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Critical Source Analysis of European Travelers’ Sources
A Dialogue with King Agaja: William

Snelgrave’s 1727 Ardra Diary and the
Contours of Dahomian-European
Commercial Exchange
Neal D. Polhemus
Abstract: The rise of the Kingdom of Dahomey in the first quarter of the
eighteenth century was a watershed event in the political history of precolonial
West Africa. This article draws on a newly rediscovered copy of William Snelgrave’s
diary who visited King Agaja of Dahomey in April 1727. The diary provides the
fullest account to date of Agaja’s motives for invading Whydah in March 1727.
In addition, the Diary provides the earliest evidence confirming the bona fides
of Bulfinch Lambe’s 1731 mission to England to establish commercial relations
with King George II.
Résumé: L’essor du royaume d’Abomey dans le premier quart du XVIIIe siècle

a été un tournant dans l’histoire politique précoloniale de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.
Cet article se base sur un exemplaire nouvellement redécouvert du journal de
William Snelgrave qui a rendu une visite au roi Agadja d’Abomey en avril 1727.
Le journal fournit le récit le plus complet à ce jour des raisons qui ont poussé
Agadja à envahir Ouidah en mars 1727. En outre, ce journal constitue la plus
ancienne source confirmant les références données par le roi d’Abomey à la
mission menée en 1731 par Bulfinch Lambe en Angleterre pour établir des relations
commerciales avec le roi George II.
History in Africa, Volume 43 (2016), pp. 29–62

Neal D. Polhemus is a PhD candidate in History at the University of South
Carolina. His dissertation is titled “A Culture of Commodification: Hemispheric
and Intercolonial Migrations in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660–1807.”
His research has been published in Atlantic Studies: Global Currents. E-mail:
polhemus@email.sc.edu
© African Studies Association, 2016

doi:10.1017/hia.2016.6
29
30 History in Africa
Introduction1
The rise of the state of Dahomey in the first quarter of the eighteenth
century was a watershed event in the political history of precolonial West
Africa. Fueled by desire for direct access to the ever increasing volume
of European trade goods on the coast, King Agaja (d. 1740) founded a
modern military state and developed an expansionist policy that was more
aggressive than its predecessors.2 In essence, war was the function of the
state and no polity in the region asserted its authority more prominently
than Dahomey under King Agaja. Dahomey imperialism and European
designs for the slave trade in the Bight of Benin “worked together with remark-
able synergy” throughout much of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world.3
With each transaction that transferred captive Africans into the hands of
traders and ship captains, imperial power brokers like King Agaja united
with Europeans in a pact which gave birth to an empire of capital. The reper-
cussions would reverberate loudest within local African communities but
the screams could also be heard echoing in the darkest corners and farthest
flung regions of the Atlantic world.
The conquest of Whydah by the Dahomians in March 1727 has
received much attention from historians of precolonial state formation
in West Africa and scholars interested in the operation of the transatlan-
tic slave trade.4 The first chronicler to give an extended account of the
1 Special thanks to Matt Childs for all his support. Thanks to John Harris,
Andrew Kettler, Chaz Yingling, the University of South Carolina’s Atlantic His-
tory Reading Group and anonymous readers of History in Africa for their con-
structive critiques and thoughtful comments. The Institute for African American
Research, the Institute for Southern Studies, and a SPARC Graduate Research
Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of
South Carolina provided financial and institutional support for the research and
writing of this article.
2 There is some debate on the degree of continuity within the Dahomey
state in relation to its predecessors. To some degree aspects of Dahomey society

in the 1720s remained constant while others including its institutions and ideol-
ogy, “were permeated by a military ethos beyond anything which had existed in
earlier kingdoms.” Robin Law, The Slave Coast of West Africa, 1550–1750: The Impact
of the Atlantic Slave Trade on an African Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1991), 269.
3 James H. Sweet, Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual His-
tory of the Atlantic World (Chapel Hill NC: University of North Carolina Press,
2011), 225.
4 Melville J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (New York:
J.J. Augustin, 1938); Karl Polanyi, Dahomey and the Slave Trade: An Analysis of
an Archaic Economy (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966); I.A. Akinjogbin,
Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708–1818 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967);
David Henige and Marion Johnson, “Agaja and the Slave Trade: Another Look
William Snelgrave’s 1727 Ardra Diary 31
kingdom of Dahomey and King Agaja’s exploits was William Snelgrave,

an English slave ship captain, who published in 1734 A New Account of
Some Parts of Guinea, and the Slave Trade.5 As an expert on the nature of
cultural and economic exchange between Europeans and West Africans,
Snelgrave was more than capable of publishing an account of Dahomey.
For thirty years, from 1701 to 1730, Snelgrave practically lived at sea;
he was the ship captain of fourteen voyages to West Africa (an unprece-
dented total for the period) that carried some 5,000 captive Africans to
the Americas.6 Snelgrave traded with the Dutch at El Mina, the Danish at
Accra, the French and Portuguese at Whydah and often sold much-needed
supplies to employees of the Royal African Company (RAC) at Gambia
and Cape Coast Castle.7 In the last decade of his career from 1720–1730,
Snelgrave was a frequent visitor at many of the trading factories on the
Gold Coast and at Whydah.
Why is Snelgrave’s New Account significant? To be sure, Snelgrave’s
depiction of Whydah and the slave trade was not the first European account
of its kind. Portuguese explorers arrived in West Africa in the fifteenth
century followed by the Dutch, French, and English.8 Accounts by Olfert
Dapper, Jean Barbot, William Bosman, and Jean Baptiste Labat among
others describe with vivid detail the social, political, and cultural rhythms
at the Evidence,” History in Africa 3 (1976), 57–67; David Ross, “The Anti-Slave
Trade Theme in Dahoman History: An Examination of the Evidence,” History in
Africa 9 (1982), 263–271; David Ross, “European Models and West African History:
Further Comments on the Recent Historiography of Dahomey,” History in Africa
10 (1983), 293–305; Edna G. Bay, Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture
in the Kingdom of Dahomey (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1998); Law,
The Slave Coast of West Africa.
5 William Snelgrave, A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea and the Slave-Trade
(London: J.J. and P. Knapton, 1734).

6 http://slavevoyages.org/tast/database/search.faces?yearFrom=1514&ye
arTo=1866&anycaptain=snelgrave. Only twelve ships disembarked slaves. There

is no record of the Prosperous (1703) purchasing captives in West Africa or
disembarking slaves in the Americas. The Bird Gally (1719) was captured by
pirates.
7 On Snelgrave utilizing Dutch and Danish warehouses on the Gold Coast, see:
Ole Justesen (ed.), Danish Sources for the History of Ghana, 1657–1754 (Copenhagen:
Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 2005), 285–287; Bank of England
Archives, London, M7/12, Trade Book of the Katherine (1729). For Snelgrave
selling provisions at Bunce Island and Cape Coast Castle, see: British National
Archives, Kew, T70/7, f. 4–7.
8 David A. Northrup, Africa’s Discovery of Europe, 1450–1850 (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002); Paul E.H. Hair, Africa Encountered: European Contacts
and Evidence, 1450–1700 (Hampshire: Variorum, 1997); Robin Law, “West Africa’s
Discovery of the Atlantic,” International Journal of African Historical Studies 44–1
(2011), 1–25.
of life in the region.9 However, Snelgrave’s lengthy, near obsessive, account

of Dahomey ritual human sacrifice stands out from other European works
on the Slave Coast.10 Snelgrave exploited Dahomean cultural and religious
practices of human sacrifice for polemical purposes by associating the
sacred rituals with a defense of the morality of the slave trade.11 Anti-
abolitionist writers throughout the eighteenth-century, recycled Snelgrave’s
argument that captives taken in “War, would be inhumanly destroyed, was
there not an Opportunity of disposing of them to the Europeans. So that at
least many Lives are saved, and great Numbers of useful Persons kept” to
labor on British Caribbean plantations.12 In 1735, former Royal Navy surgeon,
John Atkins published an account of his adventures in West Africa.13 Atkins
was an opponent of the slave trade and published his account explicitly to
refute Snelgrave’s anti-abolitionist arguments.14 In preparing his account,
Atkins met with Bulfinch Lambe and consulted the letter in his possession
from King Agaja of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Atkins concluded that Agaja
9 Olfert Dapper, Beschreibung von Afrika (Amsterdam: Jacob von Meurs, 1670);
Paul E.H. Hair, Adam Jones and Robin Law (eds.), Barbot on Guinea: The Writings of
Jean Barbot on West Africa, 1678–1712 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1992); Jean Baptiste
Labat, Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinée, Isles Voisines, et à Cayenne, Fait en
1725, 1726 & 1727 (Paris: G. Saugrain, 1730); Willem Bosman, A New and Accurate
Description of the Coast of Guinea: Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts
(London: J. Knapton, 1705).
10 The Slave Coast refers to the region of West Africa from the Volta River east
to the Lagos channel, a distance of roughly 200 miles. Law, Slave Coast, 13–14.
11 Robin Law, “Human Sacrifice in Pre-Colonial West Africa,” African Affairs
84–2 (1985), 53–87, 54.

12 Snelgrave, New Account, 160. Writers drawing on Snelgrave’s thesis included
Malachy Postlethwayt and Robert Norris. Malachy Postlethwayt, The National and
Private Advantages of the African Trade Considered (London: Printed for John and Paul
Knapton, 1746); Robert Norris, Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahádee, King of Dahomy,
an Inland Country of Guiney (London: W. Lowndes, 1789).
13 John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil and the West-Indies (London: C. Ward
and R. Chandler, 1735). Atkins also published The Navy-Surgeon: Or, a Practical System
of Surgery (London: C. Ward and R. Chandler, 1734).
14 Bulfinch Lambe, a minor trader in the service of the Royal African Com-
pany, arrived at Whydah in 1722. In July 1722, Lambe was taken prisoner by the
King of Allada. Two years later, in March 1724, when Dahomey attacked Allada,
Lambe became a captive of King Agaja’s court. Lambe wrote a letter to Governor
Tinker in November 1724 detailing the state of affairs in Dahomey. Lambe’s letter
was published by William Smith in 1744. William Smith, A New Voyage to Guinea
(London: J. Nourse, 1744), 171–189. The 1726 letter Atkins consulted is discussed
by Robin Law in two articles published in this journal. Robin Law, “Further Light
on Bulfinch Lambe and the ‘Emperor of Pawpaw:’ King Agaja of Dahomey’s Letter
to King George I of England, 1726,” History in Africa 17 (1990), 211–226; Law, “An
Alternative Text of King Agaja of Dahomey’s Letter to King George I of England,
1726,” History in Africa 29 (2002), 257–271.
did not want to establish commercial relations with King George to pro-
mote the slave trade to Dahomey but solicited English assistance to develop
agricultural plantations in his new kingdom.15 In the 1780s, during the
Parliamentary debates over the abolition of the slave trade, the letter
Lambe delivered from Agaja in 1731 emerged as a powerful rhetorical and
polemical weapon. Ironically, both sides of the debate selected passages
from the text to argue either for the protection or eradication of the slave
trade.16
Historians beginning in the late 1960s, specifically I.A. Akinjogbin
and Walter Rodney, were eager to show the destructive impact of the
transatlantic slave trade on Africans, African societies, and European
responsibility for it.17 The portrayal of King Agaja as an indigenous abo-
litionist was a critical piece of evidence for historians arguing that West
Africans were innocent victims, or at least reluctant participants in slave
trading. John Thornton has made a compelling argument that West African
elites participation in the slave trade was voluntary, and that throughout
the early modern Atlantic world Europeans rarely possessed sufficient
military or political influence to impose their imperial goals.18 As for the
Slave Coast specifically, most historians have followed Patrick Manning,
Robin Law, and more recently Robert Harm’s interpretations of the evi-
dence. Each make compelling arguments based on thorough investiga-
tions of European and African archives that Agaja was in fact a strong
advocate of his kingdom’s participation in the slave trade.19 Since the 1730s,
Snelgrave’s telling of the rise of the Dahomian state and characterization
of King Agaja has been bound up in polemical debates over the abolition
of the slave trade and the lasting impression the commerce left on modern
African societies. It is for these reasons that the resurfacing of a manu-
script detailing Snelgrave’s journey to visit King Agaja in early April 1727
is of great significance to historians.
15 Atkins, Voyage to Guinea, 120–121.

