|This drawing from the journals of Jean Barbot illustrates his meeting
with the King of Sestro (now in modern Liberia) to trade for ivory
and obtain supplies. The king is shown wearing 'a sort of cap
made of straw in the shape of a mitre, decorated with goats'
horns, small porcupine tails and other trifles', and is surrounded
by some of his 'ministers'. The seated man in European
dress is apparently Barbot himself.
Jean Barbot was employed as a commercial agent on a number of slave-trading
voyages to West Africa by the French in the 1670s and 1680s. His remarkable
journals include a variety of drawings on many subjects - local flora
and fauna, scenes from African life, coastal views and forts, to name
but a few - as well as a guide to common words and phrases in a number
of African languages.
ADM 7/830A, f. 96 (1681)