Dawn the atmosphere is
turbid, as if filled with smoke, and the moment the sun appears this mist
is dissipated. I could only account for this phenomenon, by attributing
it to the low and flat surface of this country, which is destitute of
mountains, and my companions were of a similar opinion.
On holding a consultation among the commanders of the three caravels, we
came to a resolution of proceeding about an hundred miles up the river,
in hopes of meeting with a less ferocious, and better disposed people in
the interior, than those we had encountered at the mouth of this river:
But the sailors were impatient to return home, without incurring any
farther dangers, and unanimously and loudly refused their consent to our
determination, declaring that they had already done enough for the
present voyage. Upon this being made known to us, and being well aware
that seamen are of headstrong and obstinate dispositions, we conceded to
their clamours, and steered next day for Cape Verd, on our return to
Portugal[12].
[1] Cape Verd is about 100 miles from the southern mouth of the river
Senegal; so that the voyagers probably anchored every night within
sight of the scarcely known coast. - E.
[2] This is erroneous, as it was discovered in 1446 by Denis Fernandez,
nine years before.