16 Robin Law, “King Agaja of Dahomey, the Slave Trade, and the Question of
West African Plantations: The Embassy of Bulfinch Lambe and Adomo Tomo to
England, 1726–32,” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 19–2 (1991),
137–163, 138.
17 Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708–1818; Walter Rodney, How
Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington: Howard University Press, 1972).

18 John K. Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World,
1400–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Thornton explores

this theme again in A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250–1820 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2012), 248–261. The exception is Portuguese
Angola.
19 Patrick Manning, Slavery, Colonialism, and Economic Growth in Dahomey,
1640–1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982); Law, The Slave Coast of
West Africa, 1550–1750; Robert W. Harms, The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds
of the Slave Trade (New York: Basic Books, 2002).
The manuscript in question, titled “A Diary of my Journey to Ardra,”

(hereafter as Diary) is Snelgrave’s first documented account of his encoun-
ter with King Agaja on 10 April 1727. The manuscript is preserved in the
Bank of England Archives among the Humphry Morice Papers.20 Save for
a 1988 article by James Rawley, the Morice Papers have attracted little sus-
tained attention from historians.21 The editors of the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade Database explored the Morice Papers to document his participation
in the trade. This important project recovered a large proportion of the
quantitative data dealing with the slave trade from archives and reposi-
tories across the globe. However, the Morice collection contains additional
information relating to the volume, contours and organization of the slave
trade in West Africa and the Caribbean.22 The manuscript Diary takes
on additional significance because the original manuscript version of
Snelgrave’s 1734 publication A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea is
preserved at the National Maritime Museum.23 In 1990, Robin Law, in a
20 Bank of England Archives, London, 10A61/3, Trading Accounts and Slave

Trade. A portion of the Morice papers are available on microfilm although large
segments of the collection were not copied. In addition, in 2005 and 2012, the
Museum of the Bank of England transferred materials relating to Morice to the
archives that have yet to be fully incorporated into the catalogue. During his
appointments as deputy governor (1725–1727) and governor (1727–1729) of the
Bank of England, Morice defrauded Britain’s premier financial institution of over
£29,000. Morice committed suicide on 14 November 1731. As a result of the liti-
gation that followed, many of Morice’s private business papers were submitted to
the courts and collected by the bank. At the time of his death, Morice’s estate was
valued at £80,000 and the claims against the estate amounted to £150,000. Wilfrid
Marston Acres, The Bank of England from within, 1694–1900, volume 1 (London:
Oxford University Press, 1931), 154–155; Bank of England Archives, London,
M5/586, The Bank v. Mrs. Katherine Morice. Report of the Case (1734); Bank
of England Archives, London, M5/585, Cases of the Appellants and Respondents
(1737); British Library, Add MSS 21500, f. 62.
21 James Rawley, “Humphry Morice: Foremost London Slave Merchant of his
Time,” in: Serge Daget (ed.), De la Traite à L’esclavage: Actes du Colloque International
sur la Traite des Noirs, Nantes, 1985 (Nantes: Centre de Recherches sur l’Histoire du
Monde Atlantique, 1988), 275–295. Marcus Rediker utilized the Morice Papers in
his important book The Slave Ship: A Human History (New York: Viking, 2008).
22 Because of the general limitations with databases, it is necessary to make
two separate searches within the Slave Voyages Database to identify the voyages
in which Morice was an investor or the ship-owner. One must be done spelling
his name as “Morrice” and a second as “Morice.” Throughout this essay I spell
Morice’s name as it is written in his will, with one “r.” Morice is identified from these
searches as a ship-owner for seventy-nine voyages. British National Archives, Kew,
PROB 11/648/5-6.
23 In this essay, when appropriate, I will refer to this manuscript rather than
Snelgrave’s 1734 published version. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,

London, WEL/29.
comparative analysis of the two sources, identified several important and

substantial variations between the manuscript draft and the final publica-
tion.24 By drawing on important differences identified by Law between the
manuscript draft and Snelgrave’s published New Account, this essay iden-
tifies additional textual changes and discrepancies by comparing the two
sources with the Diary.25 In addition to Snelgrave’s Diary, there are approx-
imately two dozen manuscripts in Snelgrave’s hand consisting of letters,
lists, accounts, ship’s logs, and trade journals scattered throughout the
Morice Papers, many informing the nature of the Whydah slave trade
before and after the rise of Dahomey that will be used as supplementary
evidence in this essay.
The Diary was written by a savvy ship captain during a voyage to
purchase captive Africans for sale in British Atlantic slaving zones.
Snelgrave’s employer, Humphry Morice, was the largest independent
slave merchant in London, the organizational epicenter for British
global commerce, with multinational clientele across the Atlantic world.
The Dahomey King Agaja, so vividly depicted in the Diary, founded his
kingdom because he coveted King Huffon’s direct and unrestricted access
to European trade goods. Because of these reoccurring themes, I have
structured this introductory essay as a retracing of Snelgrave’s voyage
from London to the Slave Coast. Snelgrave’s Diary provides compelling
evidence of Agaja’s motives for invading Whydah in 1727, as well as addi-
tional evidence on Bulfinch Lambe’s relationship with Agaja and his
mission to England in 1731. The objective of this project is twofold. First,
the purpose of this essay is to build upon the corpus of Robin Law’s
scholarship on Dahomey by incorporating additional evidence from the
slavery archive that will further illuminate the history of precolonial
West Africa. Second, by publishing the Diary in full, I hope to make the
manuscript more readily accessible to interested specialists and for lec-
turers as a critical primary source. In addition to the Diary, a transcrip-
tion of Snelgrave’s 16 April 1727 letter to Humphry Morice is appended
to this article.
“A Great Revolution There”26
In early January 1727 just as Snelgrave was preparing his new ship the
Katherine for departure from the docks at London, King Agaja at his
royal compound in Abomey, was reviewing tactical strategies for the
24 Robin Law, “The Original Manuscript Version of William Snelgrave’s ‘New
Account of Some Parts of Guinea,’” History in Africa 17 (1990), 367–372.

25 For his 1734 publication, Snelgrave drew from his Diary and other personal
papers to produce a longer and more detailed account.

26 British National Archives, Kew, T70/7, f. 81, Abraham Duport to RAC,
20 March 1727.
approaching campaign against Whydah.27 The Dahomey war machine did

not appear suddenly or without warning but was enveloped in the larger
social and political divisions splintering the region. Since the late 1690s,
Dahomey was a tributary province of the Kingdom of Allada. However,
in 1717 when King Soso succeeded the throne, internal divisions created
instability and opportunity for ambitious outsiders.
In March 1724, Agaja marched against Allada, killed Soso, burned the
city of Allada, and slaughtered thousands. Refugees scattered south towards
Whydah. Some 8,000 prisoners were captured by Dahomian soldiers.28 As
Lambe shuffled past the bodies strewn about the battlefield, he noted that
“had it rain’d blood, it would not have lain thicker on the ground.”29 Agaja
then annexed Allada, the coastal port of Jakin, several neighboring prov-
inces, and set up residence at Allada in Soso’s former royal compound.
Similar in some ways to King Soso’s reign, King Huffon of Whydah was also
confronted with internal divisions. Agaja, a keen opportunist, was aware of
the internal strife at Whydah and confident from his army’s recent battle-
field victories, knew the Whydahs could not mount an effective resistance.
In March 1727, the Dahomey army invaded Whydah.30
In early March as Agaja invaded Whydah, Captain Snelgrave was at the
helm of the Katherine making his way past the Rio Pongo after stopping
at Rotterdam to purchase the ship’s cargo from Bastiaen Molewater.31
27 The Katherine departed Jakin with 606 slaves. The Atlantic crossing was a
fiasco. Snelgrave had to stop at Cape Lopez and Annobon because of dwindling pro-
visions for the crew and captives, and perhaps also to trade illegally with merchants
in Brazil, stopped at Recife in September 1727. Snelgrave sold five slaves (four men
and one women) to Joao Baptista Morasso for supplies that consisted of several cattle,
live hogs, wood, water, peaches, rice, corn, oranges, and wine. The ship departed from
Pernambuco in early October and arrived at Antigua on 2 November with 550 slaves.
Eighty-three percent of the captives carried on the Katherine were children. Slave
Voyages Database, Voyage ID 75284, slavevoyages.org; Bank of England Archives,
London, Snelgrave to Morice, 28 June 1727, 10A61/1; Snelgrave to Morice, 22 June
1727; Snelgrave to Morice, 23 October 1727; Snelgrave to Morice, 6 November 1727,
10A61/2; Account of all the provisions purchased at Recife, 5 October 1727, 10A61/5.
28 Robin Law, The Kingdom of Allada (Leiden: Research School CNWS, 1997),
107–116.
29 Bulfinch Lambe, Abomey, 27 November 1724, in: William Smith, A New
Voyage to Guinea (London: J. Nourse, 1744), 186–187.

