On the 14th we came within Saker shot of the castle of Mina, whence an Almadia was sent out to see what we were, but seeing that we were not Portuguese, she went immediately back to the large negroe town of Dondou close by the castle.  Without this there lie two great rocks like islands, and the castle stands on a point resembling an island.  At some distance to the westwards the land for 5 or 6 leagues was high, but for 7 leagues from thence to the castle the land is low, after which it becomes high again.  The castle of Mina is about 5 leagues east from Cape Three-points[263].  Here I took the boat with our negroes, and, went along the coast till I came to the cape, where I found two small towns having no canoes, neither could we have any trade.  At these places our negroes understood the natives perfectly, and one of them went on shore at all the places, where he was well received by his countrymen.  At a place called Bulle, about 3 leagues east from the eastermost point of Cape Three-points, we learnt from the natives by means of our negro George, that about a month before there had been an engagement at this place, in which two ships had put one to flight; and that some time before, one French ship had put to flight four Portuguese ships at the castle of Mina.

[Footnote 263:  Mina is in Long. 1 deg. 60’, Cape Three points in 2 40’ both west, the difference of Longitude therefore is about 50 minutes, or nearly 17 leagues.—­E]

On the 16th we went to a place called Hanta, 12 leagues beyond the cape, but did no good, as the natives held their gold too dear.  We went thence to Shamma[264], where we landed with 5 boats well armed with men and ordnance, making a great noise with our drums and trumpets, suspecting we might have found Portuguese here, but there were none.  We sent our negroes first on shore, after which we followed and were well received.  The 18th we agreed to give the negroes 2 yards and 3 nails of cloth, as a fuffe, to exchange for an angel-ducat weight; so we took in all 70 ducats, of which the Frenchmen had 40 and we 30.  The 19th I took 4 libs. 2-1/2 oz. of gold, and the boat of the Hart had 21 oz.  This night we were informed by the negroes that the Portuguese meant to attack us next day either by sea or land, and as we were about to return on board we heard several shots in the woods, but they durst not come near us.  The 20th we went on shore well armed, but heard no more of the Portuguese, and this day the negroes informed us there were some ships come to Hanta, a town about 2 leagues to the west.  The 21st we went in our boats to a town a league to the west, where we found many negroes under another chief, with whom we dealt on the same terms as at Shamma.  The 22d we went again on shore, and I got 1 lib. 4 oz. of gold.  The 23d the negroes told as that the Portuguese ships had departed from the Mina, intending to ply to windward and then come down to fight us, giving us warning to be on