do tráfico negro: "The Portuguese first enrich'd these African countries with the Indean wheat, or maiz, bringing the seed from the island of St. Thomas, in the bight of Guinea, to the Gold Coast... that it has been ever since the main subsistence of the Blacks, not only on the coast but far up the inland: besides the vast profit those people yearly make, by selling it at the European forts, and to the slave ships; as also to all the other nations about them. Their name of Maiz is properly Indian, given to this grain by the natives of America, where is great plenty of it. The Portugueses call it Milho Grande... It is positively asserted, that before the Portugueses came to this coast, the natives never used".

Antes de conhecerem este recurso, serviam-se os guineenses apenas de raízes e batatas para fazerem o seu pão. Depois da introdução do milho, habituaram-se a prepará-los com a farinha das espigas exóticas, às vezes misturadas com sorgo, e outras com arroz. Desprovidos de fermentos, os pães dos africanos eram demasiadamente compactos: "The bread made of rice only, is very white, but heavy. That which is made with millet(1), Nota do Autor is the brownest of all but clumsy, and not very pleasing. That wich is made of maiz only, after the Portuguese fashion, is pretty good; but if mix'd with millet, is incomparably more grateful, and eats much like rye-bread