38 TAPE VERDE. 



a few EuphorI)ia bushes {E. hicheyana) could he made out in 

 the same way. On the sandy iilain at one spot is a thick 

 growth of low tamarisk bushes which stretches from the shore 

 inland, amongst which at about half a mile from shore is a 

 group of half a dozen small trees. These are a Tamarind 

 \Tamnrindj(S indicn), some thorny acacias {A. albidd), and 

 Tei-minalis catappa. They stand in an old enclosure in front 

 of the ruins of a house, and are green and flourishing, and 

 show that much might be done by cultivation, even for St. 

 Vincent. 



From a statement in Horsburg's Directory, in the description 

 of St. Vincent, that " as much wood may be cut here in a short 

 time as can be stowed away," I was led to suppose that possibly 

 in old times there was much more vegetation in the island and 

 hence more rain, and that the trees had been destroyed as at 

 San J ago, according to Darwin;* but I find that in accounts of 

 the Island published in 1676,1 the vegetation is described as 

 having almost exactly the same appearance and range as at the 

 present day. The firewood is mentioned, but described as a 

 bush, evidently the tamarisk, and said to be scanty and very 

 bad. The island is described as being as barren as it is now. 



The plains I found covered all over with the spiny fruit of 

 a small creeping plant (^Trihibts cistoides). Almost the only 

 plants retaining any living and green leaves were the lavenders, 

 on the bushes of which were to be found here and there a 

 green sprout put forth apparently in anticipation of the wet 

 season. Many of the plants were so chip dry, that I had to 

 gather specimens in boxes, as they would not stand pressing. 



The plains were covered with grass seeds. The island is 

 said to become green as if by magic after rain, and at St. Jago, 

 where the rain had been earlier, the plains at about 500 feet 

 elevation were covered at the time of our visit with a bright 

 green coat of seedlings ; but a day's moderate rain which 

 occurred on July 30th at St. Vincent had not produced any 

 visible effect by August 5th, the day on which we sailed. The 

 bottoms of the valleys and hill-slopes to the southward are 

 covered with a dry hay-like grass \ but the goats and cattle 

 kept in this part of the island were dying in numbers from 

 starvation. 



On June 30th, I made an excursion with a small party, up 

 Green Mountain. It was raining, and the coal contractor on 

 shore, who arranged matters for our trip, warned us that we 

 should all catch a terrible fever if we went and got wet. We 



* "Journal of Researches." London, J. Murray, 1845, p. 2. 

 t Dapper's "Africa." Amsterdam, 1676. " F-ilanden van Africa," 

 p. 83. 



