270 Shipwrecks'on the Coast. appearances, that they are near land until they discover the breakers on the coast, which is so extremely flat, that one may w alk a mile into the sea without being over the knees, so that ships strike when at a v e ry considerable distance from the low- water m a rk ; added to this, there is a current, which sets in from the west toward A fr ica , with inconceivable force and rapidity, with which the navigator being too often unacquainted, he loses his reckoning* and in the course o f a night, perhaps, when he expects to clear the African coast in his passage southward, he is alarmed with the appearance o f shoal water, and before he has time to recover himself, finds his ship aground, on a desert shore, where neither habitation nor human being is to be seen. In this state his fears are soon encreased b y a persuasion that he must either perish in fighting a horde o f wild Arabs, or submit to become their c a p t iv e ; for soon after a ship strikes, some wandering Arabs strolling from their respective duars in the Desert, perceive the masts from the sand h i l l s ; and without coming to the shore, repair to their hordes perhaps SO o r 40 miles off, to apprise them o f the wreck ; when they immedia te ly assemble, arming themselves with daggers, guns, and cudgels. Sometimes two or three days or more elapse before th e y make their appearance on- the coast, where they await the usual alternative o f the crew either delivering themselves up to them, rather than perish with hunger, o r throwing themselves into the sea. When the former takes place, quarrels frequently ensue among the Arabs, about the possession o f the sailors, disputing for the captain or mate because he is better dressed, or discovers himself to them in some other way, and because they expect a larger ransom for him. T h e y afterwards go in boats, and take e v e ry thing portable from the vessel, and Cautions to Mavigators. 271 then i f the sea do not dash it to pieces, set fire to it, in order that it may not serve as a warning to the crews o f other ships, and thereby save them from a similar misfortune.* Sometimes, in these wrecks, the poor seamen perceiving what savages th e y have to contend with, (though they are far from being so savage and inhospitable as their appearance indicates) determine on making resistance, and by means o f cannon, small arms, &c. maintain a temporary defence, until a few falling from the superiority o f numbers, they at length y ield , and deliver themselves up. Vessels bound to Senegal, the coast o f G uinea, Sierra Leone, the Cape de V erde Islands, should v ig ilan tly watch the currents that invariably set in from the west towards this deceitful coast, which has in times past and now continues to enveigle ships to destruction. A flat h a zy coast difficult to be perceived at a distance is the bane o f navigators, who too often terminate the ir hard fate on this coast, it is impossible sufficiently to impress on the minds o f our valuable mariners the dangers o f th is coast, and their subsequent sufferings; sufferings which no tongue can utter, no pen can accurately describe. About three leagues from this flat shore off Wedinoon, o r the riv e r Akassa, a bank o f sand near the le v e l o f the water extends -southward towards Cape fiojador, extremely .dangerous to * I will here mention a stratagem by which a sailor, a few years since, saved a ship on this coast, as it may be of use to some future navigator ¡—The vessel was. stranded, and one of the crew being a Spaniard, who had been used to fish there from the Canaries, advised the Captain to let go an anchor, as if the vessel were riding and in safety: some Arabs coming on board, the captain told them to bring rtheir gums and other produce, for that they were come to trade with them, .and were going away again in a few days,; as it happened to he low water, the vessel on the return of the tide floated, they then weighed anchor, and set sail, leaving, the Arabs astonished at their unexpected departure.
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