It can be unmercifully hot near the coast in West Africa, and especially when humidity levels are high.
It was like this when Thomas walked down the gangplank from the deck of the sailing ship which had brought him from Gravesend, and stepped carefully into one of the rowing boats which took the passengers to the shore. He sat down next to his wife, and gazed at the exotic landscape before him.
Ever since dawn, Thomas had been watching the brightening horizon, trying to take in every detail. He knew that his father had been rowed out to a very different kind of ship, after walking the opposite way down this very beach which he would soon walk up.
