DAKAR — WHITTLESEY 387 



Between Cape Verde and the Gambia River (the so-called Petite 

 Cote) six points have been used for European stations at one time or 

 another. Of the southern three, Kaolack, on a sluggish stream, one 

 of several called locally "the Southern Rivers," has recently become 

 a modest exporting point. The northern three are on or close to the 

 Cape Verde Peninsula and together constitute the Cape Verde Settle- 

 ments, geographically an inseparable trio. 



Eufisque was the first site to attract attention, and its career has 

 included brief periods of prosperity from the mid-fifteenth century 

 to the 1920's. Well supplied with fresh water, it lies in the curve of 

 the tombolo bar and thus is sheltered from the northerly Avinds that 

 prevail during much of the year, though it is exposed to the stormier 

 winds of the rainy season. The water is shallow, only 3 fathoms at 

 700 meters from shore. All goods must be lightered and, even though 

 long piers reach beyond the surf, cargoes are frequently damaged by 

 salt water. Both the port and the town are now moribund. 



THE ISLAND OF GOREE 



Under the lee of the cliffed hook of the peninsula a considerable 

 body of water is free from the surf that beats incessantly on the rest 

 of the coast. The high headlands enclose roads in which the water 

 is generally quiet, and their steep slopes are associated with deep 

 water fairly close inshore. These advantages disappear with the 

 onset of the southeaster tornadoes and are diminished throughout the 

 rainy season. Then the west side of the island of Goree offers the 

 least unsafe anchorage. In ordinary times the tiny cove, which faces 

 northeast, offers the same shelter as the adjacent peninsular shore and 

 it is easy to sail out of when a tornado impends. 



Other advantages of the island are not obvious. It is only 850 

 meters long and 300 meters wide in the widest part. A quarter of its 

 16 hectares is a bare, basalt mesa, 30 meters high. The remainder 

 is a platform a few meters above sea level, leading gently up from the 

 cove to the base of the cliff (fig. 2). It has no source of water except 

 rain, no wood for building or fuel, no sand for masonry, and no arable 

 soil. 



The Portuguese, firstcomers, having a choice of ground, made the 

 Cape Verde Islands their headquarters in this region and paid little 

 attention to the Petite Cote. The Dutch were the first to occupy 

 Goree, and half a century elapsed before they took Rufisque and its 

 neighbors. Their selection of a confined, waterless island for their 

 principal settlement was sound, as is proved by the fact that under 

 subsequent French (and occasionally British) occupation Goree re- 

 mained dominant along the Petite Cote for four centuries and at times 

 rivaled Saint-Louis as the leading European post between Gibraltar 

 and Sierra Leone. 



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