Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/108

 82 WEST AFRICA. The Cape Yerd Archipelago. These Atlantic islands bear a name for which it would be well to find a sub- stitute ; for it is justified neither by the geographical position, the geological constitution, nor the history of the group. They are distant at their nearest point no less than 280 miles from the African headland after which they are named, while the intervening waters are no less than 2,250 fathoms deep. Hence they are true oceanic lands, and in no sense natural dependencies of the continent. When the south-eastern group of the archipelago was first reached by explorers the cape had already long been known. Since that time — that is, over four hundred years ago — the first appellation has been maintained, so that no change could now be tolerated by all-powerful custom. Nor is there anything to justify the alternative expression Gorgades, or " Islands of the Gorgons," for the text of Pliny referring to these fabled lands could scarcely be applied to an archipelago at such a distance from the coast known to the ancients. The Spaniards for a time called them the Santiago Islands, and the Dutch the Salt Islands, while on Juan de la Cosa's chart they figure as the Antonio group, from one of the first dis- coverers. This question of discovery has been much discussed. According to Major {Life of Prinoe Henry of Portugal) Diego Gomes was the first to reach the archi- pelago; but the passage relied on by this English author has been differently interpreted by other commentators. In his Navigations the Venetian merchant Cadamosto claims for himself and the Genoese Usodimare the honour of having discovered the islands of Boa-Vista and neighbouring lands in the year 1456, and despite some real or apparent contradictions in his statement, he is probably entitled to this honour. Four years later the group was again visited by the Italian Antonio di Noli in the service of Portugal, who in a single day verified the existence of Maio, Sam-Thiago (" Saint James ") and Fogo, which last he named Sam-Felippe. How or when the other members of the archipelago were first sighted and explored has not been clearly determined ; but no doubt the work of exploration was rapidly completed by those who had received grants of the parts already surveyed. Nevertheless forty years after Antonio di Noli's voyage, Sam-Thiago and Fogo had alone been occupied by small settlements. The others were peopled during the course of the sixteenth century by Portuguese colonists and Negroes imported from the neighbouring continent. But Salt Island remained unsettled till the present century, and certain islets are still uninhabited. Compared to the extent of the archipelago the population is slight, a fact due to the scarcity of water. With a total area of 1,450 square miles there were probably not more than 105,000 inhabitants in 1886, or about seventy to the square mile. The archipelago is disposed in irregular groups, forming a large curve of some 300 miles, with its convex side turned towards the African mainland. This curve begins in the north-west with Santo- Antam, which is the second largest member of the archipelago. It is continued south-eastwards by Sam- Vicente (Saint Vincent),