The trade, in palm-oil,
ivory, etc., was principally with France, and negro slaves for the
colonies do not yet appear in numbers to attract attention.[B] But in
1679 this Company engaged with the Crown to deliver yearly, for a term
of eight years, two thousand negroes, to be distributed among the French
Antilles. This displaced a previous engagement, made in 1675, for the
delivery of eight hundred negroes. The Company had also to furnish as
many negroes for the galleys at Marseilles as His Majesty should find
convenient. And the Crown offered a bounty of thirteen livres per head
for every negro, to be paid in "pieces of India."
[Footnote B: Du Tertre, the missionary historian of the Antilles,
proudly says, previously to this date, that the opinion of France in
favor of personal liberty still shielded a French deck from the traffic:
"Selon les lois de la France, qui abhorre la servitude sur toutes les
nations du monde, et ou tous les esclaves recouvrent heureusement la
liberte perdue, sitost qu'ils y abordent, et qu'ils en touchent la
terre."]
This is a famous phrase in the early annals of the slave-trade.
Reckoning by "pieces" was customary in the transaction of business upon
the coast of Africa. Merchandise, provisions, and presents to the native
princes had their value thus expressed, as well as slaves. If the negro
merchant asked ten pieces for a slave, the European trader offered
his wares divided into ten portions, each portion being regarded as a
"piece," without counting the parts which made it up.
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