A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 2 - By Robert Kerr


















































































































 -  Going therefore into the
interior, they found the habitations of the Negroes to consist of poor
thatched cabins, in some - Page 208
A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 2 - By Robert Kerr - Page 208 of 427 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

Going Therefore Into The Interior, They Found The Habitations Of The Negroes To Consist Of Poor Thatched Cabins, In Some Of Which They Found Wooden Idols, Which Were Worshipped By The Negroes.

Being unable to procure any information in this place, Cintra proceeded, in his voyage along the coast, and came

To the mouth of a large river between three and four miles wide, which he called Besegue, from a lord of that name who dwelt near its mouth, and which he reckoned to be about forty miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande[2]. Proceeding about 140 miles from the river Besegue, along a very hilly coast; clothed with high trees, and having a very beautiful appearance, they came to a cape to which they gave the name of Verga[3]. Continuing along the coast, they fell in with another cape, which, in the opinion of all the seamen, was the highest they had ever seen, having a sharp conical height in the middle like a diamond, yet entirely covered with beautiful green trees. After the name of the fortress of Sagres, which was built by the deceased Don Henry on Cape St Vincent, the Portuguese named this point Cape Sagres of Guinea. According to the account of the Sailors, the inhabitants of this coast are idolaters, worshipping wooden images in the shape of men, before which they make offerings of victuals as often as they eat or drink. These people are more of a tawny colour than black, having marks on their faces and bodies made with hot irons. They go almost entirely naked, except that they wear pieces of the bark of trees before them. They have no arms, as there is no iron in their country. They live on rice, millet, beans, and kidney beans, larger than ours; and have also beef and goats flesh, but not in any great abundance. Near to Cape Sagres there are several very small uninhabited islands.

The inhabitants of this river have large almadias, carrying from thirty to forty men, who row standing, without having their oars fixed to any thing, as formerly noticed. They have their ears pierced with many holes, in which they wear a variety of gold rings. Both men and women have also a hole through the cartilage of the nose, in which they wear a gold ring, just like that of iron in the noses of our buffalos, which they take out when eating. The ladies belonging to the kings and great men, by way of extraordinary grandeur, have gold rings on other parts of their body, which decorum prevents us from particularizing.

Passing Cape Sagres, they sailed about forty miles farther along the coast, and came to the Rio de San Vincents, which is about four miles wide; and about five miles farther they found another, which they called Rio Verde, larger at the mouth than the former[5]. Both of these rivers were so named by the sailors in the caravels. About twenty-four miles beyond the Rio Verde, they came to another cape which they called _Cape Liedo_, signifying the _cheerful_, because of the beautifully verdant country in its neighbourhood[6]. From Cape Liedo there extends a large mountain for about fifty miles along the coast, all of which is very high, and covered with tall verdant trees.

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 208 of 427
Words from 108521 to 109077 of 224388


Previous 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400
 410 420 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online