A Large Shallow Stream Flows Through The
City Of Pouoasan, Supplying It With Abundance Of Excellent Water, Which
The Inhabitants Reckon Of A Medicinal Quality, And Allege That St Thomas
Would Not Be Habitable If It Were Not For This River And Its Other
Numerous Springs And Rivulets.
The native trees are chiefly barren, and
though some olives, peaches, and almonds, were planted by the early
settlers, which soon grew with great luxuriance, they never bore any
fruit, and this has been the case with all stone fruits that have been
tried.
But the cocoa-nut palm, brought hither from Ethiopia, has thriven
satisfactorily. Repeated attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but
always unsuccessfully, though tried at different seasons of the year; as
the ear would never fill, but always ran up to straw and chaff only.
In March and September, the sky is always overcast with clouds and mists,
and continual rains prevail, which season is considered by the
inhabitants as their winter. In May, June, July, and August, which they
call _Mesi di Vento_, or windy months, the prevalent winds are from the
south, southeast, and southwest; but the island is sheltered by the
continent from the north, northeast, and northwest winds; The summer
months are December, January, and February, when the heat is excessive,
and the atmosphere being continually loaded with vapour, occasions the
air to feel like the steam of boiling water. The shores of this island
abound in many kinds of fish, and, during the months of June and July,
the inhabitants catch a kind which they name _le chieppe_, which are
singularly delicate. In the seas between this island and the coast of
Africa, there are prodigious multitudes of whales, both of the large and
small kinds. - Should you, Sir, be unsatisfied with my ill-written and
confused information, I beg of you to consider that I am merely a seaman,
unpracticed in literary composition.
[1] Ramusio. Clarke I. 298. This voyage was communicated by the relator
to Count Raimond della Torre, a nobleman of Verona. - Clarke.
[2] A description of the islands of Cape Verd, and an account of the
supply of salt usually taken on board by the Portuguese ships at the
island of Sal, for the purpose of laying in a sea store of salt fish,
is here omitted. - Clarke.
[3] This geographical expression is utterly unintelligible, but may be a
strange mode of denoting its latitude, which is 15 deg. N. but I know not
what to make of the thirty leagues towards the south, unless the
author meant that it was thirty leagues in extent from north to south,
and seventeen leagues from east to west. - E.
[4] The description in the text is not applicable to maize, and must refer
to some species of bean, or kidney-bean. - E.
[5] Called likewise Maleguette, and named also the Grain-Coast and the
Pepper-Coast. Manicongo is obviously the kingdom of Congo. - E.
[6] Some of this is smuggled and sold in England.
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