Verd, We
Descried, One Morning Two Ships In The Offing.
On joining company, we
found that one of these belonged to Antonio, an experienced Genoese
navigator, and the other
To some gentlemen in the service of Don Henry,
and that they had sailed in company, with the intention of passing Cape
Verd, to explore the coast beyond it, in search of new discoveries. Our
intentions being similar, I offered to join company, and we accordingly
proceeded together along the coast to the southward, in sight of land.
We came in sight of that cape next day, being about thirty Italian miles
from our last anchorage[1]. Cape Verd was so named by the Portuguese, who
discovered it about a year before[2], because it is covered with trees
which continue green all the year. This is a high and beautiful cape,
which runs a considerable way into the sea, and has two hills or small
mountains at its outer extremity. There are several villages of the
Senegal negroes, or Jalofs, upon and about this promontory, which are
composed of thatched cabins close by the shore, and in sight of those who
sail past. There are also some sand banks, which extend about half a mile
into the sea[3].
Having doubled the cape, we came to three small uninhabited islands, full
of green trees[4]; and being in want of water, we anchored at that which
seemed the largest and most fruitful, in hopes of meeting with a spring,
but could find none to answer our purpose. We met, however, with the
nests and eggs of several kinds of birds, such as we had never seen
before. This was in the month of July 1456, and we continued here all day,
fishing with lines and large hooks, catching a prodigious number of fish,
among which were _dentali_, and gilded fish[5], some of which weighed
from twelve to fifteen pounds each. On the next day we proceeded in our
course, keeping always in sight of land, and found a kind of gulf formed
by the coast on the south side of the cape[6]. This coast is all low, and
full of fine large trees, which are continually green, as the new leaves
grow before the old ones fall off, and they never wither like those in
Europe; and the trees grow so near the shore, that they seem to drink as
it were the water of the sea. The coast is most beautiful, insomuch that
I never saw any thing comparable to it, though I had sailed much both in
the Levant and the western parts of Europe. It is well watered every
where by small rivers, but these are useless for trade, as they do not
admit ships of any size. Beyond this little gulf, the coast is inhabited
by two negro nations, called Barbasini and Serreri, which are not subject
to the king of Senegal, neither have they any king or lord of their own;
but one person is more honoured than another, according to his condition
or quality.
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