CHAP. II.] MADEIRA TO THE COAST OF BRAZIL. 105 



tlirongli the settlement. Irregular " streets," or double ranges 

 of huts, radiate from the central square. The Imts are all sep- 

 arate, each with its little garden. They are all nearly on the 

 same plan, built of bamboo wattles and claj, and thatched. 

 Bananas grow wonderfully luxuriantly, embowering the little 

 liuts, some of which are whitewashed and clean and very pict- 

 uresque. Often a great pumpkin plant had grown all over the 

 roof, and loaded it with its large fruit. In the gardens there 

 were water-melons and pumpkins, sweet-potatoes, cassava, lentils, 

 and a few lemon, orange, and bread-fruit trees. The convicts 

 were everywhere most civil ; they were generally rather good- 

 looking fellows. The great majority were of various shades of 

 l)laek, and often with the jolly expression so common in the 

 different mixtures of the negro race. In some of the huts 

 there were women and children, and from many of them came 

 sounds of singing and laughter, and the music of a guitar or 

 banjo. It was difficult to realize that the whole place was a 

 prison, with a population of convicted felons and their warders. 

 Beyond the village we came to some old canebrakes, and all 

 round there was an incessant chirping of an infinite number of 

 crickets, not unlike our English species. They ran over the 

 road in all directions, and one could see dozens at a time. The 

 canebrakes were full of doves, which rose as we approached, 

 and fluttered up to the tops of the canes and looked at us ; a 

 little field-mouse was very abundant, scuttling about on the path 

 and among the dry leaves ; altogether, the place seemed to be 

 very full of varied life. We walked over to the other side of 

 the rise, and had a splendid view of the weather coast, with the 

 curiously formed rock, the " clocher," right beneath us, and the 

 surf breaking over outlying rocks. There were some pretty 

 views from the high ground, through cultivated valleys, dotted 

 with banyan and bread-fruit trees and groups of palms, with 

 scattered habitations of convicts half hidden among the beauti- 

 ful foliao;e of the banana. 