30 Law, Slave Coast, 278–282.
31 Between July and September 1721, Molewater provided trade goods
totaling £7,026 for four of Morice’s ships in route to West Africa. Molewater also
supplied cargoes for the Henry (1722), Sarah (1723), and Katherine (1729). Bank
of England Archives, London, Bastiaen Molewater & Son to Humphrey Morice,
13 February 1730, 10A61/2; 6A49/1; M7/6; M7/8; M7/12. Bastiaen Molewater Sr.
and Bastiaen Molewater Jr. “both merchants and partners of Rotterdam” were
identified as plaintiffs in a 1733 suit brought against the Morice estate. British
National Archives, Kew, C11/1509/33.
Arriving at the Gold Coast in mid-March, Snelgrave stopped briefly at

Anomabu but finding no trade there, sailed east towards Accra where he
arrived on 23 March 1727. At Fort Christiansborg, the Danish administra-
tive center on the Gold Coast, he met the new Governor Frederick Pahl.
Snelgrave had hoped to settle Morice’s debt, some 153 oz. 8 ac. of gold,
with former Governor Hendrik von Suhm. However, Von Suhm was reas-
signed to a new post as the governor of island of St. Thomas in the Danish
Caribbean. Pahl promised to settle the debt in his absence.32 With little
prospect of trade, Snelgrave weighed anchor and continued east towards
Whydah.
The news of Agaja’s invasion traveled slowly. However, two days later
Snelgrave arrived at Keta, a fickle trading post near the Volta River, where
he learned from the local people that the “Widahs were driven from their
Country by the King of Doime.”33 Apparently it took about three weeks for
the news to travel the some 150 kilometers down the coast. Uncertain of
the reliability of the report, Snelgrave departed for Little Popo where he
hoped to obtain “better information” and a robust trade. Once ashore,
Snelgrave learned that the story of the Dahomey invasion was authentic but
the English informant offered up few details. Attacks and kidnapping raids
on neighboring communities and distant ethnic groups was the primary
strategy for supplying European slave ships with captives.34 At Little Popo,
war prisoners and displaced refugees captured as they fled Agaja’s army
were arriving in coffles. In the aftermath of the Dahomey invasion, Ringard
wrote that “many thousands of these poor People (…) sheltered themselves
32 Hendrik von Suhm was governor of the Danish Gold Coast settlements from
April 1724–March 1727 and governor of St. Thomas and St. John from May 1727–
February 1733. Pahl died on 18 September 1727. Captain Dagge settled Morice’s
debt with the Danish governor in September 1727 and sold an additional quantity
of goods to the fort. Justesen, Danish Sources, 361, 370.
33 All quotations unless otherwise noted in the footnotes are from Snelgrave’s
16 April 1727 letter to Morice. This letter and the Diary were the first communi-
cations sent off to London after Snelgrave returned from Ardra. Therefore they
represent the most important information about the Dahomey invasion, the
immediate fallout for the Whydahs, and the volume of captives to the coast. Keta,
and other ports along the western Slave Coast, tended to attract smaller European
players. The development of permanent factories was stagnated by intermittent
and unreliable supply of slaves. Silke Strickrodt, Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic
World: The Western Slave Coast, c.1550 – c.1885 (Suffolk: James Currey, 2015),
96–97, 101. On 14 April 1727, Governor Pahl reported that trade at Keta was
poor because the “merchants who sell and buy slaves have also joined the war.”
Justesen, Danish Sources, 358.
34 Judicial decrees for criminal offenses, orphanage, tribute, and debt resolu-
tion were other ways that a person might become enslaved. Colin A. Palmer, Human
Cargoes: The British Slave Trade to Spanish America, 1700–1739 (Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1981), 23–27.
up and down the Country among the Bushes.”35 Over two hundred of
these “poor People” were purchased by a French ship captain destined
for the French Caribbean. Snelgrave considered the war refugees unsuit-
able physical specimens that upon observation, would not have “given
three parts of them ship room.” Many of the displaced refugees sold in
the aftermath of the Dahomey invasion were missing limbs and suffering
from starvation. The conditions aboard the slave ship did not improve
their physical state.
The Katherine reached Whydah on 28 March 1727. Upon arriving
Snelgrave sent a present to Governor Abraham Duport of the Royal
African Company requesting information on the state of affairs and
trading conditions. Duport along with about forty or so other Europeans
captured during Agaja’s sacking of Savi had just returned to the coast a
few days earlier.36 Duport did not send Snelgrave the requested informa-
tion but told him to come to Williams Fort where he felt safer. Snelgrave
went up to the fort on the morning of 30 March. Feeling anxious about
the fluctuating circumstances at Whydah, Snelgrave sent presents to the
Dutch governor and several of his “old Portuguese friends” at Jakin sus-
pecting there would be a better outlet for slaves there.37 From Duport,
Snelgrave learned that Dupetitval, the Director of the French fort, was
waiting for a “great no. of slaves” to arrive soon by an express coffle from
Agaja. The long delay since Dupetitval received Agaja’s message troubled
Snelgrave. It was clear that Jakin would be the best market because “slaves
were plenty” there and the trade goods in the hold of the Katherine were
in demand by local traders.
Before Snelgrave could return to his ship, a message from the “Doime
captains at Sabee” arrived requesting that a “white man of each nation”
should come up and meet with them. When the European captives
returned to Whydah Snelgrave was informed that Agaja had reached an
agreement with the “King of Widah to be tributary and that with his
35 Robin Law, “A Neglected Account of the Dahomian Conquest of Whydah

(1727), The ‘Relation de la Guerre de Juda’ of the Sieur Ringard of Nantes,” History
in Africa 15 (1988), 321–338, 336n20.
36 The Europeans were prisoners for fifteen days. Francisco Pereyra Mendes
to Viceroy of Brazil, 4 April 1727, quoted by Pierre Verger, Trade Relations Between
the Bight of Benin and Bahia from the 17th to 19th Century (Ibadan: Ibadan University
Press, 1976), 121.
37 Francisco Pereira Mendes was the Portuguese governor from 1721–1728.
Hendrick Hertogh was the ranking Dutch representative at Whydah in the 1720s.
Verger, Trade Relations, 118–119; Albert van Dantzig (ed.), The Dutch and the Guinea
Coast, 1674–1742: A Collection of Documents from the General State Archive at The Hague
(Accra: GAAS, 1978), 220; Johannes Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade,
1600–1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 100–101. Other
Brazilians at Whydah included Captain Joao Basilio who was “well regarded” by
King Huffon, storekeeper Simao Cardoso, and bookkeeper Antonio Monteyro.
people should forthwith return” to Savi. Driven from their ancestral

homeland, the Whydah King Huffon and the remnants of his army
retreated towards the coast and took refuge at “Great Popo on an island.”
As a measure to resettle the trade in his kingdom, Agaja promised to
“appoint a great man to reside in the Country” as a trade mediator in
order to prevent the “usual villainies” that were common by the Whydahs.
In the wake of the invasion, Agaja apparently had found some favor with
the English. Snelgrave attributed this to the “apish tricks” played by the
French and the rigid “formality” practiced by the Portuguese which had
“rendered [them] ridiculous to this Negro King.” Rather than any sort of
English favoritism, Agaja was eager to settle the countryside and resume
regular deliveries to the factories at Whydah. Agaja told Portuguese
Governor Mendes that he should in “no way doubt his wish to trade with
them” and that he was “in favour of the whites,” regardless of their
European origins.38
The invasion of Whydah commenced in early March 1727 as a Dahomey
force of about 1,500 disciplined soldiers advanced on the Northern prov-
inces, attacking and burning the villages of Gome and Paon.39 In 1734
Gome was described as having “the finest, best built” houses a “magnificent”
country “both by its situation (…) very fertile soil, and well cultivated, and
adorned with fine lanes of large palm-trees.”40 In the early stages of the
campaign, Whydah authorities sent a defense force against the Dahomians
and engaged in significant fighting for two days. Contemporary accounts
indicate that on 5 and 6 March, the days of the heaviest fighting, the out-
come of the invasion was still very much undecided.41 The Whydahs knew
that to prevent Agaja’s forces from taking the capital Savi, a victory was
necessary in the early stages of fighting. However, the Dahomey army
proved too powerful for the Whydah resistance and on 9 March, “nobody
being willing to defend” the country, a force of about two hundred
Dahomians crossed the river and occupied Savi.42 Snelgrave informed
Morice that Captain Richard Blinco, who had been at Whydah purchasing
slaves since early February, would convey a “full account of how dastardly
38 Francisco Pereyra Mendes to Viceroy of Brazil, 4 April 1727, quoted by
Verger, Trade Relations, 122.

39 Law, Slave Coast, 284.
40 Letter of Dubellay, Whydah, 17 January 1734; Law, “Neglected Account,”
336n22.
41 Robin Law identifies several conflicting aspects of Snelgrave’s account on
the Whydah invasion. Most importantly, Law shows that barely a month after the
Dahomey conquest of Whydah, events were becoming mythologized, to “dramatize
and hence exaggerate the undoubted failure of the Whydahs.” Law, “Neglected
Account,” 325.
42 Law, “Neglected Account,” 325. According to the Julian calendar still
in official use in Britain at the time, the fall of Savi would have occurred on
26 February 1727.
the Widah people run away on the approach of 200 Doime.”43 Duport tried
to convince Snelgrave to stay because of reports that the Whydahs would be
“restor’d” to their homelands. However, Snelgrave was convinced that the
restoration of the Whydahs would take months, further delaying his
intended business on the coast.
As the Dahomey war machine sacked and burned the countryside with
speed and precision, about forty or so Europeans were taken prisoner at
Savi by Agaja’s army. As Dahomey forces overran the capital “all the white
men” were captured. The group of ragtag Europeans, consisting of English,
French, Dutch, and Portuguese were a novel scene for Agaja and the
Dahomey soldiers.44 Whereas for the Europeans who were quite familiar
with large groups of Africans huddled together, desensitized to the vio-
lence of the slave trade, the accidental amassing of so many whites in the
Whydah interior was a rare spectacle. Allegedly, before they were released
without ransom, Agaja confessed that he was “surprized to see 40 of them
together haveing before seen none but Mr. Lamb.” Bulfinch Lambe was a
former Royal African Company trader at Jakin. He was taken prisoner by
the King of Allada in July 1722 and was still a prisoner when the Dahomey
army sacked Allada in March 1724. Lambe would remain a trophy in Agaja’s
court until January 1726 when he was dispatched as a representative to
London to establish commercial relations with King George I.45 Snelgrave’s
reference to Lambe is one of the more significant revelations of the Diary
and the corpus of Snelgrave manuscripts.
In the immediate aftermath of the Dahomey invasion, the Whydah
market was ill-prepared for the demands of European slave ships.46 Snelgrave
decided to try his luck at Jakin based on information he collected from
English and Portuguese traders at Whydah as well as “Buttenoe” a local resi-
dent.47 From Buttenoe, one of the “King’s servants who formally belonged to
Lamb and spoke good English,” Snelgrave learned that a “great nation called
the JoEs [Oyo]” who fought on “horseback” had attacked a caravan carrying
43 In addition to conveying a firsthand account of the Dahomey invasion to
Morice, Blinco delivered Governor Duport’s report to RAC officials at the Africa
House on Leadenhall Street. From 1715–1730, Richard Blinco was employed by
Humphry Morice as the ship captain on eleven slave voyages to West Africa. The
Squirrel reached London in early September 1727. British National Archives, Kew,
T70/7, f. 81; Voyage ID 77015.
44 Harms, The Diligent, 181; Francisco Pereyra Mendes to Viceroy of Brazil,
4 April 1727, quoted by Verger, Trade Relations, 121.

