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151 Eighth Letter Main Fort Christiansburg On the Guinea Coast 16 October 1785 In my last letter from Fida I sent you a description of the journey from Prinzenstein to Fida,and,in the same letter,I entertained you with considerable detail about the Europeans as well as about the natives of these places. Now let me tell you about the habits and customs of the nation which lives around our main fort, a people known as Akras, and about their land of Gah (Gã), as it is called in their mother tongue. First,however,I must report that on 1 April I sailed on the brigantine Ada from Fida back to Popo, where I went ashore. From there I continued the journey by hammock to RioVolta, which I was taken across,and then to the main fort,which is about 50 German miles from Popo,a distance I ||p.183|| covered comfortably in six days. I shall not weary you with a repetition of all the forts, lodges and settlements along the way, since I have already told you about them. The clothing of the Akras is in general like that of the peoples living on the other side of RioVolta and as far as Benin,the so-called ‘Slave Coast’,differing only in a few details,especially as regards the fair sex. Fastened around their hips the men wear a belt or band made of decoratively plaited leather, or a silver chain, or a string of beads.Through this,and between their legs,they pass a small strip of cotton or linen cloth,or a piece of silk cloth about half an ell wide and two ells long, and they let the ends hang down in front and behind.1 The longer it hangs down behind, the more beautiful it is 1 One ell = 1. 14 metres. 152 LETTERS ON WEST AFRICA AND THE SLAVE TRADE considered to be.This attire,whose true purpose is to cover the private parts,is an absolute necessity for each adult Black;and probably their earliest clothing had the same intention,since a single plantain leaf is sufficient to be used thus.Indeed,each master must supply it for his slaves.In the language of the country it is called täklä [tèklè]a||p 184 ||Besides this they have a large pantjes,or length of cloth, called mammale, which for a grown Black is three ells long and as wide.The mammale serves at night as a coverlet, in the morning as a robe, and during the day as formal dress. In the mornings when it is usually cool here, they wrap themselves in it, leaving only one arm uncovered. In the daytime, however, and on formal occasions, it would be a breach of the rules of decency to cover the upper part of the body with anything at all.2 At such times the mammale is folded downwards and tucked in a little on the left side; but, since it does not stay there very well, and is constantly falling off when they move too much, they are forced to secure it repeatedly.They often open and rewrap it, or play with it, just to keep themselves occupied, as our ladies do with their fans.3 The kind of cloth from which the mammale is made indicates ||p.185|| one man’s wealth and privilege in relation to another’s just as,among our own people, the officer is distinguished from the private soldier.The mammale is usually of coarse cotton cloth brought here from East India, or of printed cotton, or of chintz, or of half-silk or silk cloth. When a Black has on both the täklä and the mammale, he is fully clothed.However,for decoration and formal wear (for luxury a When those who write about their travels mention completely naked Blacks, this must be interpreted to mean Blacks dressed only in a täklä,since I believe that this has been their custom,if not from time immemorial,at least for a longer time than the Europeans have been coming here.[or täklä and the larger cloth,mammale,see Second Letter23 . Isert’s reference to other writers may have included De Marees (1602/1987: 114a]. 2 Cf Monrad 1822:235-6;Daniell 1856;4-5.This custom continues to be observed today (McLeod 1981: 145). 3 The ‘dance adjustment’ of the large cloth is noted in Cole and Ross 1977:16. [3...

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