Lemos CoelhoÕs account was the fourth Portuguese account to describe, in fairly comprehensive detail, the coast of West Africa between Cape Verde and the Sierra Leone estuary, its trade and its peoples. The earlier accounts were the one compiled by Valentim Fernandes c.1500 and those written by AndrŽ çlvares de Almada c.1595 and AndrŽ Donelha c.1625. The three later accounts have many points of similarity, all three being written in the Cape Verde Islands by individuals who had traded on the coast. ... . Lemos CoelhoÕs was the last comprehensive Portuguese account of western Guinea. Dutch, French and English accounts of the coast began to be written after 1600 and - unlike the Portuguese accounts - were published. - P.E.H. Hair