45 Marion Johnson, “Bulfinch Lambe and the Emperor of Pawpaw: A Foot-
note to Agaja and the Slave Trade,” History in Africa 5 (1978), 345–350.
46 Dutch trader Hendrick Hertogh concluded that as a result of the Dahomey
invasion “trade will be done exclusively here at Jakin.” Van Dantzig, The Dutch and
the Guinea Coast, 222.
47 National Maritime Museum, WEL/29, page 43.
Dahomey goods and killed several of Agaja’s own wives.48 Upon learning of
the attack by his neighbors to the northeast, Agaja broke up his camp at
Sabee and withdrew inland to Allada. Agaja had little time to manage the
movement of captives to ships on the coast. A more pertinent issue required
his attention - the preservation of his new kingdom.
Snelgrave arrived at Jakin, a settlement about 40 kilometers east of
Whydah, on 3 April 1727 and sent his surgeon James Dickie ashore to
“demand some preliminaries” from the king. After the ritual formalities
and exchanges were complete, Snelgrave was informed by the king that he
should leave immediately for Ardah to consult with the “King of Doime (…)
Supreme Lord of Country.” Ever the astute capitalist, Snelgrave requested
to “first” open his trade before departing, a request that delayed his depar-
ture by two days. From the king, he purchased two “good women and a
tolerable man slave,” and the following day “markt 22” more off for his
cargo. In his satchel of goodies, Snelgrave carried to Ardah several pieces
of damask and Persian linens as well as the “ship’s drum and pocket
pistols” as gifts for Agaja. The last two items being timely and ideal gifts
to whet the appetite of a King fresh from the killing fields and thirsty to
consume European goods.49 The next day Snelgrave departed Jakin for
Ardah to meet with King Agaja.
A Constructed Account
The Snelgrave Diary brings to light new insights on the process of negotia-
tion and the realities of power on the Slave Coast. It compliments impor-
tant aspects of Robin Law’s scholarship on Dahomey as a powerful military
state capable of controlling minute aspects of European trade on the coast.50
Once Snelgrave received an audience with Agaja, the first act of business,
48 Law, Slave Coast, 286–287.

49 European made firearms were a common gift item presented to
Africans in the slave trade. In 1723, Governor Baldwyn requested that London
officials send “two drums for presents” to Whydah. British National Archives,
Kew, T70/7, f. 51, 12 February 1723. In 1686, English agents at Offrah rec-
ommended that presents fit for the King of Allada included “a case of pistols
with holsters, two iron blunderbusses, and a piece or two of Damaske.” Mildmay to
RAC, 13 October 1680, in: Robin Law (ed.), Correspondence from the Royal African
Company’s Factories at Offra and Whydah on the Slave Coast of West Africa in the Public
Record Office, London 1678–93 (Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, Edinburgh
University, 1989), 17.
50 Robin Law, “‘Here Is No Resisting the Country:’ The Realities of Power in
Afro-European Relations on the West African ‘Slave Coast,’” Itinerario 18–2 (1994),
50–64. On the Slave Coast European military presence and effective military power
was much less substantial than the Gold Coast where the concentration of fortified
trade castles were located. In terms of economic presence on the Slave Coast the
balance of power was not in European hands because Whydah was a sellers’ market
before Snelgrave could begin loading his ship was to settle the customs. Put
simply, the custom was essentially a license of fluctuating value granted by
the local king or landlord. The custom in essence granted permission for
Europeans to trade, barter and purchase goods from local sellers. Failure
to pay the custom – whether it was for firewood, water, or slaves – could
result in the seizure of goods and persons, capture or death. The payment
of a ransom tended to alleviate cultural trespasses.51 The custom was not a
dashee, which was an additional gift given during active bartering or negoti-
ations.52 In the published account, Agaja told Snelgrave he would not
impose a “greater custom than used to be paid to the King of Whidaw.”53
Snelgrave then proceeded to lecture Agaja on the “best way to make the
trade flourish” in his new kingdom. By imposing “easy customs” on ship
captains Agaja’s new policy would encourage additional vessels to come to
Whydah rather than other trading settlements.54 Snelgrave then alleges
that after witnessing first-hand his knowledge of the commerce and per-
sonal disinterest, Agaja asked him to “name my own custom.” Snelgrave
replied that he wanted “one half of what we use to pay at Whidaw,” to which
Agaja “readily agreed.”55
The Diary offers a more detailed account of the customs negotiations
and reveals the dynamics of cross-cultural exchange between Snelgrave and
Agaja and the intricacies of power relationships within the new Dahomey
state. Such interactions between African elites and Europeans are particu-
larly uncommon in the slavery archive.56 Similar to the published account,
Snelgrave opens the customs negotiations with a bit of flattery, hoping that
since Agaja was a “great King (…) he would moderate” the high customs
wherein European demand outpaced African supply. Allada and Dahomey forcibly
removed or executed European representatives on several occasions and success-
fully prevented attempts at a European monopoly of the slave trade at Whydah.
51 Law, The Kingdom of Allada, 95–101.
52 Bruce L. Mouser (ed.), A Slaving Voyage to Africa and Jamaica: The Log of
the Sandown, 1793–1794 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), 33n139,

69n248.
53 Snelgrave, New Account, 61–62. In the late 1720s, customs payments
at Whydah were correlated on the value of 20 grand cabess or 200 pounds cowries,
40 pieces of linen, and 25 guns per slave, whereas the current price of a male slave
was 33 grand cabess or 330 pounds, 70 linen pieces, 40 guns. Law, Slave Coast,
169n47. Forty cowries made a toque, five toques made a galina, and twenty galina
made a cabesse (four thousand cowries). Harms, The Diligent, 167.
54 Snelgrave, New Account, 63.
55 Snelgrave, New Account, 63. The word “agreed” is missing from the phrase
“readily agreed” in the manuscript version. National Maritime Museum, WEL/29,

page 71.
56 Interactions between Europeans and African elites was not uncommon
especially on the Slave Coast. However, the recorded dialogue between Snelgrave
and Agaja is rare.
required by King Huffon before the invasion.57 Snelgrave informed Agaja

that Huffon “never took more than 17 tubs of Cowries for himselfe which was
not quite 5 slaves,” and followed up by stating that since Agaja “exceeded him
so much in greatness he would take less.”58 It is at this point in the narrative
that Snelgrave’s sanitized account of the bargaining process with Agaja rep-
resented in his publication is magnified by the lucidity of the Diary. Agaja
abruptly “turned the argument on me” Snelgrave confessed, “and fixt it
at 8 [slaves] for himself and 2 [slaves] for his chief captains.” Flattery proved
futile. Rather than Agaja marveling at Snelgrave’s vast knowledge of com-
merce and trade, we see that Agaja responded as we would expect from a
powerful warlord that had just slaughtered some ten thousand innocent
Whydahs to gain unrestricted access to the European coastal trade. In contrast
to the constructed account, published several years later where Snelgrave
claims he was only required to pay half customs, it is clear that his negotiation
tactics did not impress the new king and that the realities of power on the
Slave Coast played out as expected. In comparing the Diary and the published
account, two different pictures are presented in regards to the customs
negotiations. First, it is clear that Snelgrave vastly underestimated Agaja as a
tactical negotiator. Second, Snelgrave was far too confident in his own ability
or capacity to manipulate the process. Third, Snelgrave simplified the out-
come of the negotiations with Agaja for the published account because of the
publications intended audience.59 However, Snelgrave could not afford to
be so mendacious in his correspondence with Humphrey Morice, his
employer for the past decade. Despite his botched attempt to lower the cus-
toms, Snelgrave was left with no other recourse than complete honesty.
After concluding the customs negotiations, in which the English ship
captain’s efforts were unsuccessful, Agaja and Snelgrave then “discours’d
about the price of slaves.” Agaja opened the banter by telling Snelgrave, who
had purchased slaves at Whydah in 1722 and 1724 that the last price for male
adults given at Whydah was “23 guns: 20 Cabess of Cowries with 40 slesias,”
for which he promised “good slaves.”60 Snelgrave endeavored nonetheless
to carry the price lower, “but prevailed in nothing but slesias,” settling on 35.
57 All quotations unless otherwise noted in the footnotes are from Snelgrave’s
Diary.
58 In 1726, a grand cabess (4,000 cowries) was worth £1 sterling or a quarter
ounce of gold. Marion Johnson, “The Cowrie Currencies of West Africa. Part I,”
Journal of African History 11–1 (1970), 17–49, 43.
59 Snelgrave dedicated his book to “the merchants of London, trading to the
Coast of Guinea.” Snelgrave, New Account, introduction.

60 This is an important point. The Diary shows that Agaja instructed Snelgrave
on the price of slaves at Whydah. Snelgrave goes to great lengths in the published
account to portray himself as the benevolent teacher. In the late 1720s, the price of
a slave was calculated at 40 guns, 33 cabess cowries, and 70 pieces of linen. Slesias,
a type of linen cloth that originated in Silesia (in Central Europe), was also pro-
duced in England and Netherlands. Law, Slave Coast, 169n47.
Unsatisfied with the little ground he gained in negotiating down the price of
slaves, Snelgrave then tried an old trick to gain Agaja’s favor. Snelgrave took
a white handkerchief from his pocket and compared it to the shirt he was
wearing, hoping to impress Agaja of its fine quality. Linens and cloth of
hundreds of types and quality were by far the most common trade item
Europeans carried to West Africa.61 He claimed that English “slesias exceeded
the French as much as them two did one” slesias.62
Snelgrave attempted to play on his own national sensibilities and
commercial self-interest by degrading the quality of French trade goods. It is
unlikely Agaja was not aware of the various European imperial rivalries.
However, the Dahomian king was unaffected by the ploy. Agaja then “laugh’d”
at Snelgrave’s baseless claim. He told Snelgrave that since he was “his first
English wife, so might do as I pleas’d with him but the next [ship] as came
[for slaves] must not expect the same.” Nevertheless, Snelgrave’s pleading
continued. He told the King that his employer was a wealthy ship-owner who
had “4 great ships” that traded regularly at Whydah. One of those ships was
expected to arrive in about a month. Snelgrave “hoped [Agaja] would do the
same by him.” Growing impatient, Agaja told Snelgrave to “be satisfied with
my one good fortune” which concluded the negotiations on slave prices for
the Katherine. There is little doubt that Snelgrave was frustrated in his deal-
ings with Agaja. Aside from the sheer ruthlessness required by captains of
slave ships, Snelgrave managed to avoid the deadly contagions that con-
sumed thousands of Europeans on the coast. He survived at least two ship-
board slave uprisings. And somehow, after pirates fired on and boarded his
ship, put a pistol to his chest and mercilessly bashed him over the head with
a cutlass effectively negotiated for his life and freedom. He was lucky if
anything.63 However, Snelgrave’s inability to meaningfully lower the cus-
tom requirements, the price of slaves, or extend additional bargains and
courtesies to Morice-owned ships, reveals the limits of his experience and
dynamics of local authority under the new Dahomey regime.
A Considerable Present
The final subject discussed by Agaja concerned the whereabouts of

his former prisoner turned commercial ambassador, Bulfinch Lambe.
61 Stanley B. Alpern, “What Africans Got for Their Slaves: A Master List of
European Trade Goods,” History in Africa 22 (1995), 5–43.

