As I was long on shore, I went several times to see their markets or fairs, which were held every Monday and Friday in a meadow, not far from where I resided.  The men and women, from four or five miles around, came to this place with their various commodities, and those who lived at a greater distance, went to other markets nearer their habitations.  The great poverty of the natives appeared manifest in the goods they brought to these fairs; consisting of small quantities of cotton cloth, and cotton yarn, pulse, oil, millet, wooden tubs, palm matts, and every thing else useful to life, according to their manners, likewise arms, and some small quantities of gold.  Having no money or coin of any kind, all their trade was carried on by way of barter, or exchange of one thing for another, sometimes two or three things for one, according to their different values.  All these blacks used to gaze on me, as if I had been a prodigy, having never seen a white man before.  Some took hold of my hands, which they rubbed with spittle, to see if the whiteness was natural or artificial, and expressed their wonder to find that my skin was not painted.  They were as much astonished at my dress, being clothed in the Spanish fashion, with a black damask waistcoat, and a cloak over it:  They seemed much surprised at the waistcoat, and greatly admired the woollen cloth, which they had never seen any of before.  My chief purpose in going to these fairs, was to see what quantity of gold was brought thither.

Horses are very scarce, and of great value in the country of the Negroes, being brought all the way from that part of Barbary which lies nearest to Europe, by the Arabs and Azanhaji.  Owing to the great heat, horses do not live long here; for they grow so fat that they cannot stale, and so burst.  They are fed with bean leaves, which are gathered after the beans are brought from the fields; and, being dried like hay, are cut small, and given to the horses instead of oats.  They give millet also, which contributes greatly to make them fat.  A horse and his furniture sells for from nine to fourteen negroes, according to his goodness and beauty; and when a negro lord buys a horse, he sends for his horse sorcerers, who cause a fire to be kindled of the stalks of certain herbs, and hold the horses head by the bridle over the smoke, while they repeat over some few words by way of incantation.  They afterwards have him anointed all over with fine oil, and having kept him eighteen or twenty days, without allowing any one to see him, they affix some Moorish charms to his neck, which have the appearance of small square billets of writing, folded up and covered with red leather; and affirm, that, they will go into battle with greater safety by means of these scrolls or annulets.