"Why would I need gold or salt?" you might ask. Well, salt is actually very important to the human body. Here in West Africa, it can get pretty hot, causing you to sweat out all the salt in your body. You need this salt to function, so you have to replace it somehow. Cows also need salt, so it is helpful for keeping your animals healthy. As well as being able to preserve food, it also makes the food taste delicious!
Gold is also a very valuable thing. The location of gold mines is kept secret, so trade is the only way to get gold to make yourself look wealthy. It is also what coins are made of in Italy and the Middle East, and is the ONLY currency that can be used to trade for silk or porcelain from China.
To trade, all you have to do is set down your goods, bang a drum, and we will do the rest! Our highly trustworthy guards hold your goods and another group will make an offer for your goods. They will bang their drum, and you come back to see their goods. If you accept the offer, you take their goods and they take yours. If you don't like the offer, you can always just bang the drum to ask them for more. This continues until a trade both parties accept is reached. Very simple, very easy, and very efficient!