62 Snelgrave’s sincerity is questionable as he reported that a French ship had
“guns exactly in the English fashion and their slesias full as fine as ours.” Bank of
England Archives, London, 10A61/2, Snelgrave to Morice, 22 June 1727.
63 In 1719, Snelgrave’s ship, the Bird Gally, was captured by pirates off the coast
of Sierra Leone. For Snelgrave’s firsthand account of the pirate attack see: Bank
of England Archives, London, 10A61/1, Snelgrave to Morice, 30 April 1719. For
Snelgrave’s published account of this incident see: Snelgrave, New Account, 196–288.
King Agaja asked Snelgrave about “Mr. Lamb a white man who he had
some years with him.” Snelgrave replied that he “had never seen” Lambe
but that had heard rumors that he was at Barbados.64 Before departing his
court, Agaja gave Lambe a substantial allowance of “80 slaves and 320 oz.
gold” upon which Lambe promised “to return again with a ship.”65
Concerned that Lambe’s long absence might reflect negatively upon him
as an Englishman, Snelgrave replied that he hoped Lambe would “prove
an honest man” and return soon. Agaja stated that it had been “many
months” since Lambe left from Dahomey “but if he proved a rogue it was
no matter, others should not suffer.”66 Snelgrave was doubtlessly relieved.
The mention of Lambe in Snelgrave’s 16 April letter and Diary, Agaja’s
concern for his whereabouts, and the sum of gold and slaves Lambe
received is particularly important because there is some disagreement on
the topic. More specifically, the dispute surrounds the purpose of the gold
and slaves Lambe received upon departure from Agaja’s court and his
mission to England. Snelgrave’s Diary clearly states that Lambe received
“80 slaves and 320 oz. gold.” Snelgrave repeated this information in his
deposition before the Board of Trade in 1731 and in his 1734 publica-
tion.67 In his statement, Governor Tinker, who was at Whydah when Lambe
departed from the coast, reported that Lambe had received eighty slaves
from Agaja, of which twenty “were for himself and the remainder to pur-
chase presents to return with” to Dahomey. Lambe and Captain Tom in
their depositions both denied receiving any “gold dust” from Agaja.68
Robin Law identified several discrepancies between Snelgrave’s manu-
script draft and the published edition of New Account. Most critical is
Snelgrave’s discussion of Lambe and the authenticity of his mission. Law
writes that “Snelgrave’s account of his conversation with the king of
Dahomey in 1727 constitutes virtually our only evidence relating to Lambe’s
mission which is independent of Lambe’s own claims in 1731, and is there-
fore crucial for any assessment of the authenticity of the latter.” Of particular
importance is the subtle yet significant changes from the manuscript ver-
sion where Snelgrave states that Lambe received a “considerable present”
from Agaja to “three hundred and twenty ounces in Gold, with eighty slaves”
64 In the manuscript version of the published account Snelgrave noted
that Lambe was at “Barbados buying a plantation.” National Maritime Museum,

WEL/29, page 73.
65 In the manuscript version, Snelgrave wrote that Lambe “had taken an oath
and promised on his faith” which was further altered in the published account as
“promised with a solemn oath.” National Maritime Museum, WEL/29, page 73.
66 In the published account Lamb had been away “twelve Moons” whereas
the manuscript version gives a time of “above twenty Moons.” National Maritime
Museum, WEL/29, page 73.
67 Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations from January 1728–9 to
December 1734 (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1920), 201.

68 Journal of the Commissioners for Trade, 202.
in the published account. While Law notes that this change raises the
“possibility that Snelgrave may have embroidered” the published ver-
sion with “material derived later from Lambe himself” which may to some
degree “undermine its corroboratory value,” it is indisputable that the
Diary corroborates aspects of Lambe’s mission.69 Thus the Diary is a deci-
sive and independent source supporting Lambe’s claims.
In order to make these important documents, Snelgrave’s Diary and
his 16 April 1727 letter to Humphrey Morice, more generally known and
accessible, the complete text is presented here. Snelgrave sent his Diary
and several other dispatches to London on the RAC packet ship Bonetta.
Snelgrave informed Morice in a 22 June 1727 letter that he sent a second
copy of his Diary “fearing my first may miscarry.”70 It is likely one of
the copies that Snelgrave sent did not make it to London. There is only
one complete copy of the Diary in the Morice Papers. One is clearly in
Snelgrave’s handwriting while the second is only a partial copy, about half,
of the Diary. In preparing the texts, Snelgrave’s handwriting was cross-
checked with other letters in the Morice Papers. Snelgrave’s and the copy
are nearly identical, save a few spelling and copy errors. The publication of
the two texts allows for comparison of the successive versions and illustrates
the progressive transformation of the text as it developed towards publica-
tion. The guidelines outlined by David Henige as published in this journal
were consulted in reproducing the text.71
APPENDIX
A Diary of My Journey to Ardra

8th April72
Having cross’t the river at Jacqueen in company with the King’s
Brother73 and 100 other Blacks:74 a Dutch Captain75 and writer76 got
69 Law, Original Manuscript, 371.

70 Bank of England Archives, London, 10A61/2, William Snelgrave to Hum-
phrey Morice, 22 June 1727.
71 David Henige, “Guidelines for Editing Africanist Texts for Publication,”
History in Africa 17 (1990), 379–387.

72 Snelgrave arrived at Jakin on 3 April and went ashore the following day.
Snelgrave, New Account, 21.

73 The Lord of Jaqueen offered to send his brother, the Duke, to present gifts
to the King of Dahomey. The Duke was described by Snelgrave as “endowed with
most amiable traits.” Snelgrave, New Account, 24–25.
74 “In our retinue were one hundred black Servants” in the published
account. Snelgrave, New Account, 24.

75 “A Dutch Captain’s curiosity prompted him, [to join] his ship just destroyed
by the Portuguese.” Snelgrave, New Account, 24.

76 “Sent by the Dutch chief Factor with presents for the King” in the published

into my hammock77 at 9 in the morning. wee travell’d about 4 miles an

hour through a pleasant Country which lyes desolate, the people by war
being drove away, the roads were mostly good: but according to the Black
Custom wee rested often and at 6 [in] the Evening came to a place where
was 3 sorry hovells78 being as near as can judge 30 miles from Jacqueen:
here wee lay all night on the ground.
9. [April]
Sett out again at 6 [in] the morning79 and by 9 came within 1/2 mile of
Ardra: judge might then have come 10 miles.80 here a messenger came to
us from the King of Doime to bid us wellcome, and wee were order’d to
dress our selves81 which did under the covert of an old wall: then advanc’d
within 1/4 of a mile of the Town and was order’d to wait for a great man
who was to receive us. The King to do us honor sent the 1st person of his
Court82 called Capt. Grande.83 he recv’d us with great respect as I was
told afterwards. But there was so many odd and ridiculous84 things done
by him and his soldiers that could not at first imagine what was meant
(for these people has not anything of the politeness of the Whidahs have-
ing but lately seen white men) after in token of friendship Capt. Grande
had given his hand wee were conducted by him into the Town that was
once Ardra,85 but now only full of Beehives the Negroes houses86 being
made just like them only bigger where they creep into a hole on one side
of them: I judge the King has not determin’d yet whether to make this
place the seat of his Empire is the reason no houses are rais’d but only a
sorry one for himself and a hovell for the white men. wee were sett under
trees by the King’s house where such crowds of people came about us that
77 “Six hammock-men” attended Snelgrave on the trip in the published

78 “A few sorry Hovels” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 26.
79 “Seven a clock” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 26.
80 “Forty miles” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 27.
81 The travelers put on their “best apparel” from “our trunks.” Snelgrave,
New Account, 27.

82 This line of the Diary “to wait for a great man who was to receive us. The
King to do us honor sent the 1st person of his court” is copied verbatim in the
published account save “1st” is changed to “principal” which is likely an editorial
decision by the printer. Snelgrave, New Account, 27.
83 “The Title of the Great Captain” in the published account. Snelgrave,
New Account, 27.

84 This line of the Diary “so many odd and ridiculous” is copied verbatim in
the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 27.

85 “A very great ruin’d Town.” Snelgrave, New Account, 28.
86 “The Army lay in tents (…) made of small Boughs of Trees covered with thatch,
very much resembling Bee-hives” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account,
28–29.
the officers were obliged to drive them away wee being allmost smother’d:
after had been diverted with divers feats of Activity87 by the men of war,
wee were carried to the hovell design’d for us and was obliged to creep
into itt, having stowed our baggage and din’d wee were sent for again.
I was surpriz’d that [we] had not been crowded with people at our house
but was told the King had given order if any came there they should be
seiz’d for slaves:88 wee went to the King’s gate where was presented with a
cow and there was 40 soldiers89 drawn up haveing hung about their necks
as many dead men’s teeth as would furnish all the Barber surgeon’s shops
in Europe, then return’d to our hovell hung up our hammocks and spent
the night in them.
10th [April]
Att 9 in the morning the King sent for us: found him in his court in a fine
Gilt chair he got at Whidah 3 large umbrellaes over his head: none but
women round the chair 290 of which had guns; we were plac’d 30 foot91
from him on chairs: he bid us wellcome then wee saluted him with our
hatts and he said had sent for us to see him pay his soldiers for the slaves
they had catcht: he kept us 3 hours dureing which more than 200 slaves92
were brought in, he paid 2 Cabess93 for a man and one Cabess94 for a
87 This line of the Diary “divers feats of Activity” is copied verbatim in the
published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 29.

88 On “pain of Death” in the published account. This is an important edito-
rial alteration by Snelgrave. By arguing that the captives were to be put to death,
Snelgrave bolstered his economic and polemical justification for the Atlantic slave
trade. Snelgrave, New Account, 30.
89 The soldiers were the “King’s Heroes or Worthies who had killed a great
many People with their own hands, and were allowed, as a mark of their great
Valour, to string and wear their Enemies Teeth about their necks.” Snelgrave,
New Account, 33. In March 1733, Dutch merchant Jacob Elet visited Agaja at
his palace in an effort to reestablish the company factory at Jakin and to nego-
tiate the release of Dutch prisoners. Upon arriving at Agaja’s compound Elet
described “12 men strong (…) and across their shoulders they had strings of
teeth of Negroes they had killed in war, and each negroe had at least 6,000 of
those teeth.” Entry for 23 March 1733, Elet Diary, in: Van Dantzig, The Dutch and
the Guinea Coast, 295.
90 “Four other Women (…) with Fusils on their Shoulders” in the published

91 “Ten yards” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 35.
92 “Eighteen hundred captives” in the published account. Snelgrave,
New Account, 36.

