the way, where the crews found such quantities of
sea-birds that they brought home two ship-loads. And here it is to be
noticed, says the narrative, that in sailing from the parts of Cadiz to
that AEthiopia which faces to the south, you meet with nothing but desert
lands till you come to Cape Cantin, from which it is a near course to C.
Blanco. These parts towards the south do run along the borders of the
negroes' land, and this great tract of white and arid land, full of
sand, very low lying at a dead level, it would be a quick thing to cross
in sixty days. At C. Blanco some hills begin to rise out of the plain,
and this cape was first found by the Portuguese, and on it is nothing
but sand, no trace of grass or trees; it is seen from far, being very
sharply marked, three-sided, and having on its crest three pyramids, as
they may be called, each one a mile from its neighbour. A little beyond
this great desert tract is a vast sea and a wondrous concourse of
rivers, where only explorers have reached. At C. Blanco there is a mart
of Arab traders, a station for the camels and caravans of the interior,
and those pass by the cape who are coming from Negro-land and going to
the Barbary of North Africa. As one might expect on such a barren stony
soil, no wine or grain can be raised; the natives have oxen and goats,
but very few; milk of camels and others is their only drink; as for
religion, the wretches worship Mahomet and hate Christians right
bitterly. What is of more interest to the Venetian merchant, the traders
of these parts have plenty of camels which carry loads of brass and
silver, and even of gold, brought from the negroes to the people of our
parts.

The natives of C. Blanco are black as moles, but dress in white flowing
robes, after the Moorish fashion, with a turban wound round the head;
and indeed plenty of Arabs are always hovering off the cape and the bay
of Arguin for the sake of trade with the Infant's ships, especially in
silver, grain, and woven stuffs, and above all in slaves and gold. To
protect this commerce, the Prince some time since (1448), built a fort
in the bay, and every year the Portuguese caravels that come here lie
under its protection and exchange the negro slaves that they have
captured farther south for Arab horses, one horse against ten or fifteen
slaves, or for silks and woven stuffs from Morocco and Granada, from
Tunis and the whole land of Barbary. The Arabs on their side sell
slaves, th