1. This term is used elsewhere in the text as well. It is curious that Bosman should consistently have used the term “friends” (vrienden) where obviously relatives or relations (familieleden) were meant, and also translated as such into English. Perhaps it is an expression of Bosman's doubt about what constitutes the real family in the traditional West African context -- a concept which is certainly more comprehensive than the European family.

2. “To eat from the big beast” is not a proverbial expression in modern Dutch, but the meaning is clear; to be addicted to.

3. Swager: a rather strange concept of “in-law”!

4. gevoelige en klinkende reden: a pun. klinken is employed for the sound of coins in a purse too. (klinkende munt = hard cash)

5. The German expression “potztausend” means something like “the deuce”, but the meaning of “slapperment” is not clear.

6. Lieutenants (Luytenants) is to be understood in the literal translation from the French words: “keeping the place of”

7. An obvious reference to the supposedly adulterous character of French ladies and their aoau husbands.

8. By using the word iemand (= someone, a person) in the first instance, Bosman did not want to make an exception for Europeans having children with black women. On the other hand, by using the word “Negro” in the second phrase he probably implied that this need only applies to Africans, as children of Europeans with African wives, whether free or slaves, were automatically free.

9. Among the Fante it is indeed not unusual for sons, especially the first born, to be named after the father's father or the father's elder brother, but very uncommon to be named after the mother's father. Eldest daughters may be named after the mother, the mother's mother, the father's mother or the father's sister. But it is very unlikely that in Bosman's time children were named after both their grandparents, as he suggests. (Information from Dr. J.K. Fynn)

10. Meniste Sister: Perhaps Mennonite sister. The Mennonites, successors to the Anabaptists, took their name from the Frisian preacher Menno Simons, and constituted a peaceful but very strict protestant sect.

11. Paapse Klop: Roman Catholic beguine or lay sister; Geuse Quesel: Dutch puritan. “Geuse” is derived from the French word “gueux”, meaning “beggar”. At the beginning of the Revolt of the Netherlands, a group of noblemen presented a petition to Philip II's aunt Margaret of Parma, his Regent in Brussels. Many members of the Dutch nobility, living a luxurious life but often heavily in debt, were said to have joined the revolt for economic rather than moral reasons, and one of Margaret's advisers is believed to have remarked on that occasion that those moblemen were nothing but “beggars”. Promptly the word “Gueux” (corrupted to “Geuzen”) became the rallying cry of the Dutch rebels.

12. “bewimpeld” (lit. “provided with a pennant”) is not really part of the Dutch vocabulary. But onbewimpeld, its opposite, means open, undisguised; Bosman simply wants to say that his words were sufficiently veiled not to cause offense.

13. Meaning not quite clear. “Menschen die wel wit mogen zien” could also be translated: “people who may easily appear white”, i.e. people who easily become pale (with anger?)

14. From this last remark one could only draw the rather surprising conclusion, that even Bosman's good friend and correspondent, Dr. Havart, for whom he seems to have had nothing but praise, belonged to the group who censured Bosman for his uncouth language.

15. The Dutch text shows more clearly than the English version that Bosman himself was no longer in a position to have any influence on the Directors of the Company.

16. For Focquenbroch see HA 2(1975), p. 213n11. The Dutch text of Focquenbroch's poem reads:

Dat al de Menschen in't gemeyn,

De Docters als de Duivel haten,

So haest zy slegts geneesen zyn.

17. The scattering of exorcised food, as described on pp. 147-48 of the English edition.

18. This is one of the earliest recorded instances of European delegations being sent into the interior. The Portuguese are also believed to have sent ambassadors to states in the interior, but very little is known about these. Daaku, K.Y., in his Trade and Politics on the Gold Coast (Oxford, 1970), p. 68Google Scholar, suggested that these events took place in 1692, probably basing his statement on Bosman's “about eight years ago.” In an attempt to find more details about this mission, I searched among various papers of that year but could not find any references to it; but then it is quite possible that Bosman wrote this letter in 1701 or even 1702, or that his estimate of “eight years” was not correct.