93 “Twenty shillings sterling” in the published account. Snelgrave, New
Account, 38.
94 “Ten shillings sterling” in the published account. Snelgrave, New
Account, 38.
woman and for a dead man’s head 5 Galenaes:95 none of his men servants
went nearer then 10 foot96 to him all lying on the ground and frequently
kissing itt and a woman went between the King and them to carry the
replies and answers:97 2 men were sent for and a large dish holding 3 gallons
of stuff as thick as furmety98 being sett before them, they with their hands
threw it into their mouths in 1/2 minute that t’was surprizing how they
could swallow it so fast: after this we desired leave to go to our house the
sun haveing parcht us allmost to death, so went to dinner: in the afternoon
sent to desire audience but was answer’d there was so many slaves come to
town that the King could not see us till next day: and indeed there was
many hundreds99 sent in by his Captains from a country called Tuffo100
5 days journey101 from hence. The King’s officers pickt them and the old
ones were given to the common people to kill. It was a lamentable sight to
see these poor creatures thus slaughter’d: there was 2 stages on which was
pil’d about 4000 of the Whidahs102 heads: these were shown to them saying
that theirs should be pil’d in the same manner. That day about 400 was
slain there being several young men and women among them: I asked the
linguister the reason of this: he told me that the King had been highly
offended with the Tuffoes who had slain some of his women going to
Doime103 and that he gave these young people to serve them in the other
world,104 and that no body would buy the old ones who were not worth
95 “Five shillings for each Head” in the published account. Snelgrave,
New Account, 38.

96 “Twenty foot” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 39.
97 “They whispered into the Ear of an old Woman who went to the King; and
having received his answer, she returned with it to them,” in the published account.
98 “A large Tub, that had in it at least six Gallons of Frumenty” in the pub-
lished account. Snelgrave, New Account, 39.

99 “Eighteen hundred Captives” in the published account. Snelgrave,
New Account, 36.

100 “Tuffoe, Tafoe, or Tafu is an inland country, northwest of Abomey,
and about a six day journey from Ardra. Archibald Dalzel, The History of Dahomy:
An Inland Kingdom of Africa (London: T. Spilbury and Son, 1793), 34.
101 “Six days” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 36.
102 Brief relation of ritual sacrifice but Snelgrave is silent on cannibalism and
sacred consumption.
103 According to Snelgrave, while the King was planning his attack against
Whidah, the Tuffoe attacked and killed “twelve of his Wives” and stole a large quan-
tity of goods. Snelgrave, New Account, 37.
104 Ever the shrewd businessman, Snelgrave asked why some of the young
slaves were sacrificed, who he thought would be highly prized by European

slavers, only to learn that “[t]hey were designed to attend the other World the
King’s Wives, whom the Tuffoes their countrymen had slain.” Snelgrave, New Account,
48–49.
their victualls and Pester the Country. I durst not show my compassion for
these poor wretches only said our God forbid us to do so.105
11 [April]
The King sent word that he was so engaged in business he could not see us
this day.106 I desired the messenger to tell him that at Jacqueen was told
should stay but one day here, that I fear’d should fall sick if he did not
please to dispatch me forthwith haveing so bad accommodation of the vict-
ualls and lodging; on which he sent us word would see us in the afternoon,
according at 4 a clock107 was sent for: he was under a low house and we
were plac’d on matts very near him: he was richly dres’d a middle siz’d man
about 45 and show’d something in his Countenance Extraordinary.108
After had bid us wellcome was order’d to deliver my business, I told him he
having sent for me from Jacqueen I readily came to him with much plea-
sure to see so great and good a King, and I requested he would please to
dispatch my ship full of slaves109 forthwith, I observ’d the complement,
pleas’d him and he answer’d I should soon be dispatcht, but that the first
thing to be talk’d of must be his Custom. He then sent for Capt. Zunglar,110
105 In the published account, a “‘Man of the Court’ through the interpreter,
asked ‘how we liked the Sight?’ To which we replied, ‘Not at all: For our God had
expressly forbid us using Mankind in so cruel a manner.’” Snelgrave continues to
moralize the ritual but was apparently not so brave to do so in the company of the
King. Snelgrave, New Account, 45.
106 “There being some Embassadors come from the inland Countries, who
were to have an audience forthwith” was the reason given in the published account.
107 “Three a Clock” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 59.
108 The King is described as “full bodied; as near as I could judge about forty five
years old. His Face was pitted with the Small pox; nevertheless, there was something
in his countenance very taking and withal majestick. Upon the whole I found him the
most extraordinary Man of his Colour, that I had ever conversed with” in the pub-
lished account. Snelgrave, New Account, 75. Jacob Elet described Agaja in 1733 as “clad
in a European red velvet dress-coat embroidered with golden galloons (…) wearing
the most beautiful shoes and had a little white cap on his head (…) rather fat but well-
bearing person of average height.” Van Dantzig, The Dutch and the Guinea Coast, 295.
109 The Katherine was a 300-ton behemoth. Agaja made good on his promise to
fill the ship full of slaves, loading in total 606 slaves. This number is extraordinary
because the Katherine returned to Whydah in 1730 carrying off 356 slaves and sailed
to Anomabu in 1731 carrying off 331 slaves. Such a feat of forced transport was
only possible because over 500 of the captives were children. Ship captains did not
routinely chain and shackle children as they did men captives.
110 His “name was Zunglar” without the title of Captain in the published account.
Zunglar aka Jongla was Agaja’s trade representative for many years. Snelgrave knew
him well from his previous voyages at Whydah. After the Dahomey invasion, Jongla
was the King’s trading agent to the Portuguese. Akinjogbin, Dahomey, 70; Snelgrave,
New Account, 61.
a cunning fellow who was formerly his agent at Whidah and ask’d him how
many slaves custom wee us’d to pay there; he told him 16: so he said
I should now pay but 15. I replied it was true wee us’d to pay so many for
first and last customs, but that I hoped as he was a great King so he would
moderate it: it being his interest likewise to encourage more ships to come
which the King of Whidah had impractically prevented by raiseing them,
and allowing his people in so many Villanies towards us. he answer’d would
use me as a young bride who must be denied nothing111 with other suc-
cinct sayings; that I found had another guess man to deale with then had
ever before met with amongst the Negroes. I thank’d him and said the
King of Whidah never took more than 17 tubs of Cowries for himselfe
which was not quite 5 slaves: so hoped as he exceeded him so much in
greatness he would take less: but he turn’d the argument on me and fixt it
at 8 for himself and 2 for his chief captains.112 I represented as I must pay
the King of Jacqueen with the Capt. of the Sand and others Custom it
would amount to more than I ever paid at Whidah. He answer’d he had
nothing to do with what I paid my servants and that one slave was enough
for the King of Jacqueen. I desir’d he would please to order he might take
no more but he answer’d I had best inform my selfe what he us’d to receive
and pay him accordingly. Then wee discours’d about the price of slaves.
He told me that the last price at Whidah was for men 23 guns: 20 Cabess
of Cowries with 40 slesias: but he would sett no higher price to me then
20 guns, 18 cabess and 40 slesias for which should have good slaves.113
I endeavor’d to bring it lower but prevailed in nothing except the slesias;
he allowing at last 35, for show’d him a white handkerch had in my hand
and comparing it with my shirt told him our slesias exceeded the French as
much as them two did one the other. He laugh’d and said I was his first
English wife so might do as I pleas’d with him, but the next as came must
111 In the published account, the King stated that “as I was the first English
Captain he had seen, he would treat me as a young Wife or Bride, who must be
denied nothing at first.” Snelgrave, New Account, 62.
112 See the contrasting account in Snelgrave, New Account, 62–66.
113 In the published account, Snelgrave states that Zunglar was called in by
Agaja “to inform his Majesty” what the prices of slaves were at Whydah. This sets
up Zunglar and other Captains appointed by Agaja as the agents of abuse and
trade fraud and casts Agaja in a much more positive light as the moderator. The
published version provides nothing on the actual prices of slaves, the banter of
negotiation, or the bargained for price settlement. In its place, Snelgrave sub-
stitutes a lengthy discourse on Dahomey rituals of cannibalism. This section of
the Diary is particularly important because it shows the commercial dimensions
of the mission and an active dialogue between West African elites and English
traders. It is evidence that, although Dahomey was a military state, Agaja was just
as concerned with European commerce and commodity consumption. Snelgrave,
New Account, 73.
not expect the same. I represented Mr. Morrice had 4 great ships114 which
us’d this trade that as I belong’d to him and expected another in a month115
I hoped he would do the same by him. he answer’d I ought to be satisfied
with my one good fortune.116 Then wee fell into other discourse telling me
he was informed by Capt. Sennoe117 (who is now in town on behalf of the
King of Whidah) that I was an honest man118 and well belov’d amongst
them, desireing me to tell him truly if the King of Whidah allow’d such
injustice towards us as he had heard of. I told him the story of his making
me pay 1/2 custom for the Portugal Galley119 tho had given his word to the
contrary. he replied God had made him the instrument of punishing him
114 “Five large ships” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 71.
In 1727, seven ships owned by Humphry Morice purchased slaves in West Africa;
at least three carried slaves from the Bight of Benin.
115 The Squirrel Captain Richard Blinco purchased slaves at Whydah with
Snelgrave in 1727 and departed the coast one month after Snelgrave. Two other
Morice ships the Italian Galley (Captain John Dagg) and the Portugal Galley (Captain
Baker), also purchased slaves at Whydah in 1727.
116 “That it was a particular Grace to my self” in the published account.

