He Here Found A French Ship,
And The Diamond Belonging To Bristol, Taking In A Cargo Of Asses For
Jamaica.
Continuing here for ten days, in hopes of meeting the
Speedwell, but in vain, the crew of the Success became much
disheartened, so that Clipperton had much difficulty in persuading them
to persist in the enterprize.
The Cape de Verd islands, called Salt
islands by the Dutch, derive their name from Cape de Verd on the coast
of Africa. The sea which surrounds them is covered by a green herb,
called Sergalso or cresses by the Portuguese, resembling
water-cresses, and so thickly that hardly can the water be seen, neither
can ships make their way through it but with a stiff gale. This herb
produces berries, resembling white gooseberries, but entirely tasteless.
No one knows how this herb grows, as there is no ground or land about
the place where it is found floating on the water, neither can it be
supposed to come from the bottom, as the sea is very deep, and is in
many places quite unfathomable. This sea-weed begins to be seen in the
lat. of 34 deg. N. where it is so thick that it seems as if islands, but is
not to be met with in any other part of the ocean.
The Cape de Verd islands, when first discovered by the Portuguese in
1572, were all desert and uninhabited, but they now inhabit several of
them. They are ten in number, St Jago, St Lucia, St Vincent, St Antonio,
St Nicolas, Ilha Blanca, Ilha de Sal, Ilha de Maio, Ilha de Fogo, and
Bonavista. They now afford plenty of rice, flour, Tartarian wheat,
oranges, lemons, citrons, bananas, ananas or pine-apples, ignames,
batatas, melons, cucumbers, pompions, garden and wild figs, and several
other sorts of fruits. They have vineyards also, which produce ripe
grapes twice a year; and have abundance of cattle, both great and small,
but especially goats. The capital city is St Jago, in the island of that
name, in which resides the governor who commands over all these islands
under the King of Portugal. It is also the residence of an archbishop,
whose see extends over all these islands, and over all the conquests of
the Portuguese on this side of the Cape of Good Hope. These islands
afford good convenience for ships on long voyages procuring a supply of
fresh water. On the east side of Maio there is a little river, and as
the island is uninhabited, there is nobody to hinder one from taking it:
There is also water to be had on St Antonio, where also good
refreshments may be had, of oranges, lemons, and other fruits; and the
Portuguese on this island are so few in number, that they cannot prevent
one from taking what they please.
May the 29th having an observation, Clipperton found his latitude to be
52 deg. 15' S. being then off Cape Virgin Mary, the northern point at the
eastern entrance into the straits of Magellan, distant from Fuego, one
of the Cape de Verd islands, 1580 leagues, the meridional distance being
36 deg.
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