* * * * * AN ACCOUNT OF WRECKS, AND THE CAPTIVITY OF BRITISH SAILORS, ON THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA. * * * * * CHAPTER XII. _Shipwrecks on the Western Coast of Africa about Wedinoon and Sahara — State of the British and other Captives whilst in possession of the Saharawans, or roving Arabs of the Desert — Suggestion of the Author for the Alleviation of their Sufferings — Mode of their Redemption._ That part of the western coast of Africa, which lies between the latitudes of 20 and 32 degrees north, has been differently laid down in various charts, but, perhaps, never yet accurately. The Spaniards, who fish on this coast eastward of the Canary Islands, assure us that soundings are to be found quite across to the Continent; and there is a tradition among the Arabs, that in very remote ages those islands formed part of the African continent. In support of this tradition, it may be observed, that the aborigines of Lancerotta, one of the Canary islands situated about thirty-five leagues from this coast, resemble in manners, in physiognomy, in person, and in language the Shelluhs, inhabitants of South Atlas, and retain many of their customs. That part of the coast, which lies between the above-mentioned latitudes, is a desert country interspersed with immense hills of loose and moveable sand, which are from time to time driven by the wind into various forms, and so impregnate the air with particles of sand for many miles out at sea, as to give to the atmosphere an appearance of hazy weather: navigators not aware of this circumstance, never suspect, during such appearances, that they are near land until they discover the breakers on the coast, which is so extremely flat, that one may walk a mile into the sea without being over the knees, so that ships strike when at a very considerable distance from the low-water mark; added to this, there is a current, which sets in from the west toward Africa, with inconceivable force and rapidity, with which the navigator being too often unacquainted, he loses his reckoning, and in the course of a night, perhaps, when he expects to clear the African coast in his passage southward, he is alarmed with the appearance of shoal water, and before he has time to recover himself, finds his ship aground, on a desert shore, where neither habitation nor human being is to be seen. In this state his fears are soon encreased by a persuasion that he must either perish in fighting a horde of wild Arabs, or submit to become their captive; for soon after a ship strikes, some wandering Arabs strolling from their respective duars in the Desert, perceive the masts from the sand hills; and without coming to the shore, repair to their hordes perhaps 30 or 40 miles off,