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Whether it was that the palm- oil, which came in canoes, and very irregularly, from high up the river, did not arrive in sufficient quantities, or whether it was deliberate delay on Pepel's part, a year would sometimes elapse before the return cargo was completed, and sickness was meanwhile decimating the crews.
I spoke very slowly, and the King answered me. We went over a great many subjects. We were severe but just! Nothing concerning the result of this conference ever transpired, but the diplomatic action of France made itself felt. Something else made itself felt as well, and that was the horrible smell in Pepel's town, a filthy place, inhabited by a numerous and hideous population.
When we got to Pepel's town we found eight large Liverpool merchantmen, partly dismantled, and covered with roofs made of plantain leaves, surrounded by canoes going incessantly to and from the shore, where hundreds of negroes loaded them with casks of palm-oil. There was a stir and commercial activity such as I had not yet seen anywhere on that coast. The whole trade was exclusively English.
Under the dark mangrove shadows the long canoes, full of fierce- looking stark-naked blacks, looked like huge crocodiles, ready to fly at us. After a time we came alongside Pepel's house, a sort of labyrinth of clay and straw-built huts. I announced his Excellency the Commander to a negro who spoke Spanish.
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