An employee of the Dutch West India Company located at Elmina (now South Ghana) reported on this day: 'We are of the opinion that it might be profitable to take an experiment in planting sugar (cane) on the riverbanks near Chama, Boutry and Axem; in order to get properly informed on its cultivation, we sent already ...a letter addressed to the Governor of Zurinaemen (Surinam) with the ship Hercules. We may expect positive results from such an enterprise, if indeed the 12 requested experienced Negroes were sent to us from Zurinamen, who could teach the ways of cultivating sugarcane to the slaves here.'
From: 'Information and Instruction,,,Elmina, 9th October, 1701' in: The Dutch and the Guinea Coast 1674-1742 compiled and translated by A. van Dantzig (1978) 84