Chapter XLIV: Section XI

_The Voyage of Piedro de Cintra to Sierra Leona, and the Windward coast of Guinea; written by Alvise da Cada Mosto._

The two voyages to the coast of Africa in which Cada Mosto was engaged, and which have, been narrated in the foregoing Sections of this Chapter, were followed by others; and, after the death of Don Henry, two armed caravels were sent out upon discovery by orders from the king of Portugal, under the command of Piedro de Cintra, one of the gentlemen of his household, with injunctions to proceed farther along the coast of the Negroes than had hitherto been effected, and to prosecute new discoveries. In this expedition, Piedro de Cintra was accompanied by a young Portuguese who had formerly been clerk to Cada Mosto in his two voyages; and who, on the return of the expedition to Lagos, came to the house of his former employer, who then continued to reside at Lagos, and gave him an account of the discoveries which had been made in this new voyage, and the names of all the places which had been touched at by Piedro de Cintra, beginning from the Rio Grande, the extreme point of the former voyage[1].

De Cintra first went to the two large inhabited islands at the mouth of the Rio Grande which I had discovered in my second voyage, where he landed, and ordered his interpreters to make the usual inquiries at the inhabitants; but they could not make themselves understood, nor could they understand the language of the natives. Going therefore into the interior, they found the habitations of the Negroes to consist of poor thatched cabins, in some of which they found wooden idols, which were worshipped by the Negroes. Being unable to procure any information in this place, Cintra proceeded, in his voyage along the coast, and came to the mouth of a large river between three and four miles wide, which he called Besegue, from a lord of that name who dwelt near its mouth, and which he reckoned to be about forty miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande[2]. Proceeding about 140 miles from the river Besegue, along a very hilly coast; clothed with high trees, and having a very beautiful appearance, they came to a cape to which they gave the name of Verga[3]. Continuing along the coast, they fell in with another cape, which, in the opinion of all the seamen, was the highest they had ever seen, having a sharp conical height in the middle like a diamond, yet entirely covered with beautiful green trees. After the name of the fortress of Sagres, which was built by the deceased Don Henry on Cape St Vincent, the Portuguese named this point Cape Sagres of Guinea. According to the account of the Sailors, the inhabitants of this coast are idolaters, worshipping wooden images in the shape of men, before which they make offerings of victuals as often as they eat or drink. These people are more of a tawny colour than black, having marks on their faces and bodies made with hot irons. They go almost entirely naked, except that they wear pieces of the bark of trees before them. They have no arms, as there is no iron in their country. They live on rice, millet, beans, and kidney beans, larger than ours; and have also beef and goats flesh, but not in any great abundance. Near to Cape Sagres there are several very small uninhabited islands.

The inhabitants of this river have large almadias, carrying from thirty to forty men, who row standing, without having their oars fixed to any thing, as formerly noticed. They have their ears pierced with many holes, in which they wear a variety of gold rings. Both men and women have also a hole through the cartilage of the nose, in which they wear a gold ring, just like that of iron in the noses of our buffalos, which they take out when eating. The ladies belonging to the kings and great men, by way of extraordinary grandeur, have gold rings on other parts of their body, which decorum prevents us from particularizing.

Passing Cape Sagres, they sailed about forty miles farther along the coast, and came to the Rio de San Vincents, which is about four miles wide; and about five miles farther they found another, which they called Rio Verde, larger at the mouth than the former[5]. Both of these rivers were so named by the sailors in the caravels. About twenty-four miles beyond the Rio Verde, they came to another cape which they called _Cape Liedo_, signifying the _cheerful_, because of the beautifully verdant country in its neighbourhood[6]. From Cape Liedo there extends a large mountain for about fifty miles along the coast, all of which is very high, and covered with tall verdant trees. At the end of this mountain, and about eight miles from the shore, there are three small islands, the largest of which does not exceed ten or twelve miles in circumference. To these the sailors gave the name of _Saluezze_[7]; and they named the mountain _Sierra Leona_, or the Lion Mountain, on account of the continual roaring of thunder on its summit, which is always enveloped in clouds.

Proceeding beyond Sierra Leona, the coast was quite low, and the shore full of sand banks running out into the sea. About thirty miles from the southern extremity of the mountain, they found a river near three miles wide at the entrance, and because the water had a red colour, they called it Rio Roxo[8]. And farther on they found a cape, likewise of a red colour, which they named Cape Roxo[9]. And they gave the same name of Roxo to a small uninhabited island, about ten miles off at sea, where the north polar star seemed only the height of a man above the horizon. Beyond Cape Roxo, the sea forms a gulf, about the middle of which there enters a river, which the seamen called St Mary del Nievos, or of the snow, as having been discovered on the day of that Saint. On the other side of the river there is a cape, with an island close beside it[10]. This gulf is full of sand banks, running ten or twelve miles along the coast, on which the sea breaks with considerable violence, and has a strong current both in the ebb and flow of the tide; and the little island just mentioned is named _Scauni_, on account of these sand banks. Twenty-four miles distant from this river is a large cape called St Ann, having been discovered on the day of that saint; and the whole coast between is low, with very shallow water. Twenty-four miles beyond this cape is the river of _Palms_, so named from the abundance of these trees which were seen there. The mouth of this river, though of sufficient width, is so full of shoals; and sand banks as to render its entrance very dangerous. About seventy miles farther on, there is another small river called _Rio de Fumi_, or Smoke River; so named, because at the time of its discovery, they saw nothing but smoke along this coast, made by the Negroes[11]. Beyond this river, about twenty-four miles, there is a cape which runs a great way out into the sea, on which stands a high mountain, on which account it was called _Cabo del Monte_, or Cape Mount About sixty miles still farther on, to the S. E. there is another and smaller cape, on which is a small mountain or hill, which was named Cape _Cortese_, or _Misurado_. The first night after their arrival at this place, the voyagers saw many fires among the trees, made by the Negroes on seeing the ships, as they had never seen such objects before.

