raft was propelled away from the shore to the blare of trumpets, horns and other instruments, and at this there arose a mighty shouting from the crowd which thundered over hill and valley and lasted until the raft had reached the middle of the lake. From there the fluttering of a banner commanded silence. The gilded Indian made his offerings, throwing into the water the pile of gold at his feet. The other caciques in attendance did likewise. The banner, which had been held aloft meantime, was now lowered, and the raft moved back to the shore to the accompaniment of renewed shouting and the sound of pipes and trumpets, while the people formed large circles and began dancing after their fashion. In this manner was the heir received and acknowledged as their lord and prince.
It is from this ceremony that there derived the famous legend of El Dorado, that has cost so many lives and fortunes. The ‘man of gold’ was first heard spoken of in Peru, where Sebastián de Benalcázar fell in with an Indian from these parts, who told how in his country, when they wanted to proclaim a new king, they took him to a great lake and there gilded him all over. Benalcázar’s remark, ‘Let’s go and find this Indian covered with gold,’ gave rise to the term, which, with the story, was carried to Castile and all over the Indies.
IB11 John Lok (c.1533–c.1615) A Voyage to Guinea in the year 1554
John Lok was an English‐born trader and ship’s captain who was active in the Levant as well as being in charge of the voyage to West Africa he reports on here. The destination was present‐day Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast. The main items of trade mentioned by Lok are gold and ivory. He also discusses the tattooing and scarification of the people, and their jewellery, likewise made of ivory and gold. The extracts are taken from Richard Hakluyt, Voyages and Discoveries: The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, edited, abridged and introduced by Jack Beeching, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972, pp. 67–8.
On the fourth day of September, under nine degrees, we lost sight of the north star. We came to anchor three or four leagues west and by south of the Cape de Tres Puntas. Then our pinnace came aboard with all our men, the pinnace also took in more wares. They told me they would go to a place where the Primrose had received much gold at the first voyage, but I fearing a brigantine that was then upon the coast, did weigh and follow them. The town is called Shama; where we did traffic for gold, to the northeast of Cape de Tres Puntas.
They brought from thence at the last voyage four hundred pound weight and odd of gold, of two and twenty carats and one grain in fineness: also six and thirty butts of grains, and about two hundred and fifty elephants’ teeth of all quantities. Some of them were as big as a man’s thigh above the knee, and weighed about four score and ten pound weight apiece. These great teeth or tusks grow in the upper jaw downwards, and not in the nether jaw upwards, wherein the painters and arras workers are deceived. […]
Touching the manners and nature of the people, their princes and noblemen use to pounce and raze their skins with pretty knots in divers forms, as it were branched damask, thinking that to be a decent ornament. And albeit they go in manner all naked, yet are many of them and especially their women, laden with collars, bracelets, hoops and chains, either of gold, copper or ivory. I myself have one of their bracelets of ivory, weighing two pound and six ounces of troy weight, made of one whole piece of the biggest part of the tooth, turned and somewhat carved, with a hole in the midst. Some of their women wear on their bare arms certain foresleeves made of the plates of beaten gold. On their fingers also they wear rings; made of golden wires, with a knot or wreath, like unto that which children make in a ring of a rush.
They are very wary people in their bargaining, and will not lose one spark of gold of any value. They use weights and measures, and are very circumspect in occupying the same. They that shall have to do with them, must use them gently: for they will not traffic or bring in any wares if they be evil used.
IB12 Olfert Dapper (1636–89) On the city of Benin
Dapper was a medical doctor who lived and practised in Amsterdam. He wrote works including a history of Amsterdam, an account of the Dutch East India Company and a study of Africa, from which the present description of Benin is taken. It was first published in 1668 and translated into English in 1670 and French in 1686. Dapper did not visit the continent himself, but based his account on the writings of Samuel Blommaart, a merchant involved in trade with the Guinea coast who had himself spent several years in Africa. It is noteworthy in general for its favourable comparison of the West African city with Dutch cities, but more particularly in terms of the present anthology for its mention of those canonical works of African art subsequently dubbed the ‘Benin Bronzes’. These otherwise remained unknown in Europe until the British destruction of Benin in 1897 (cf. IVB14 and IVD10 and 11). The account of Dapper/Blommaart describes how the brass plaques were displayed on the wooden pillars of the Oba’s palace complex, and also how three‐dimensional figures of a bird with wings outstretched adorned the palace roof. The fact that both two‐ and three‐dimensional works are described as being made of copper, and as ‘carefully maintained’, implies not only that they shone brightly in the African sun, but also that they were important features of Benin’s structure of symbolic power. The present extract is taken from a translation of the original Dutch edition by Barbara Trapido, published in Thomas Hodgkin (ed.), Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975, pp. 159–61.
Nine or ten miles north of Gotton and fifteen miles farther inland is the town of Benin, called Great Benin by us on account of its size (because there is no town of equivalent size to be found in these regions), and called Oedo by the inhabitants. The town, together with the Queen’s court, is about five or six miles in circumference, or, to exclude the court, three miles within the gates. The town is fortified on one side by a wall ten feet high, made of a double palisade of broad trees with joists of five or six feet laid crosswise, each fixed to each other, the whole worked solidly together with red loam. This wall runs round only one side of the city, and on the other side is a marsh and dense bush which is no small protection for the city. The town has several gates, eight or nine feet high and five feet wide, with doors made of single whole pieces of wood, which turn on staves like farmers’ gates in this country.
The King’s Court
The king’s court is square and on the right side of the town when you enter from Gotton. It is easily as big as the town of Haarlem and enclosed by a remarkable wall, similar to the city wall. It is divided into many fine palaces, houses and rooms for courtiers and has beautiful long galleries about as big as the Exchange at Amsterdam, and one yet bigger than the others, all resting on wooden pillars, covered from top to bottom with cast copper, which depict deeds of war and battle scenes. These are carefully maintained. Most of the royal houses in the court are covered with palm‐leaves instead of planks, and each is adorned with a pyramidal tower which has at its apex a skilfully wrought, very life‐like copper bird, spreading its wings.
The town has thirty very straight broad streets, each about 120 feet wide, as wide as the Keisersgracht or the Heerengracht in Amsterdam, from the houses on one side to those on the other, and in addition there are many broad intersecting streets, though these are somewhat narrower.
Houses
The houses stand beside each other, built in an orderly way, as here in this country, displaying handsome fronts and verandahs and roofed with palm or banana or other kinds of leaves. They are not higher than one storey, but they are usually large with long galleries within, especially the houses of noblemen, and divided into many rooms. The interior walls are of red loam and very pleasantly made. With washing and polishing they are made as smooth and even as any plastered wall in Holland and as shining as a looking‐glass. The floors are made of the same earth. Each house furthermore has a fresh‐water
