78 Mr. B. Alexander — Expedition 



Deciding to work the western portion o£ the island first, 

 I selected the vicinity of a small village called Caiarda, 

 about six miles north of Praya, for our encampment. 

 Owing to the heavy baggage, which had to be carried on 

 donkeys, sixteen in number, it was by no means easy to get 

 there, since communication between the different villages 

 is maintained merely by rough stony footpaths. There is, 

 however, one road of recent construction, due to the efforts 

 of the present Governor-General, who has improved the 

 island in more ways than one. This road, a good mac- 

 adamized one, lies on the eastern side of the island, leading 

 through the villages of Sao Jorge and San Domingo and 

 then into the heai't of the island. Nearly level throughout, 

 it is a triumph in road-making, considering the hilly nature 

 of the country. 



On the 16th, after taking over three hours to accomplish 

 the six miles, we pitched our tents close to the side of a steep 

 valley, one of the largest in the island, and very long and 

 tortuous. On nearing the coast it becomes nothing but a 

 boulder-strewn watercourse, down which torrents rush in 

 the rainy-season. But further inland, where local springs 

 crop out, this valley, like many another in the island, 

 is very fertile, abounding in sugar-cane plantations, orange- 

 groves, and coconuts. Early the next morning we started 

 to explore this valley, directing our course up its centre 

 towards the village. After a mile of rough walking, we 

 caught sight of clusters of huts peeping out from a mass 

 of tropical growth, and close to a large sugar-cane 

 plantation, bordered in places with strips of fish-cane. 



On leaving the valleys and gaining the open country all 

 signs of verdure disappear, and nothing but brown arid- 

 looking plains and hill-slopes, too barren and exposed for 

 cultivation and destitute of all forest growth, meets the eye. 

 The gentler slopes are, however, clad here and there with 

 Acacia albida ; while portions of the plains are toned with 

 patches of dried-up grass and the dark ivy-green leaves of 

 a weedy-looking plant with coarse stem-growth. 



While near Caiarda we worked nearly half the island, 