117 In 1718, the English governor William Baillie kept accounts with “Captain
Sennoe” and in 1730 “Captain Senoe” was identified as the “Company’s Whydah
Caboceer.” British National Archives, Kew, T70/885, f. 25; British National Archives,
Kew, T70/1466, f. 185.
118 Snelgrave’s reputation as an “honest man” may not have been what Captain
Sennoe told Agaja. It is more likely that Sennoe authenticated Snelgrave as a ship
captain that brought sorted cargoes and high-quality trade goods that would meet
Agaja’s consumer demands. How often it was necessary for West Africans to act as
mediators to validate unfamiliar European traders with elites to lubricate trading
terms and establish potential economic ventures is unclear.
119 There seems to be a degree of truth to Snelgrave’s claim that he paid
additional customs on the previous occasion he was at Whydah. In November 1724,

Snelgrave arrived at Whydah to learn that Captain William Boyle of the Portugal
Galley was dead and that John Hayes was the new commander. The crew and slaves
aboard were very sick so to hasten the ship’s dispatch, Snelgrave instructed Hayes
to bring the ship to Whydah and until his arrival he would begin purchasing slaves.
On 16 November, Snelgrave was at Savi negotiating with King Huffon on the cus-
toms required to open trade. In a letter to Morice, Snelgrave explained, “[a]s soon as
had paid the usuall duties I mark’t the King and Carters slaves being 5 boys and girls
which they allways oblige us to pay for as men. Then they insisted on a new Custom
to marke 2 small slaves for the King’s head wife to be paid for in the same manner.
This I refused and after 2 days dispute itt ended but they gave me great vexation
in other matters for the many ships as has been here lately has introduced several
new charges in Carriage of goods and other matters which they so much insisted
on that was obliged to comply otherwise should have had no goods brought up
nor no trade.” Bank of England Archives, London, 10A61/2, William Snelgrave to
Humphrey Morice, 10 December 1724.
for such things and that he would take care both at Whidah and Jacqueen
there should be no more thieving, for the first as was ketcht he would
impale a live on the sand, that himself would buy nothing from the white
men but what he would forthwith pay for and that I should send no goods
to any of his people. he then ask’d concerning one Mr. Lamb120 a white
man who he had some years with him and when he let him go, gave him
80 slaves and 320 oz. gold he promiseing to return again with a ship. I told
him had never seen Mr. Lamb but heard he was at Barbadoes and that
I hoped he would prove an honest man and come here again. he answer’d
that it was many months121 since he went but if he proved a rogue it was no
matter, others should not suffer for that so concluded: I thank’d him for all
favours, desir’d leave to go for Jacqueen and hoped God would give him
many days for the good of the white men. he thank’d me but said I must
stay till the next day so bid us good night.
12 [April]
This morning at 10 a clock the King sent for us: his officers told us this was
his fetiche day122 so could not see us but had order’d them in his name to
present us with some things. I had a young Negro woman given to wash my
linnen, a cow and a goat,123 my black servants a handsome cloth and
cowries,124 with leave given me to go for Jacqueen when I pleas’d and the
slaves should be sent after me125 forthwith so returning thanks we parted.
120 Bulfinche Lambe was a subordinate trader at the English factory at Jakin
in early 1722.
121 Snelgrave’s published account states that Lambe had been away “twelve
Moons” whereas the manuscript copy of Snelgrave’s account, located in the

National Maritime Museum Greenwich, gives a time of “above twenty Moons.”
122 Fetish, originally of Portuguese origins (feitiço), meaning deity or magical
charm; often in the phrase “take or drink fetish” referring to the taking of a ritual
oath. Law, English in West Africa, Part 1, xxvii. Barbot wrote that “the fetishes of this
king, like those of the people, are all made of wood or earth, and are large and
white, and shaped like puppets. An infinite number of them is placed on the roads,
as happens with Saints in Italy and Spain. On the roads you also find thatched
houses (which they call Case de Dios [God huts]) where they keep snakes (…)
They have a particular veneration for these animals.” Hair et al. (eds.), Barbot on
Guinea 2, 638. For Dahomey religious practices see: Robin Law, Ouidah: The Social
History of a West African Slaving “Port”, 1727–1892 (Athens OH: Ohio University
Press, 2004), 88–96.
123 “Slaves, cows, goats, and sheep with other provisions” in the published
account. Snelgrave, New Account, 76. It is unclear if the woman Snelgrave refer-
enced in the text was intended as a slave or temporary laborer.
124 “A small sum of Money to each of them” in the published account.

125 In the published account, the slaves were taken back to the tent with other
gifts. Snelgrave, New Account, 76.

Att noon the Kings Captains with their soldiers returned from
Tuffo:126 it really was a fine sight they having colours shields and regu-
larity much beyond whatever127 I saw amongst the Negroes and believe
the reason of their keeping us here 4 days was on this acct:128 on the
whole this King is a very great man haveing now a very large extent of
Country: abundance of people who venerate him like a God paying
respect to his very name when mention’d, and excepting his allowing his
people to slaughter the poor slaves as they did (which believe to be out of
policy incurring them to blood and fierceness) saw nothing else that
could be reckon’d barbarous in him.
We were obliged to stay till 8 a clock129 this morning for the King’s
Brother of Jacqueen he being taken up with the visits of the great men in
which wee had apart, then sett out on our journey, the hammock men
made more hast to return then when went up, they haveing been much
frighten’d at the slaughter of the slaves att Ardra: Wee arrived at Jacqueen
at 7 in the evening130 in good health where was recv’d with great joy by the
people.
William Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice, 16 April 1727131

My last was dated 21st March132 a coppy of which is inclosed. That night
I left Annamaboe133 and two days after anchored at Accra134 I went
forthwith to the Danes Fort.135 The present Governour Mynheer Frederick
Pahl136 seems to be a very honest man but as he had a small vessel137
of their own to dispatch in a few days, so excus’d himself from paying
me anything but promis’d to clear the acct (which is 153 oz. 8 ac.) by
126 Snelgrave states the Army returned from “plundering the Country of
Tuffoe.” Snelgrave, New Account, 77.

127 “Even amongst the Gold Coast Negroes; who were always esteemed amongst
the Europeans that used the Coast of Guinea, the best Soldiers of all the Blacks.”
128 The army consisted of about “three thousand regular Troops, attended by
a Rabble of ten thousand at least.” Snelgrave, New Account, 77.

129 “Till nine a clock” in the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 81.
130 Arrived back at “five a clock” in the published account. Snelgrave,
New Account, 81.

131 Bank of England Archives, London, 10A31/2, Humphrey Morice Papers.
132 Unable to locate letter among the Morice Papers.
133 Annamaboe was an important English trading settlement.
134 The English and Dutch maintained trading castles at Accra.
135 Christiansborg was the headquarters of operations for the Danish Gold
Coast settlements.
136 Frederik Pahl was interim-governor from March 1727 until his death on
18 September 1727. Justesen, Danish Sources, 357.

137 The Haabet Gally that departed from Christiansborg on 6 March 1727.
Justesen, Danish Sources, 357; Voyage ID 35093.

Capt. Dagge138 and Capt. Baker139 and believe he will do it if the trade
revives in the least it being very dull at present. It seems the occasion of
Von Suhm’s140 going off was he being appointed Governour of the Island
of St. Thomas belonging to the Dane in the West Indies.
I bought 7 good slaves here without looseing any time then sailed and
in my way toucht at Quittah where I found two French ships. The English
Chief141 came off telling me there was little trade so prepar’d him for your
other ships. The Blacks reporting here the Widahs were driven from their
Country by the King of Doime and all the white men taken prisoners.
I weighed and stopt at Little Popoe for better information.
The English chief142 came off and inform’d the story was to true but
could tell me few particulars. Here was a French ship who had purchas’d in
a fortnight 200 slaves but they are mostly such poor creatures I would not
have given three parts of them ship room, and as he could give me no
incouragement to stay advised him to be ready for your other ships and
went for Whidah where I anchor’d the 28th of March. Found in the road 2
Portuguese with 3 large French ships. The last has been here two months
and few slaves on board. One of the Portuguese is just slaved. The other
arrived 8 days past from Bahia.
138 John Dagge, of the Italian Galley, was at Whydah in late May selling
slaves for gold to Portuguese ship captains. By 22 June Dagge was ready to sail
and departed from Whydah on 28 June 1727. Bank of England Archives, London,
10A31/2, William Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice, 22 June 1727 and William
Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice, 28 June 1727; Voyage ID 76403.
139 Henry Baker, of the Portugal Galley, was at Anamaboe in late May 1727. On
22 June Baker was at Keta with sixty slaves on board. On 27 June Baker arrived at
Jakin and over the next few days transferred forty-two slaves onto Snelgrave’s
Katherine. Baker received from Snelgrave 21, 621 lbs. of cowries and returned
to Whydah to purchase additional slaves. Bank of England Archives, London,
10A31/2, William Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice, 22 June 1727, William Snelgrave
to Humphrey Morice, 28 June 1727, William Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice,
23 October 1727; Bank of England Archives, London, 10A61/3, Humphrey Morice
to Henry Baker, 7 November 1726; Voyage ID 76673.
140 Hendrik von Suhm was governor of the Danish Gold Coast settlements
from April 1724–March 1727.

141 In October 1727, Isaac Mills was the RAC factor at Keta. The trading post
at Little Popo was abandoned in July 1728 as was the Keta post shortly thereafter.
Francklin, Read & Peake to Abraham Duport, 17 October 1727; Thomas Wilson
to Francklin, Read & Peake, 12 July 1728 in: Robin Law (ed.), Correspondence
of the Royal African Company’s Chief Merchants at Cabo Corso Castle with William’s
Fort, Whydah, and the Little Popo Factory, 1727–1728: An Annotated Transcription of
Ms. Francklin 1055/1 in the Bedfordshire County Record Office (Madison: University of
Wisconsin Madison Press, 1991), 8, 38.
142 In October 1728, Charles Guyon was the RAC factor at Little Popo. Francklin,
Read & Peake to Charles Guyon, 17 October 1728 in: Law, Correspondence, 42.
I sent the 2nd mate with a present and letter for the Governour
Duport143 desireing the favour he would inform me the state of affairs. The
sea being bad he did not answer till next day in the afternoon and desir’d
me to come to the fort where might be in safety and consult for your
interest. Accordingly went the next morning haveing over night sent the
2nd mate to Jaqueen with a present for the Dutch chief144 and my old
Portuguese friends145 desireing them to inform me how affairs are with
them. On coming to the fort Mr. Duport told me that he had the day before
resolv’d to advise me to stay at Widah on the promises the French had recvd
from the King of Doime of a great no. of slaves comeing down instantly, but
as they had failed so believed it was my best way to go for Jaqueen. I found
by this he was sincere and it agreeing with my own sentiments resolved for
that place, especially when recvd an acct from thence that slaves were
plenty and our goods wanted.
The sea was so bad could not go off that day without utmost danger
and a message comeing from the Doime captains at Sabee to desire a white
man of each nation to come to them I was willing to hear what it was about.
When they return’d had this account that the King of Doime by his Captains
inform’d them he had agreed with the King of Widah to be tributary and
that with his people should forthwith return to Sabee. That he would
appoint a great man to reside in the Country who should take care of the
white men and prevent the Widahs in their usual villanies which he abhord.
That when the white men was at Ardra he took notice of such nations
actions. That he much esteemed the English above the rest and they may
depend on his favour. It seems the French with their apish tricks and the
Portuguese with their formality, rendred themselves ridiculous to this
Negro King who by all accounts is a very great man in many respects.
He excus’d the usage of the white men when prisoners confessing he was
surprized to see 40 of them together haveing before seen none but
Mr. Lamb146 and on the whole I think they are rather to be noted of folly
to be ketcht as they were then to complain of their treatment for as soon as
things were a little settled care was taken of them and had their liberty
without ransom. Capt. Blinckoe147 came to this place to sell a quantity of
cowries he had left am told he had no success in it and sailed from hence
143 Abraham Duport was governor of Williams Fort.

