THE GUM TRADE. 
135 
made to the king, is enough to interrupt it ; nay, I have 
known it to be broken off because Fatme-Anted-Moctar 
(the king's aunt) complained that one of the supercargoes 
had given her some coffee v^^hich she did not like. 
It may be supposed perhaps, that the price at which the 
gum is bought makes amends for all these annoyances by 
the profit which it affords. No such thing ! the profit might 
indeed be immense if the dealers understood their own 
interest ; instead of which they enter into a ruinous compe- 
tition with one another, to the advantage of the Moors. 
If they know that a caravan is on the way to the port, each 
dispatches his interpreter to meet it and make offers to the 
marabouts. They go on shore themselves to try to gain the 
chief by promises and presents, and to get him on board 
their own vessel. The consequence of all this eagerness is 
that the Moor becomes more and more greedy and obstinate ; 
^ he suspects that he is selling his gum too cheap, hesitates a 
long time before he closes the bargain, runs backwards and 
forwards to all the ships, and decides at last in favour of the 
highest bidder. 
From the arrival of the caravan to the delivery of the gum, 
all the marabouts belonging to it are fed by the dealers ; 
and every time a Moor goes on board a ship to sell the small- 
est package of gum, he and all who are with him are treated. 
Five or six of them will often go about with twelve or fifteen 
pounds of gum, hawk it about for two or three days, and at 
last, when they have sold it, require a dinner into the bargain. 
The bargains are usually made very slowly ; the marabouts, 
for fear of being cheated, measure their gum before they 
expose it for sale, with a small measure, the weight of which 
they know, that they may ascertain beforehand the quantity 
of Guinea cloth which it ought to produce them. In general 
a certain weight in gum is agreed upon as the value of one 
piece of calico. This price varies according as the season is 
more or less productive ; when I was at the Cock station a 