19. A schoolmaster of Utrecht, who published Curious Observations … (cf. p. 302 of Bosman, 1967) in 1682. (See Bosman (1967), p. 535 for details.)

20. It is rather interesting that after his denial of the role of the devil, Bosman should compare these women with devils. Dutch (as well as American) puritans of those days had a kind of obsession with the devil.

21. Though Bosman does not explicitly speak of the deceased as a King, it seems obvious from what follows that such a personality was meant here.

22. This, to say the least, is doubtful. Curiously enough, the opposite argument was often used later in the eighteenth century by defenders of the slave trade: the slave traders “saved” a large number of healthy young men and women from “cruel slaughter!”

23. Infuma is the African name for Dixcove. In view of the following sentence, it is perhaps not so surprising that the English translator left this phrase out. On the other hand, it is also remarkable that Bosman did not mention Butri, which is only a few miles east of Dixcove, but which was under Dutch authority.

24. “een tuintje van rysen”: the translator's mistake is understandable. Tuin (diminuative tuintje) is indeed the common word for “garden”, originally meaning “fenced area”. The German word Zaun still means “fence”, and even the English word “town” has the same origin. The Dutch word for “rice” is rigst (ryst), but rys (pl. rysen) in modern Dutch better known as “rijshout” stands for the long tough boughs of willow-trees which are used for the reinforcement of dikes. Here twigs are obviously meant.

25. The gold-guilder was worth more than the trade-guilder of about two shillings. The Ryksdaelder (Imperial Dollar) was (and still is) worth 2½ guilders. Fifty Ryksdaelders was therefore worth about E 12:10/-. The English translator could have said twelve guineas.

26. i.e. E 1:10/- to E 2.

27. Which is more likely, as barley would have had to be imported.

28. i.e. E 1 or more

29. Sejanus' Horse or Alexander's Bucephalus: the horse of Seius (equus Seianus) was a horse that brought its successive owners ruin. The English translator according to a Roman proverb, apparently wanted to show off his erudition by adding the name of the famous horse of Alexander the Great, which was said to have been endowed with human courage and intelligence.

30. Noordsahe Paardjes: “Northern” would be “Noordelijk” or “van het Noorden”; Bosman may have likened the small horses he saw on the Guinea Coast to Scandinavian ponies.

31. “een Queeksahool van Honden”: This pun cannot really be translated. A kweeksohool is a teacher training college, but kweken means also “to breed”.

32. In Bosman's time dogs of European pedigree must have constituted a small minority among the dog population of this part of the world, and if they mated, it was probably always with local dogs. The Barkless Basenji is a breed developed in Europe from indigenous African domestic dogs and is much like the west African “bush-dog”, which indeed howl more and bark less than European dogs.

33. karssen (mod. Dutch kersen) certainly means “cherries”, but “karsepitten” or cherrystones is probably meant.

34. In this connection it is interesting to note that in Gã the word for turkey is karakunu, which is obviously derived from the Dutch word kalkoen. In comparison with Portuguese (and of course English), Dutch (and Danish) have “loaned” very few words to the coastal vernaculars, as Portuguese remained for a long time the lingua franca. That the Dutch word for turkey rather than the Portuguese word was adopted, indicates therefore that the turkey made its entry on the coast at a rather late date.

35. “uitsahrijver”: lit.: copyist. The word for editor is really uitgever (which is also the word for publisher). The editor to whom Bosman refers here is probably Isaac Casaubon, who wrote a commentary on the Historia Augusta early in the seventeenth century.

36. Male tusks do grow fast and reach great size; those of females are much smaller. Ivory would not last long on the forest floor without cracking or breaking down. The word “creval” may in fact mean “cracked ivory” (cf. the French verb crever).

37. “even sodanige gebaerden … over sig” lit.: (have) just such gestures … about them, gebaerd does mean “bearded”, but that would not make sense here. The word gebaerde (mod. Dutch gebaar), gesture, probably has a common root with the English word “bearing”.

