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Denominated from the Cape, always green: They were anciently calledHesperides; the Diminutive ofSpain, called heretoforeHesperia, propterea quod hæc regio, omnium extrema, sit a sit ad Occidentem;Hesperus, the Evening Star, by a Metaphor signifying the West.
They are inhabited byPortuguese, who welcome all sort of Ships (of good, or ill Design) bound toGuinea,India,Brasil, or theWest-Indies; they frequently putting in here to furnish themselves with fresh Provisions, exchanged for Trifles; chiefly atSt. Iägo(James) the principal, which has three or four Forts, and where resides the Governour. In several of these Islands there are natural Salt Ponds, kerning great quantities without trouble. The most noted by theEnglishisMaio, or the Isle ofMay, where many of our Ships lade in Summer; and was, withTangier, andBombayinIndia, Part of Q.Catherine’s Fortune toEngland. Another of them has aVolcano, and calledDel Fuego.
The Land about the Cape appears the Height of that atDealinKent; woody, a white even Sand along Shore, and about 28 Fathom Water a League off. Just to the Northward are two or three great Rocks, called by our SailorsShitten Islands, being white all over with the Dung of Sea-fowls. At the same distance Southward of the Cape, is an Island calledGoree, about a League from the Main, has aFrenchFactory with two Forts, commanding all the Trade about the RiverSenega, from other Nations.
While our Ships laytoohere, we had good Fishing with our Lines; tookBreams(orPorga’s)Skip-jacks,Groupes,a Rock-fish(thick, short, and of a deep yellow on the Belly, Gills, and Mouth) and theJew-Fish; which has a double Mouth, the uppermost not to swallow Food, but full of Air-pipes, and finned like aCod, all well tasted: and having washed them down with a Bowl, our Friends and we parted, theWeymouthsteering in forGambiaRiver with the Governour ColonelWitney, and the Merchants; We forSierraleon, anchoring there the Beginning ofApril, 1721.
The Winds fromMadeiratoSierraleonat first blew fresh at S. and S. W. and as we came farther to the Southward, they wheel’d gradually on the Western Side of the Circle, quite round to the N. so as in the Latitude of 21 to have it N. E. a trueTrade, seven, eight, or nine knots Day and Night; but whether it were the Badness of our half-minute Glasses, the tendency of the Sea with the Wind, or any Current, I cannot tell; but we always found our selves considerably further to the Southward, by Observation every day, than the Distance by the Log would give.
In this Passage, we took up a fewTurtlewith our Boat. As they sleep and bask upon the Surface, we steal upon them without noise, and throw them in upon their Backs. We saw also abundance of flying Fish, and their continual Enemies, theAlbicoreandDolphin; the latter we strike now and then with a Fizgig, or Harping-iron. It is a glorious-colour’d, strait Fish, four or five Foot long, forked Tail, perpendicular to the Horizon: plays familiarly about Ships; is of dry Taste, but makes good Broth. They are seldom seen out of the Latitudes of aTrade-wind; and the flying Fish never: These are the bigness of small Herrings; their Wings about two thirds its length; come narrow from the Body, and end broad; they fly by the help of them a Furlong at a time whenpursued, turning in their Flight, sometimes dip in the Sea, and so up again, the Wind making them, by this Expedient, fleeter.