Chap, ii.] CAPE VERDE. 37 



Cape Verde Islands, July 27tli to August 9th, 1873. — The 



ship was off the island of St. Vincent of the Cape Verde group 

 on July 27th, and the islands of Sta. Lucia and St. Antonio 

 were in sight ; a heavy mist hanging over the high mountains 

 of the latter. We anchored at Porto Grande, the harbour of 

 St. Vincent. 



The island is about 12 miles long by 6 broad. It was an 

 irregularly oval form, and consists of a flat central tract more 

 or less broken by low hills surrounded by a range of high land. 

 The low central district is evidently the bottom of an ancient 

 crater, of the wall of which the high surrounding range is the 

 remains. The range is composed of strata dipping outwards 

 from the ancient centre of eruption. It is cut up by a series 

 of deep valleys, having a general radiate arrangement, into 

 ridges of various heights, which are again cut up by secondary 

 transverse valleys so as to culminate in a series of irregular 

 peaks. 



Some of the ridges are of considerable altitude. The Green 

 Mountain is 2,483 feet in height, and one other mountain to 

 the extreme south of the island, 2,218 feet. A break in the 

 encircling range to the north-west forms the harbour of Porto 

 Grande, in the entrance to which lies a small island, called 

 Bird Rock, a fragment of the range, once continuous in this 

 direction. 



More barren and desolate-looking spots than St. Antonio 

 and St. Vincent appear as approached from seawards, after 

 they have been suffering from their usual prolonged droughts, 

 it is impossible to conceive of. Their general aspect reminded 

 me of that of Aden or of some of the volcanic islands in the 

 Red Sea. At the time of our visit, no rain had fallen for a 

 year at St. Vincent. Sometimes it does not rain for three 

 years. 



The mountains are of black volcanic rock terminating sea- 

 wards in precipices, in which the numerous dikes, which traverse 

 them in all directions, stand out conspicuously, often project- 

 ing far through weathering of the matrix. Between the hill 

 ranges stretches a flat sandy plain covered with sand dunes, 

 and with ranges of low rounded hills of a bright red ochre tint. 

 The white sandy plain terminates at the head of the harbour 

 in a sandy shore, where is a miserable town, composed mostly 

 of mere hovels, and a black coaling jetty. 



The whole was glaring in a fierce sun, and appeared almost 

 devoid of vegetation, but from the anchorage some black tufts 

 could be made out with a telescope, which consisted of small 

 bushes of lavender {^Lavandula rotundifolia), the most abun- 

 dant plant in the island, and on the summits of the higher hills 



