212 AFRICAN ISLANDS. 



took three Dutch East India ships that lay in the road. There are 

 about 200 families in the island, most of them descended from Eng- 

 lish parents. The East India ships take in water and fresh provi- 

 sions here in their way home ; but the island is so small, and the 

 wind so much against them, outward-bound, that they then very sel- 

 dom see it. 



The company's affairs are here managed by a governor, deputy-go- 

 vernor, and store-keeper, who have standing salaries allowed by the 

 company, besides a public table well furnished, to which all com- 

 manders, masters of ships, and principal passengei's are welcome. 



ASCENSION. This island is situated in 7 deg. 57 min. south lat. 

 and 13 deg 59 min. west long. 600 miles north-west of St. Helena : it 

 received its name from its being discovered by the Portuguese on 

 Ascension-day, and is a mountainous barren island, about twenty miles 

 round, and uninhabited ; but it has a safe convenient harbour, where 

 the East India ships generally touch to furnish themselves with tur- 

 tle or tortoises, which are very plentiful here, and vastly large, some 

 of them weighing above 100 pounds each. The sailors going ashore 

 in the night time frequently turn two or three hundred of them on 

 their backs before morning ; and are sometimes so cruel as to turn 

 many more than they use, leaving them to die on the shore. 



St. MATTHEW. This is a small island lying in 6° 1' west long. 

 and 1° 30' south lat. 300 miles to the north-east of Ascension, and was 

 also discovered by the Portuguese ; who planted and kept possession 

 of it for some time, but afterwards deserted it. This island now re- 

 mains uninhabited, having little to invite other nations to settle there, 

 except a small lake of fresh water. 



The four following islands, viz.St. THOMAS,ANABOA,PRINCE 3 S 

 ISLAND, and FERN ANDOPO, are situate in the gulf of Guinea, be- 

 tween Congo and Benin : all of them were first discovered by the Por- 

 tuguese, and are still in the possession of that nation, and furnish ship- 

 ping with fresh water and provisions as they pass by. 



CAPE VERD ISLANDS. These islands are so called from a cape 

 of that name on the African coast, near the river Gambia, over against 

 which they lie, at the distance of 300 miles, between 23 and 26 deg. 

 west long, and 14 and 18 deg. north lat. They were first discovered 

 in the year 1460, by the Portuguese, and are about twenty in number; 

 but some of them being only barren uninhabited rocks, and not worth 

 notice. St. Jago, Bravo, Fogo, Mayo, Bonavista, Sal, St. Nicholas, 

 St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Santa Cruz, and St. Antonio, are the most con- 

 siderable, and are subject to the Portuguese. The air, generally 

 speaking, is very hot, and in some of them very unwholesome. They 

 are inhabited by Europeans, or the descendants of Europeans and ne- 

 groes. 



St.Tago, where the Portuguese viceroy resides, is the most fruitful, 

 best inhabited, and largest of them all, being 150 miles in circumfer- 

 ence ; yet it is mountainous, and has much barren land in it. Its pro- 

 duce is sugar, cotton, some wine, Indian corn, cocoa-nuts, oranges, 

 and other tropical fruits, plenty of roots, and garden vegetables; but 

 the plant of most consequence to them is the madder, which grows in 

 abundance among the cliffs. Here is also plenty of hogs and poultry, 

 and some of the prettiest green monkeys, with black faces, that are 

 to be met with any where. Bay, or Praya, (famous for an action be- 

 tween an English and French squadron) is situate on the east side, 

 has a good port, and is seldom without ships : those outward-bound 



