' But of late years a village
called Hidya, with land on both banks, forbids passage. Moreover, Krumen
are not hospitable. Masters and men, cast ashore upon a coast which they
have visited for years to hire hands, are stripped, beaten, and even
tortured by women as well as by men. The savages have evidently not learnt
much by a century's intercourse with Europeans.
Leaving Cavally, the last place where Kruboys can be shipped, we coasted
along the fiery sands snowed over with surf and set in the glorious
leek-green growth that distinguishes the old Ivory Coast. The great Gulf
Stream which, bifurcating at the Azores, sweeps southwards with easting,
now sets in our favour; it is, however, partly a wind-current, and here it
often flows to the west even in winter. The ever-rolling seas off this
'Bristol coast' are almost clear of reef and shoal, and the only storms
are tornadoes, which rarely blow except from the land: from the ocean they
are exceedingly dangerous. Such conditions probably suggested the Bristol
barque trade, which still flourishes between Cape Palmas and Grand Bassam.
A modern remnant of the old Bristolian merchant-adventurers, it was
established for slaving purposes during the last century by Mr.
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