144 Hendrick Hertogh was the ranking Dutch representative at Whydah in
the 1720s. Verger, Trade Relations, 118–119; Van Dantzig, The Dutch and the Guinea
Coast, 220.
145 Brazilians at Whydah included Captain Joao Basilio, Simao Cardoso, and
Antonio Monteyro.
146 Bulfinch Lambe.
147 Richard Blinco, of the Squirrel, was one of Morice’s favored ship captains.
The Squirrel reached London in early September 1727. British National Archives,
Kew, T70/7, f. 81; Voyage ID 77015.
25th of March and as no doubt he will give you a full account how dastardly
the Widah people run away on the approach of 200 Doime with a partic-
ular acct of all things so now shall go on with other matters.
On the news of the Widahs being to be restor’d (who are now at Great
Popo on an island) Mr. Duport altered his opinion and advis’d me to stay,
concludeing the Doimes would go forthwith to Jaqueen, but I held my res-
olution for staying at Widah, I judged was only more loss of time and it
would be a long while before the people could settle again and as the King
of Jaqueen had acknowledged Doime for his Lord so did believe they would
not go down there. Moreover I understood from one of the King’s servants
who formerly belonged to Lamb and spoke good English, that his master
had an account, a great nation called JoEs148 – who fight on horseback was
comeing down to invade his country of Poyne149 and that the army was to
march inland to joine his people there and accordingly they broke up their
camp at Sabee that night. I then went on board and sailed for Jaqueen
where anchor’d the 3rd of Aprill found here 2 Portuguese ships just slaved,
with another who came a week past. I sent my surgeon on shore to the King
to demand some preliminaries, which if he would take his fetishe to observe
then promisd to go myself next day and land goods forthwith.
In the mean time Hon’d Sr, (till hear from him) shall inform you that
a weeks past the 2 Portuguese men of war150 surpriz’d here a Dutch ship of
18 guns whom they forc’d onshore and destroyed, then sailed as they gave
out in order for the Mine declareing they will not leave one Dutch ship on
the coast.
This ugly business am afraid will spoile the Portuguese trade on this
Coast for they tell me they expect the Dutch now will make prize of their
Brazill ships. But on the other hand as the Dutch cannot subsist without
them hope they will not do it. Myhheer Norre151 assur’d 2 Portuguese
vessels that was at the Mine when I was there that they had nothing to fear,
but yet believe on their hearing this news at Brazill it will intimidate them
for some time.
148 In the 1720s, the Kingdom of Oyo challenged King Agaja and the expan-
sion of Dahomey. The Oyo’s powerful cavalry was key to its political power in the
region. Robin Law, The Oyo Empire, c.1600 – c.1836: A West African Imperialism in the
Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977).
149 “Paon” or “Paom,” located in the northern region of the kingdom, was an
important dependency of Whydah. Robin Law, “A Neglected Account,” 334n12.

150 In early April a “Portuguese warship” destroyed the Dutch slave ship
‘s-Graveland near Jakin. Elmina Journal, entry for 1 May 1727, in: Van Dantzig, The
Dutch and the Guinea Coast, 221; Voyage ID 11559.
151 Robert Norre who was Director General of the Dutch Gold Coast from
March 1727 to March 1730. Harvey M. Feinberg, “Africans and Europeans in West
Africa: Elminans and Dutchmen on the Gold Coast During the Eighteenth Cen-
tury,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 79–7 (1989), 1–186, 136.
The Generall told me that by the treaty the Portuguese are absolutely
debar’d comeing to this coast, and their allowing them on paying 10 per
cent is only of mere grace which may at pleasure be suspended. He vowed
a severe revenge but observ’d had a deep concern for his own interest. He
in a way of discourse let drop that the 2 Portuguese ships as are now come
lately to Widah and this place had a large quantity of European goods
which he winkt at and no doubt had a good sum for it that he would not be
severe on the Brazill ships, but as to the Lisbon men they must never be
tolerated, so that on the whole believe it will be a great while before things
run in their old channell again. The men of war don’t pretend the Kings
orders for what they do but say they belong to the Corsico Company152 who
by way of revenge for losing their Lisbon ships have sent them to scourge
the Dutch.
As soon as Mr. Dickie153 informed me the King had promis’d to com-
ply with my demands I went on shore and was recvd kindly by him. He
assured me my treatment should be such as I could desire, but that I must
go to the King of Doime at Ardra he being Supreme Lord of the Country
and believing it absolutely for your interest I complied but desir’d might
have my trade open’d first which was promis’d. Twas 2 days before it was
done the blacks being allways tedious in such affairs and found much
better usage than us’d to have at Widah, for I mark’t off the Kings 2 good
women with a tollerable man slave.
The following day I mark’t 22 slaves, and the next night sett out for
Ardra. I carried the King one piece of damask, his first wife a ps of persian,
the ship’s drum, and pocket pistolls, with several things of my own. The
success and acct of my journey have inserted in a diary inclos’d to which
refer.
On my return here settled matters with the King of this place who is to
have his usual custom of 4 slaves, besides what the Captain of the sand and
others are to have so that the customs alltogether will amount to as much
as us’d to pay at Whidah.
152 The Corisco Company was created in June 1723 by a group of Bahia mer-
chants with strong commercial ties to the Slave Coast. The plan was to establish an
entrepôt for the slave trade to Brazil from the Island of Corisco. The company was
granted the privilege of sending four ships per year with slaves to Brazil. The com-
pany was short-lived because of frequent attacks by the Dutch and traded primarily
in Angola. After 1725, no company activities were reported. Verger, Trade Relations,
55–56, 71–4; Kátia M. de Queirós Mattoso, To Be a Slave in Brazil, 1550–1888 (New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1986), 23.
153 James Dickie was the surgeon on the Katherine. Dickie composed his will
two days before his death on 28 April 1727. Snelgrave described Dickie as a “very
eminent man for trade as well as his profession.” Snelgrave, New Account, 70; British
National Archives, Kew, PROB 11/622/62–63; Bank of England Archives, London,
10A31/2, William Snelgrave to Humphrey Morice, 22 June 1727.
According to the King of Doime’s promise a good no. of slaves are

come to town, have mark’t 50 and should go on briskly, but as yet have few
goods up for the people are not like the Whidahs, being not vers’d in trade
and unwilling to take notes.
This day hope to settle the carriage of goods they insisting on more
than used to pay at that place. Believe the cowrie cask may be brought up
without pilferage but am desirous to bring them in bags which will save half
the charge, but being new to them at present they dispute it.
Can make no exact judgment of what goods are in demand here having
paid for no slaves but find they insist much on guns and with powder might
buy boys and girls very cheap. Have a good hope to gett a no. of slaves
against your Portugal [if] comes down to dispatch her off, but as to gold
there is no prospect at present. However 4 Portuguese ships are expected
every day believe then things will alter for the better in that respect. Here
is at present a Portuguese ship who came from Whidah 1/2 slaved and
another that found here, but deny having any gold left.
This comes by an African Company’s vessel Capt. Livingston154 directly
for England. Sent up one of my cannoes with it to Whidah and a letter for
Capt. Dagge desireing if he is not come there to forward it to Little Popoe.
Am told the Whidahs are returning to their Country apace, believe the
King of Doime designs to restore trade there for on my asking him which
place he would have your Italian stay at, he replied he was Lord of both
places and the Capt. might stay at which he pleased. The Blacks here have
little notion of trade or gold, being awkward and tedious, so should be glad
if Whidah should be the centre again.
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A Dialogue with King Agaja: William

Résumé: L’essor du royaume d’Abomey dans le premier quart du XVIIIe siècle

History in Africa, Volume 43 (2016), pp. 29–62

© African Studies Association, 2016

state in relation to its predecessors. To some degree aspects of Dahomey society

kingdom of Dahomey and King Agaja’s exploits was William Snelgrave,

(London: J.J. and P. Knapton, 1734).

arTo=1866&anycaptain=snelgrave. Only twelve ships disembarked slaves. There

of life in the region.9 However, Snelgrave’s lengthy, near obsessive, account

84–2 (1985), 53–87, 54.

15 Atkins, Voyage to Guinea, 120–121.

Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington: Howard University Press, 1972).

1400–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Thornton explores

The manuscript in question, titled “A Diary of my Journey to Ardra,”

20 Bank of England Archives, London, 10A61/3, Trading Accounts and Slave

Snelgrave’s 1734 published version. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,

comparative analysis of the two sources, identified several important and

“A Great Revolution There”26

24 Robin Law, “The Original Manuscript Version of William Snelgrave’s ‘New

Account of Some Parts of Guinea,’” History in Africa 17 (1990), 367–372.

papers to produce a longer and more detailed account.

approaching campaign against Whydah.27 The Dahomey war machine did

Voyage to Guinea (London: J. Nourse, 1744), 186–187.

Arriving at the Gold Coast in mid-March, Snelgrave stopped briefly at

35 Robin Law, “A Neglected Account of the Dahomian Conquest of Whydah

people should forthwith return” to Savi. Driven from their ancestral

38 Francisco Pereyra Mendes to Viceroy of Brazil, 4 April 1727, quoted by

Verger, Trade Relations, 122.

43 In addition to conveying a firsthand account of the Dahomey invasion to

4 April 1727, quoted by Verger, Trade Relations, 121.

48 Law, Slave Coast, 286–287.

the Sandown, 1793–1794 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), 33n139,

“readily agreed” in the manuscript version. National Maritime Museum, WEL/29,

required by King Huffon before the invasion.57 Snelgrave informed Agaja

Coast of Guinea.” Snelgrave, New Account, introduction.

The final subject discussed by Agaja concerned the whereabouts of

European Trade Goods,” History in Africa 22 (1995), 5–43.

64 In the manuscript version of the published account Snelgrave noted

that Lambe was at “Barbados buying a plantation.” National Maritime Museum,

December 1734 (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1920), 201.

A Diary of My Journey to Ardra

69 Law, Original Manuscript, 371.

History in Africa 17 (1990), 379–387.

Snelgrave, New Account, 21.

account. Snelgrave, New Account, 24.

by the Portuguese.” Snelgrave, New Account, 24.

account. Snelgrave, New Account, 24.

into my hammock77 at 9 in the morning. wee travell’d about 4 miles an

77 “Six hammock-men” attended Snelgrave on the trip in the published

New Account, 27.

New Account, 27.

the published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 27.

published account. Snelgrave, New Account, 29.

account. Snelgrave, New Account, 34.

New Account, 36.

95 “Five shillings for each Head” in the published account. Snelgrave,

New Account, 38.

lished account. Snelgrave, New Account, 39.

New Account, 36.

slaves were sacrificed, who he thought would be highly prized by European

Snelgrave, New Account, 72.

additional customs on the previous occasion he was at Whydah. In November 1724,

Moons” whereas the manuscript copy of Snelgrave’s account, located in the