. In case of any enemies,
they have nets suspended over the paths ready to let fall and entangle
them. It is impossible to get to the town except by the regular paths,
as it is every where environed with trees and thick underwood; besides
which the town is surrounded by a fence of sedge bound with thick ropes
made of the bark of trees[268].

[Footnote 268: It is hard to discover what place this was. Perhaps it
was _Great Commendo_ or _Guaffo_, which stands on a river that runs by
the town of the _Mina_, and is still the residence of a negro king; in
which case the port they put in at might have been little _Commendo._
But the royal city is very far from being as large as London was in
1556, not having above 400 houses. The contrivance for apprizing the
watchmen of the approach of an enemy, and for taking them prisoners,
seems a notable invention of our countrymen; for surely an enemy might
easily destroy these net-traps to catch soldiers, these pack-thread
fortifications.--Astl. 1. 167. a.]

As in this country it is necessary to travel in the night to avoid the
heat of the day, our men came to the town about five in the morning.
About nine the king sent for them, as no one must go to him unless sent
for, and they proposed carrying their present, but were told they must
be brought before him three times, before their gift could be offered.
They then waited upon him and were graciously received. And having been
sent for three several times, they carried their present the last time,
which was thankfully accepted; and calling for a pot of Palm wine, the
king made them drink. Before drinking they use the following ceremonies:
On bringing out the pot of wine, a hole is made in the ground into which
a small quantity of the wine is poured, after which the hole is filled
up, and the pot set on the place. Then with a small cup made of a gourd
shell, they take out a little of the wine, which is poured on the ground
in three several places. They set up likewise some branches of the Palm
tree in different parts of the ground, where they shed some of the wine,
doing reverence to the palms. All these ceremonies being gone through,
the king took a gold cup full of wine which he drank off, all the people
calling out Abaan! Abaan! together with certain words, as is usual in
Flanders on twelfth night, _the king drinks._ When he had drank, then
the wine was served round to every one, and the king allowed them to
depart. Then every one bow