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6 ME. H. IT. BIDLEY ON THE 



little undergrowth in the Sapate ; but a new species of Oxalis was 



obtained at one spot. At the entrance to this district, along the 

 path used by the woodcutters, a number of weeds occurred, not 

 common elsewhere, which were no doubt introduced by the wood- 

 cutters themselves, such as Plumbago scandens and one or two 

 large patches of Panicum numidianum. The latter is the culti- 

 vated fodder-grass of Brazil, and from its position here it 

 appeared to have been brought in the form of hay for the horses 

 used in carrying the wood from the forests. 



There is a large pool of water of considerable depth on the 

 south side of the Sapate ; it is surrounded at some distance by a 

 semicircle of high cliffs, between which and the lake is a dense 

 thicket of shrubs, which come down to the very edge. The lake 

 is fringed with Panicum brizoides and almost filled to the brim 

 with Nitella cernua and an Alga, among which we found many 

 specimens of a new species of Planorbis and several aquatic 

 insects not met with elsewhere. On Morro branco, a hill com- 

 posed of phonolite altered by contact with basalt, a few local 

 plants were found, and a peculiar Paspalum with stiff erect 

 leaves (P. pTionoliticum). "Wherever the cliffs were broken up 

 they were covered with a vegetation of maritime plants, such as 

 Canavalia obtusifolia, Philoxerus vermicularis, Ipomoea Tuba, 

 I. Pes-caprce, Cenchrus echinatus, &c. 



History. 



The island was first discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503, 

 in his fourth voyage. A fleet of vessels having been despatched 

 from Spain under Coelho, sailed first to the Canary Islands, then 

 to Sierra Leone, and thence attempted to reach Bahia, which had 

 been discovered during a previous voyage in 1501. The discoverer 

 published his account of the finding of the island in the ' Lettera 

 di Amerigo Vespucci delle Isole nuovamente trovate in quattro 

 suoi viaggi,' from a translation of which (Quaritch, 1885, p. 43) 

 I take the following account : — " And when we had sailed 

 full 300 leagues through the immensity of the sea, being then 

 quite 3 degrees south of the equinoctial line, we became aware 

 of a land from which we were probably 22 leagues distant: 

 whereat we marvelled : and we found that it was an island in the 

 middle of the sea and was very lofty, a very marvellous work 

 of nature ; since it was no more than two leagues in length and 

 one in breadth : in which island never had there been in habitation 







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