The dwellings of these people are quite small and are covered on top
and at the bottom with reeds and palm fronds. They are round or
oblong, 12-13 foot high and 8-9 foot wide; their doors are 4 foot
high, so that one cannot enter without stooping. The place where they
sleep is on one side of the house and is raised one foot above ground
level; it is made of mud and is 3 foot wide; on top lies a mat made
of reeds or rushes. The fireplace consists of two lumps of rock placed in
the middle of their palace, on which they cook milie, fish or
meat. The floor-covering or pavement is the bare soil or red clay.
Each village has a place set aside which is intended for meetings and
this stands somewhat higher than the other houses. Underneath is a
foot of mud or clay, beaten down all over. Here they assemble with
their officers to inhale tobacco--men, women, and children, all
together. They love tobacco smoke so much that not only do they smoke
throughout the day, but at night they also hang some tobacco in
little bage\s around their necks, as if it were a precious jewel.
They are accustomed to incise their body, face and hands in quite a
variegated way and to rub the wound afterwards with gunpowder or a
certain herb, so that the pattern never disappears. The blacker they
are, the greater they esteem their beauty.Description of Sierra Leone
When we anchored at the watering-place of this locality
[Sierra Leone], with all despatch
we stocked our ship with wood and water. Then I went with a number
of young noblemen into the negro settlement which lay
very close to the watering-place. Here we met the Water-Captain
Jan Thomas, with about forty men and thirty women, and we served them
with the brandy we had with us. This Water-Captain spoke a little
German, consisting mainly of the following short standard phrases:
"Thunder [and] sacrament! To me, Captain Jan
Thomas, must pay for wood and water!" The women sat down around us;
they then danced with their Captain to the music of our shawms, which
[?] were obliged to let themselves be heard.
[Jones, Brandenburg Sources, 24-25.]