About sixteen miles beyond Cape Misurado, there is a large forest of trees close to the shore, to which they gave the name of St Mary's Grove. The caravels came to anchor beyond this wood, and several almadias came off from the shore towards them. There were two or three naked negroes in each, having sharp pointed sticks in their hands, which our seamen supposed to be darts; some of them had small knives, and they had only two targets and three bows among them all. These Negroes, had their ears and noses pierced, from which hung some strange ornaments resembling human teeth. The interpreters spoke to them, but could not understand their language. Three of these Negroes ventured on board one of the caravels, one of whom was detained by the Portuguese, and the other two allowed to go away; for Cintra had been ordered by the king, in case of discovering any country where the interpreters did not understand the language, that he was to bring away one of the natives either by force or fair means, that he might be able to give an account of his country, either by some of the Negroes in Portugal happening to understand his language, or after he had acquired the Portuguese.

Piedro de Cintra, having determined to proceed no farther, returned back to Portugal from Cape Misarado, to which he had traced the coast of Africa from the Rio Grande. Upon his return, this negro who had been detained off Cape Misurado, was examined by several Negroes, and at length was understood by a Negress who belonged to an inhabitant of Lisbon; not indeed by his own proper language, but by means of another which was known to them both. Whatever intelligence may have been procured on this occasion, was not made public, except that there were unicorns in his country. After this Negro had been kept for some months in Lisbon, and had been shewn many of the curiosities of Portugal, the king ordered him to be supplied with clothes, and sent him back in a caravel to his own country. But from that coast no other ship had arrived before my departure, which was on the first of February 1463[12].

[1] For this exordium or introduction, we are indebted to the editor of
Astley's Collection of Voyages and Travels, said to have been a Mr
John Green. The infant Don Henry of Portugal died in 1463; so that
there must have been an interval of six or seven years between the
second voyage of Cada Mosto and this of Piedro de Cintra: Though de
Faria seems to put this voyage as having been executed before the
death of that excellent prince, yet Cada Mosto, who then actually
resided at Lagos, could not be mistaken is this important particular.--
Astl.

[2] In a note to the second voyage of Cada Mosto, it has been already
noticed that he seems to have given the name of Rio Grande to the
channel between the Bissagos islands, or shoals of the Rio Grande and
the Main. This river Besegue, may possibly be the strait or channel
which divides the island named particularly Bissagos, or more properly
Bissao, from that of Bassis or Bussi. Yet, this river Besegue may even
have been that now called Rio Grande, in which, about twenty-four
leagues above its mouth, there is an island called Bissaghe.--E.

[3] It is strange that the Rio de Nuno, close by this cape, the estuary
of which is not less than seven or eight miles wide, should be here
omitted; but the present voyage is very superficially narrated
throughout.--E.

[4] The text is here obviously defective, as no river is mentioned before;
but the allusion must be to the river Pongo, Pongue, or Pougue, at the
mouth of which Cape Sagres is situated; indeed that cape seems to be
formed by one of the islands off the mouth of the river.--E.

[5] There are a number of small rivers on the coast, between Cape Sagres
and Cape Tagrin, such as Tofali, Dania, Buria, Berrea, Tanna, Pogone,
Cagrance, dos Casas; but our modern charts have none named as in the
text on this part of the coast.--E.

[6] This is now called Cape Tagrin, and forms the northern point at the
entrance of the Sierra Leone river, otherwise called the Mitomba or
Tagrin river. The southern point is named Cape Sierra Leone; and in
some maps is likewise named Liedo very improperly. It is necessary to
distinguish carefully between the _Cape_ of Sierra Leone, and the
mountainous ridge of the same name, which appears to extend a
considerable way along the coast to the S. E. near fifty miles, to the
river Kates, or Sa. Ma. della Neue. But, from the baldness of the
narrative, there is great difficulty in tracing out this voyage.--E.

[7] These are now called Bananas islands, in lat. 8° N.--E.

[8] Perhaps the Camaranca.--E.

[9] Probably that now called Tassa Point, or Cabo de S. Anna.--E.

[10] This account seems again to refer to the river Camaranca and Tassa
Point; otherwise called Cape St Ann; yet this cape is brought in
immediately afterwards. Indeed this voyage is inextricably confused,
probably incorrect or corrupt.--E.

[11] The large island of Sherbro, with Sherbro Strand and Shoals, a very
prominent feature of this part of the African coast, is here entirely
overlooked; unless we suppose de Cintra to have gone on the outside of
that island, considering the sound as a river, and naming the N. W.
point of Sherbro island Cape St Ann.--E.

[12] We have already seen that Don Henry died in this year, which must,
therefore, be here an error of the press, either in the original
publication by Cada Mosto, or in some of the after editions.--E.