66, 67, citing J.O.Felt, _Annals of Salem_, 2d ed., II, 289, 290.] Ships were frequently delayed for many months on the pestilent coast, for after buying their licenses in one kingdom and finding trade slack there they could ill afford to sail for another on the uncertain chance of a more speedy supply.

Sometimes when weary of higgling the market, they tried persuasion by force of arms; but in some instances as at Bonny, in 1757,[30] this resulted in the victory of the natives and the destruction of the ships.

In general the captains and their owners appreciated the necessity of patience, expensive and even deadly as that might prove to be.
[Footnote 30: Gomer Williams, pp.

481, 482.] The chiefs were eager to foster trade and cultivate good will, for it brought them pompous trappings as well as useful goods.

"Grandy King George" of Old Calabar, for example, asked of his friend Captain Lace a mirror six feet square, an arm chair "for my salf to sat in," a gold mounted cane, a red and a blue coat with gold lace, a case of razors, pewter plates, brass flagons, knives and forks, bullet and cannon-ball molds, and sailcloth for his canoes, along with many other things for use in trade.[31] [Footnote 31: _Ibid_., pp.