At The End Of This Mountain, And About Eight
Miles From The Shore, There Are Three Small Islands, The Largest Of Which
Does Not Exceed Ten Or Twelve Miles In Circumference.
To these the sailors
gave the name of _Saluezze_[7]; and they named the mountain _Sierra Leona_,
or the Lion Mountain, on account of the continual roaring of thunder on
its summit, which is always enveloped in clouds.
Proceeding beyond Sierra Leona, the coast was quite low, and the shore
full of sand banks running out into the sea. About thirty miles from the
southern extremity of the mountain, they found a river near three miles
wide at the entrance, and because the water had a red colour, they called
it Rio Roxo[8]. And farther on they found a cape, likewise of a red colour,
which they named Cape Roxo[9]. And they gave the same name of Roxo to a
small uninhabited island, about ten miles off at sea, where the north
polar star seemed only the height of a man above the horizon. Beyond Cape
Roxo, the sea forms a gulf, about the middle of which there enters a river,
which the seamen called St Mary del Nievos, or of the snow, as having been
discovered on the day of that Saint. On the other side of the river there
is a cape, with an island close beside it[10]. This gulf is full of sand
banks, running ten or twelve miles along the coast, on which the sea
breaks with considerable violence, and has a strong current both in the
ebb and flow of the tide; and the little island just mentioned is named
_Scauni_, on account of these sand banks. Twenty-four miles distant from
this river is a large cape called St Ann, having been discovered on the
day of that saint; and the whole coast between is low, with very shallow
water. Twenty-four miles beyond this cape is the river of _Palms_, so
named from the abundance of these trees which were seen there. The mouth
of this river, though of sufficient width, is so full of shoals; and sand
banks as to render its entrance very dangerous. About seventy miles
farther on, there is another small river called _Rio de Fumi_, or Smoke
River; so named, because at the time of its discovery, they saw nothing
but smoke along this coast, made by the Negroes[11]. Beyond this river,
about twenty-four miles, there is a cape which runs a great way out into
the sea, on which stands a high mountain, on which account it was called
_Cabo del Monte_, or Cape Mount About sixty miles still farther on, to the
S. E. there is another and smaller cape, on which is a small mountain or
hill, which was named Cape _Cortese_, or _Misurado_. The first night after
their arrival at this place, the voyagers saw many fires among the trees,
made by the Negroes on seeing the ships, as they had never seen such
objects before.
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