12 THROUGH ANGOLA 



On Bugio there are big black goats with horns 

 up to 2 feet in length. Those of Deserta Grande 

 are smaller, both in head and body, and mostly 

 brownish in colour. There were once wild sheep 

 on the island, but the last of them was shot nearly 

 fifty years ago. 



Chaon, the smallest island, has no goats, but 

 only Belgian hares. There are a few wild cats 

 as well, the progeny of ships' cats, stranded from 

 a wreck. 



The goats of the Desertas are usually hunted 

 by drives, and the beaters come from a village 

 called Canico, in Madeira. They arc splendid 

 climbers, who have learned their work while 

 hunting for puffins and Orchilla weed on the 

 cliffs. When I sailed one day early in June from 

 Madeira for the Desertas, three of these moun- 

 taineers were to have accompanied me ; but it 

 w r as a " Festa " day, and any one who knows 

 Madeira knows that no true Madeira man will 

 work on a " Festa " day, so it happened that tw r o 

 of the three hunters were not ready, and the 

 lugger sailed with only one guide beside the crew. 

 This guide was Zabrugar, otherwise called Pareisha, 

 the veteran of the Desertas, seventy years old, 

 but hardy, and with the foot of a goat. 



After a rough crossing in a heavy sea, the 

 lugger anchored in the lee of Chaon Island, and 

 Pareisha and I were landed by boat, through 

 the surf, on a rocky cove called Castaneira. The 

 boat's crew went off to rejoin the lugger, promising 

 to return next day if the sea allowed it ; and old 

 Pareisha and I picked our way over the rocks 



