a stick or wand, and then laid up in very dry store houses." I have no doubt Barbot is right, and that there is not enough looking after done to them now a days, so that the worms have their own way too much.
The African hides were held in old days inferior to those shipped from South America, both in thickness and size, and were used in France chiefly to cover boxes with; but in later times, I am informed, they were sought after and split carefully into two slices, serving to make kid for French boots.
The French reckoned the trade of the Senga Company to yield 700 or 800 per cent. advance upon invoice of their goods, and yet their Senga Company, instead of thriving, has often brought a noble to ninepence. Nay, it has broken twice in less than thirty years, which must be occasioned by the vast expense they are at in Europe, Africa, and America, besides ill-management of their business; but this is no more than the common fate of Dutch and English African Companies, as well as that to make rather loss than profit, because their charges are greater than the trade can bear, in maintaining so many ports and other forts and factories in Africa, which devour all the profits." I quote this of Barbot as an interesting thing, considering the present state of West Coast Colonial finance.
GAMBIA TRADE, 1678.
"The factors of the English Company at James Fort, and those of the French at Albreda and other places, drive a very great trade in that country all along the river in brigantines, sloops, and canoes, purchasing—
Elephants' teeth, beeswax, slaves, pagnos (country-made