38. “met Goud beslagen”: the verb beslaan, (p.p. beslagen) means “to cover, to plate” as well as “to shoe” (a horse). It is of course possible that only the hoofs of the duyker's leg Bosman sent to his friend were “shoed” with gold.

39. Perhaps the giant rat (Criaetomys emini) called in Fante Kisi but in Wassa, Sehwi, and Brussa Boté. As Bosman stayed for a long time at Axim it is possible that he knew only of the latter (western Akan) name.

40. The Dutch were willing to pay a high price for these civet cats because their musk was such an important ingredient for perfume. The “Katteplaats” or “Cat Yard” on the North-side of the main building of Elmina Castle was used for the breeding of these animals on a commercial scale. If in Bosnian's days civet cats were so well known in Holland that they needed no introduction, this would certainly not be the case at present.

41. Koekoeboe: probably a mongoose. The story about mongooses catching chicken with their red anus is widespread but untrue. Bosman used the rather unusual expression “poort” (gate) for “anus” or “arse”. This must have puzzled the translator so much that he may have thought better to leave the passage out altogether.

42. There is in the Dutch language no distinction between monkeys and apes; both are called apen, though apes could be specified as mensapen (“man-apes”).

43. The Dutch word for “brush”, penseel, no doubt has a common root with the English word “pencil” (which in Dutch is called potlood).

44. Geestig means humorous in modern Dutch. Geest means ghost, spirit. In antiquated Dutch geestig could also stand for ghostly or even spiritual (in mod. Dutch geestelijk).

45. Haai (Haay) is, the Dutch word, and requin the French word for shark.

46. In the English edition the word boven was translated literally, “above”, but the term meant also “to the windward”; the Windward Islands are still known as the “Bovendewindse Eilanden.” The mentioned rock is indicated on several detailed maps of the period as the Duyvealip or Pigeons' Rock.

47. It is not clear which bird is meant here, but unlikely to be a pelican (as suggested by Fage and Bradbury), as that bird is very rare in this part of the world.

48. Kites are called Kiekendieven or Chick-thiefs in Dutch

49. Beak-clapping is characteristic of storks. Marabou-storks, though normally birds of the savanna, would eat fish when offered. This bird may well have been left at the Castle as a present by a trader from the interior. The name Pokkoe (Opoku?) may have been a proper name given to this apparently domesticated animal by children of Elmina-town.

50. A Dutch mythological figure; hence, in time immemorial.

51. “Al wat van ver komt, is gewis, dat geen … of … en is.” Obviously an old folksy proverb in which the words represented by dots are unprintable.

52. A famous contemporary of Bosman's whose name is particularly linked with the invention of the microscope.

53. Big fishes known in Portuguese as Albacora which was corrupted in Dutch as “Halve Koorden” (lit. Half Chords). Big fishhooks for catching big sea-fish are still known in Dutch as “halvekoord haken”. Cf. de Marees, Pieter, Besahryvinghe, ed. Naber, S.P. L'Honoré (Hague, 1915), p. 161n3.Google Scholar

54. Jan Evertzen was a famous seventeenth-century Admiral. It is not clear why this fish is called Jac(ob) Evertzen. Roojeud may be a misspelling for Rooyaard, meaning red (-haired) person.

55. Obviously, hair-thin bones are meant.

56. I.e. spouting North Cape whales. Noordkapers was also the term applied to Scandinavian corsairs.

57. oneven is both “uneven” or “rugged” and “odd”. The latter meaning is probably to be applied here, though “on a side” or “on one side” is rather misleading: on either side would have been better.

58. To count is tellen in Dutch.

N.B. At p. 147 II/5 [see HA, 4(1977), p. 248], Bosman referred to the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) who published his China Illustrata in Amsterdam in 1667, and it was quickly translated into several languages. For the work and its influence see Rowbotham, Arnold H., Missionary and Mandarin: the Jesuits at the Court of China (New York, 1966), pp. 246–47, 279.Google Scholar