 His shop was a center of intense activity and commerce; he sold his textiles, small porcelain objects and explosives bought and traded ivory, honey and rubber from the interior, which he meticulously recorded in his journals.These tomes (14 volumes in all) contained varied descriptions of geography, ethnography and anthropology of his region of Africa, which his old friend Luciano Cordeiro referred to as a ""conversation on paper"".Cordeiro would add, ""with his tight and tortuous writing, which reminds me of zigzags across the mountain forests, in his at times, almost-Creole language owing to his isolation in the wilderness, in which he passed many hours writing silently"".