The whole
coast east of C. Verde was found unapproachable, except for certain
narrow harbours, till "with a south wind we reached the mouth of a
river, called Ruim, a bowshot across at the mouth. And when we sighted
this river, which was sixty miles beyond C. Verde, we cast anchor at
sunset in ten or twelve paces of water, four or five miles from the
shore, but when it was day, as the look-out saw there was a reef of
rocks on which the sea broke itself, we sailed on and came to the mouth
of another river as large as the Senegal, with trees growing down to the
water's edge and promising a most fertile country." Cadamosto determined
to land a scout here, and caused lots cast among his slave-interpreters
which was to land. "And of these slaves, negroes whom the native kings
in the past had sold to Portuguese and who had then been trained in
Europe I had many with me who were to open the country for our trade and
to parley between us and the natives. Now the lot fell upon the Genoese
caravel (which had joined the explorers), to draw into the shore and
land a prisoner, to try the good will of the natives before any one else
ventured." The poor wretch, instructed to enquire about the races living
on the river and their manners, polity, King's name and capital, gold
supply, and other matters of commerce, had no sooner swum ashore than he
was seized and cut to pieces by some armed savages, while the ships
sailed on with a south wind, making no attempt to avenge their victim,
till after a lovely coast, fringed with trees, low-lying, and rich
exceedingly, they came to the mouth of the Gambra, three or four miles
across, the haven where they would be, and where Cadamosto expected his
full harvest of gold and pepper and aromatics.
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