Now their oars were
larger than ours and in number they seemed past counting." After a short
breathing space, while each party glared upon the other, the negroes
shot their arrows and the caravels replied with their engines, which
killed a whole rank of the natives. The savages then crowded round the
little caravel and set upon her; they were at last beaten off with heavy
loss and all fled; the slave interpreters shouting out to them as they
rowed away that they might as well come to terms with men who were only
there for commerce, and had come from the ends of the earth to give the
King of Gambra a present from his brother of Portugal, "and for that we
hoped to be exceeding well loved and cherished by the king of Gambra.
But we wanted to know who and where their king was, and what was the
name of this river. They should come without fear and take of us what
they would, giving us in return of theirs."
The negroes shouted back that they could not be mistaken about the
strangers, they were Christians. What could they have to do with them;
they knew how they had behaved to the King of Senegal. No good men could
stand Christians who ate human flesh. What else did they buy negro
slaves for? Christians were plundering brigands too and had come to rob
them.
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