1772.
August.
iſle of Mayo. About noon we approached the iſle of San Jago, and anchored at three o'clock in the afternoon in Porto-Praya.
Thursday 13.Early the next morning we went on ſhore, and viſited the commandant of the fort, Don Joſeph de Sylva, a good-natured man, who ſpoke the French imperfectly, and introduced us to the governor-general of the Cape-Verd iſlands. This gentleman, whoſe name was Don Joachim Salama Saldanha de Lobos, commonly reſides at St. Jago, the capital of the iſland; but as he was very ſickly, which his complexion witneſſed for him, he had retired hither about two months ago, where the air is reckoned more ſalubrious. He occupied the apartments of the commandant, who was now obliged to dwell in a wretched cottage, and who gave us ſome information relative to theſe iſlands.
In 1449, Antonio Nolli, probably by others named Antoniotto, a Genoeſe in the ſervice of Don Henry, Infante of Portugal, diſcovered ſome of the Cape-Verd islands, and on the ſirſt of May landed on one of them, which had its name from thence. St. Jago was seen at the same time. In 1460, another voyage was undertaken in order to ſettle them; and on this occasion the remaining islands were likewise discovered. San Jago is the greateſt of them, and about ſeventeen leagues in length. The capital, of the same name, lies in the interior parts of the country, and is the see of the biſhop of all the Cape-