their departure from Cape Charles in the Revenge of eight guns and
fifty-two men, John Cooke commander, and bound for the South Sea; but
Captain Cowley, who had charge of the navigation of the Revenge as
master, not being then let into the secret object of the enterprise,
steered a course for Petit Goave in St Domingo, in which he was indulged
for the first day, but was then told that they were bound in the first
place for the coast of Guinea. He then steered E.S.E. for the Cape de
Verd islands, and arrived at _Isola de Sal_, or the Salt island, in the
month of September. They here found neither fruits nor water, but great
plenty of fish, and some goats, but the last were very small. At this
time the island, which is in the latitude of 16° 50' N. and longitude
23° W. from Greenwich, was very oddly inhabited, and as strangely
governed. Its whole inhabitants consisted of four men and a boy, and all
the men were dignified with titles. One, a mulatto, was governor, two
were captains, and the fourth lieutenant, the boy being their only
subject, servant, and soldier. They procured here about twenty bushels
of salt, the only commodity of the island, which they paid for in old
clothes, and a small quantity of powder and shot; and in return for
three or four goats, gave the governor a coat, of which he was in great
want, and an old hat. The salt in which this island abounds, and from
which it derives its name, is formed naturally by the heat of the sun
from the sea-water, which is let into great ponds about two English
miles in extent.

[Footnote 147: The original narrative of this voyage, written by Captain
Cowley, is contained in the fourth volume of the Collection of Voyages
published in 1729 by James and John Knapton, usually denominated
Dampier's Voyages, and has been used on the present occasion.--E]

This island is about nine leagues from N. to S. and about two leagues