular detail of occur- 
rences. What remains of the present Chapter will therefore 
relate solely to the trade which the nations of Christendom 
have found means to establish with the natives of Africa, by the 
channel of the Gambia ; and the inland traffic which has arisen, 
in consequence of it, between the inhabitants of the Coast, and 
the nations of the interior countries. 
The earliest European establishment on this celebrated river 
was a factory of the Portugueze ; and to this must be ascribed 
the introduction of the numerous words of that language which 
are still in use among the Negroes. The Dutch, French, and 
English, afterwards successively possessed themselves of settle- 
ments on the Coast ; but the trade of the Gambia became, and 
continued for many years, a sort of monopoly in the hands of 
the English. In the travels of Francis Moore, is preserved an 
account of the Royal African Company's establishments in this 
river, in the year 1730; at which time James's factory alone 
consisted of a governor, deputy governor, and two other principal 
