CORISCO

corisco, the name of a bay and an island on the guinea coast, west africa. the bay is bounded n. by cape san juan (1° 10' n.) and s. by cape esterias (0° 36' n.), and is about 31 m. across, while it extends inland some 15 m. the bay is much encumbered with sandbanks, which impair its value as a harbour. whereas the muni river or estuary, which enters the bay on its northern side, has a maximum depth of over 100 ft., vessels entering it have to come by a channel with an average depth of six fathoms. the entrance to the southern part of the bay is obstructed by the bana bank, which extends for 9 m., rendering navigation dangerous. the bay encloses many small islands and islets, some hardly distinguishable from sandbanks and submerged at high water, giving rise to a native saying that "half the islands live under water." the principal islands are four, bana, great and little elobey, and corisco, the last-named lying farthest to seaward and giving its name to the bay. corisco island, the largest of the group, is some 3 m. long by 13⁄4 m. in breadth and has an area of about 51⁄2 sq. m. the surface of the island is very diversified. on a miniature scale it possesses mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, forests and swamps, grassland and bushland, moorland and parkland. the forests supply ebony and logwood for export. the natives are a bantu-negro tribe called benga. there are among them many converts to roman catholicism and a few protestants. corisco and the other islands named are spanish possessions and are governed as dependencies of fernando po. see mary h. kingsley, _travels in west africa_, ch. xvii. (london, 1897); e. l. perea, "guinea espanola: la isla de corisco," in _revista de geog. colon. y mercantil_ (madrid, 1906).