To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II - A Personal Narrative by Verney Lovett Cameron;Sir Richard Francis Burton
page 4 of 310 (01%)
page 4 of 310 (01%)
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errors of English judgment pure and simple. We can easily explain them.
The sad grey life of England, the reflection of her climate, has ever welcomed a novelty, a fresh excitement. Society has in turn lionised the _marmiton_, or assistant-cook, self-styled an 'Emir of the Lebanon;' the Indian 'rajah,' at home a _munshi_, or language-master; and the 'African princess,' a slave-girl picked up in the bush. It is the same hunger for sensation which makes the mob stare at the Giant and the Savage, the Fat Lady, the Living Skeleton, and the Spotted Boy. Before entering into details it will be necessary to notice the history of the colony--an oft-told tale; yet nevertheless some parts will bear repetition. [Footnote: The following is its popular chronology:-- 1787. First settlers (numbering 460) sailed. 1789. Town burnt by natives (1790?). 1791. St. George's Bay Company founded. 1792. Colonists (1,831) from Nova Scotia. 1794. Colony plundered by the French. 1800. Maroons (560) from Jamaica added. 1808. Sá Leone ceded to the Crown; 'Cruits' introduced. 1827. Direct government by the Crown.] According to Père Labat, the French founded in 1365 Petit Paris at 'Serrelionne,' a town defended by the fort of the Dieppe and Rouen merchants. The official date of the discovery is 1480, when Pedro de Cintra, one of the gentlemen of Prince Henry 'the Navigator,' visited the place, after his employer's death A.D. 1463. In 1607 William Finch, merchant, found the names of divers Englishmen inscribed on the rocks, especially Thos. Candish, or Cavendish, Captain Lister, and Sir Francis |
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