hats, shirts, and all sorts of silks out of fashion in Europe, hooks, &c., of each sort a little in proportion."
In connection with this now but little considered island of San Tomé, so called from having been discovered in the year 1472, under the direction of Henry the Navigator, on the feast day of the Apostle Thomas, there is an interesting bit of history, which has had considerable bearing on the culture of the Lower Congo regions.
The Portuguese, observing the fertility of the soil of this island, decided to establish a colony there for the con- venience of trading in the Guinea regions; but the climate was so unwholesome that an abundance of men died before it was well settled and cultivated. "Violent fevers and cholicks that drove them away soon after they were set a-shore."
"The first design of settling there was in the year 1486 but perceiving how many perished in the attempt, and that they could better agree with that of the continent on the coast of Guinea, it was resolved by King Jaō II. of Portugal that all the Jews within his dominions, which were vastly numerous, should be obliged to receive baptism, or upon refusal be transported to the coast of Guinea, where the Portuguese had already several considerable settlements and a good trade, considering the time since its first discovery.
"A few years after such of those Jews as had escaped the malignant air, were forced away to this Isle of San Tomé; these married to black women, fetched from Angola in great numbers, with near 3,000 men of the same country.
"From these Jews married to black women in process of time proceeded mostly that brood of mulattos at this day inhabiting the island. Most of them boast of being descended from the Portuguese; and their constitution is by
