io Relation [1669 
Canoes. risk themselves at sea in these canoes, which they make 
of a tree that they dig out & round off at the ends, 
the most of which have not more than seven or eight 
feet in length, & one foot & a half to two feet in width. 
Thus I leave you to judge of the sea-worthiness of 
these canoes, in which five or six men put themselves 
to fish, & make them carry sail like a ship. Besides that, 
they load these canoes with fish, which often causes 
them to capsize; but those who are within get off with 
the loss of their fish, for all these fishers, being very good 
swimmers, right their canoes whilst swimming by their 
shoulders, & then climb in again as before. We all 
admir’d these little boats, with their sails, which behav’d 
so staunchly at sea. 
Cape Ver- A short time after we were anchor’d we saw a canoe 
diens. 
approaching which took its way to our Ship, & having 
come up close, we saw some of the Cape Verdiens, who, 
before coming on board our Ship, consider’d it well, & 
having recogniz’d one of our Pilots who had already been 
in this place, they were reassur’d, & climb’d on board ; 
where, on entry, they saluted us with a Bonguyour nos 
guyans , meaning to say Bon jour nos gens. Numbers of 
these blacks speak a little Dieppois, because the Dieppe 
folk often navigate in this neighbourhood. After wishing us 
‘ Good morning,’ they asked for the Captain. They were 
shown him. They saluted him & presented him with a 
great calabash full of Palm Wine, of which he who pre¬ 
sented it drank first, then placed it between the hands of 
the Captain. They next ask’d for Eau-de-Vie. ’Twas 
given them, & some bread & some salt meat, which they 
ate very quickly & ask’d for more, even four times, which 
was given them. I had never seen such eaters, the four 
men which there were ate more than thirty Frenchmen 
wou’d have done. After that they had satisfy’d their 
gluttony, they wish’d to return, & as they had their heads 
