V0l 'lfl^ XI1 ] Murphy, Birds of Fernando Noronha. 45 



off to a reef to fish. The guide, who was informed of our mission, 

 pointed out the nests of the various birds, and captured for us some of 

 the small lizards which scurried over the sand and rock everywhere. 

 He talked glibly in his Brazilian jargon, giving voluminous informa- 

 tion concerning the severities inflicted upon the unfortunate exiles. 

 We met a number of his equally unclad fellow prisoners, as well as 

 several pitiful, rheumatic, illiterate boys, children of the convicts, 

 who, like the adults, followed and assisted us for the sake of gath- 

 ering our empty cartridge shells. Finally the Pernambucan took 

 the cooper on a visit to some of the convicts' casas, miserable huts, 

 half-thatched with cocoanut leaves and destitute of furniture. The 

 women, some of them whites of unmixed blood, were almost as 

 sparsely clothed and as woe-begone as the men. 



During the absence of my companions I climbed a rough, nearly 

 perpendicular footpath into the woods. Thorn-shrubs, trailing 

 vines, and numerous berry-bearing plants among which the wild 

 doves were feeding, made a fairly dense cover. The "Pinhao" 

 or pink-flowered tree (Jatropha gossypifolia) which we had noted 

 from the beach, was leafless although in full blossom, just as on the 

 occasion of Darwin's visit in 1832. I ascended as far as possible 

 up the bare, steep side of the Pyramid. Directly below me lay 

 the long, picturesque beach, with the fleet-winged birds crossing 

 and recrossing it. Not a trace of the work of human hands was in 

 sight. Here was Prospero's isle, cooled by a tireless trade-wind — ■ 

 a land where fruit trees and melons flourish without cultivation, a 

 land which might become a second Bermuda, yet for a hundred 

 years it has been given up to wretched criminals under the callous 

 regime of the Brazilian penal system. 



When we joined our fishing party late in the afternoon we found 

 the whaleboat well laden with various brightly-colored tropical 

 fishes and several sharks. The latter had been a great nuisance 

 to the fishermen all day, biting many of the smaller fishes from the 

 hooks before they could be drawn to the surface, and nipping the 

 larger ones clean in half. ' 



As evening drew near we perceived the brig bearing down the 

 coast toward us, and reluctantly we sailed off to join her, leaving 

 the allurements and the misery of Fernando Noronha. At dusk 

 we were running swiftly down the trade wind, the Pyramid behind 

 us still showing faintly through a bluish haze. 



