Samuel Brun of Basel, Switzerland, left one of the earliest descriptions of local culture and people in 1611 and 1620. Living among the Vai in 1620 were several Dutch sailors, survivors of a ship wreck one year before.
According to Brun, “Flamore,” the thaba or monarch, spoke French. The thaba’s wife (whom the Dutch called Maria) was a native of Cameroon and spoke “good Dutch.” She had come to Cape Mount with a Dutch trader, who had taught her his native tongue.
Throughout the 1600s, Cape Mount is said to have been ruled by men with similar names. Their names were written as “Faramborey,” “Faran Bure,” “Frambore,” “Flambourre,” and “Falam Bûrre.” All of these suggest the family whose name is now spelled “Fahnbulleh.”
Footnote: Brun, 1983, pp. 74-75, n. 185; Sieur de Bellefond Nicolas Villault, “A relation of the coast of Africa called Guinea,” in John Green, A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 2 (London: Thomas Astley, 1745-47), pp. 382-383; Villault, 1745-47, p. 379; Barbot, 1732, p. 108.
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