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11. The GORGADES, or Isles of CAPE VERD.
11. THe GORG ADES, or Ilands of Cape Verd (Insulae Capitis Viridis, as the Latines call them) are 9. in number; called by the last name because situate over against Cape Verd (Promontorium Capitis Viridis) in the Land of Negroes. Their names 1 S. Anthony, 2 S. Vincent, 3 Buenavista, 4 S. Lucies, 5 Insula Salis, the Isle of Salt, 6 DelFogo, or the Isle of Fire, 7 S. Nicholas, 8 Maggio, or Majo, 9 S. Ja∣go. Some add to these a tenth, called Brava Discovered all in the year 1440 by a Geneose called Anto∣nio de Noli, employed therein at the charges & direction of Henry Duke of Visco one of the younger sons of K. John of Portugal, the first of that name. Of the most little to be said. The principal, and in∣deed the only ones which are now inhabited, are Majo, Del Fogo, S. Jago, 1 Majo is of most re∣pute for a Lake of two Leagues long; the waters whereof are by the heat of the Sun turned into Salt, which is here made in great abundance. 2 Del Fogo is so called from the Flakes of fire which it sends forth usually, and fell so thick upon the Ship of Sir Anthony Sherley when he took the Iland, An. 1596. that one might have writ his name in the ashes on the upper Deck, with the top of his finger. 3. The principal of all S. Jago, yet but seven miles long; rockie and mountainous, but full of very pleasant Valleys, and well inhabited. The chief Town of it called Riblera, or Ribiera la grande, a Colony of Portugals; situate on a fine River and a beautiful Haven: taken and sacked by Sir Francis Drake, in the year 1585, and after by Sir Anthony Sherley, An. 1596.
The name of Gorgades, as the more ancient of the two, is almost forgotten. Given to those Ilands, as supposed (but I cannot see upon what grounds) to be the seat of the Gorgons; the proper habita∣tion or dwelling place of Medusa and her two fair sisters. This Medusa said, or rather fabled by the Poets, to have been a Woman of great beauty; Who either for suffering her body to be abused by Neptune, in one of the Temples of Pallas, or for preferring her self before Pallas, had by the said Goddess, her hair turned into Snakes; and this property annexed unto them, that whosoever looked on her, should be turned into stones: which quality is retained after she was slain, and beheaded by Perseus. Thus and far more sabulously the Poets. The Historians (for as some think, omnis fabula fundatur in historia) relate, how this Medusa was indeed a Lady of such exceeding beauty, that all men that saw her, were amazed: and of such a wise and subtile brain, that for that cause only men attributed unto her a Serpents head. She abounding in wealth, and by piracy molesting the Seas of Europe, was invaded by an Army of Grecians, under the leading of Perseus; who in a single combat slew her. Perseus when he plucked off her helmet, admiring that beauty which he had destroyed, cut off her head, and carried it into Greece: where the people beyond measure wondred at the rare compositure of her face, and the exceeding beauty of her haire; and are therefore said to have by her head been metamorphosed into stones. Pausanias in his Corinthiacks so reports the story.