i 5 6 HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
rope is, I believe, forty; of which fourteen belong’ 
to the English, three to the French, fifteen to, the 
Dutch, four to the Portuguese, and four to the 
Danes. 
The commodities exported by the British traders 
to Africa, consist chiefly of woollens, linens, Man¬ 
chester goods, Birmingham and Sheffield goods; 
East Indian silks and mixed goods; English printed 
callicoes and cottons; ready made cloths, musquets, 
bayonets, cutlasses, gunpowder, shot, wrought and 
unwrought brass and copper, lead, pewter, wrought 
and unwrought iron, hats, worsted caps, earthen 
ware, British spirits, rum and brandy, tea, sugar, 
coffee and provisions of every kind.—The annual 
value, of late years, is estimated on an average at 
about £. 800,000 sterling. 
In some parts of the coast there is a duty paid 
on each ship, to the king or chief man of the coun¬ 
try; which is called his customs. In other parts 
this is not exacted; but it is only in such places as 
have but little trade. When permission is obtain¬ 
ed to trade, the slaves are sometimes brought by 
the black merchants on board the ships, and there 
sold; and sometimes they are purchased on shore 
at the merchants houses, and brought off to the 
ships by the captains; after which the black traders 
come on board to receive payment. In these par¬ 
ticulars, circumstances and situations very often 
change the mode, just as an opposition among a 
number of purchasers makes it more or less necesr 
