According to King John II of Portugal:—“Canoes had been found which set out from the coast of Guinea and sailed to the west with merchandise"
The average boat on the Niger, in the 1500's A.D., could carry 80 men…
“At the mouth of River Real [the Bonny River]…there is a very large village, consisting of about 2,000 souls. Much salt is made here, and in this country are to be found the largest canoes, made of a single trunk, that are known in the whole of Ethiopia of Guinea; some are so large that they hold 80 men. They travel distances of a hundred leagues and more down the river” — Pacheo Pereira