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In the course of his voyage he discovered the river Sanaga or Senegal, between 15 and 16 degrees of latitude ; and proceeding onwards, discovered Cape Verde, in 14 degrees , upon which he erected a wooden cross, and then returned, much elated at the success of his voyage.
Through this country several large rivers empty themselves into the sea; particularly the Sanaga, Gambia and Sherbro; these, during the rainy months, which begin in July and continue till October, overflow their banks, and lay the whole flat country under water; and indeed, the very sudden rise of these rivers is incredible to persons who have never been within the tropicks, and are unacquainted with the violent rains that fall there.
At Galem, nine hundred miles from the mouth of the Sanaga, I am informed that the waters rise one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular, from the bed of the river.
The English even paid a Judas reward of twenty to fifty shillings for every German, living or half-dead, who was brought in by the natives. "Later I met various prisoners whose evidence corroborated the inhuman tortures which they had endured. Herr Schlechtling related how he was attacked at Sanaga by natives with bush-knives, just as he was aiming at an English patrol.
The Sanhaga, or Assenaji tribe, is now placed at no great distance from the African coast, between the rivers Nun and Senegal; and this latter river has probably received its Portuguese name of Sanaga from that tribe.
Twenty leagues beyond the southern boundary of the great desert, Lançarot came to the mouth of a large river, which had been formerly seen by Denis Fernandez, and named by him Rio Portugues, or the Portuguese river; which was called Ouedech by the natives, and afterwards got the name of Canaga, Zanaga, Sanhaga, Sanaga, or Senega, now the Senegal.
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