^ 1832.] NATURAL VANES. 17 



dates of the sixteenth century.* The heraldic ornaments 

 L- were the only things in this retired place that reminded us 

 I of Europe. The church or chapel formed one side of a 

 [ quadrangle, in the middle of which a large clump of 

 i; bananas were growing. On another side was a hospital, 

  containing about a dozen miserable-looking inmates. 



We returned to the venda to eat our dinners. A consider- 

 able number of men, women, and children, all as black as 

 jet, collected to watch us. Our companions were extremely 

 merry ; and everything we said or did was followed by their 

 hearty laughter. Before leaving the town we visited the 

 cathedral. It does not appear so rich as the smaller 

 church, but boasts of a little organ, which sent forth 

 singularly inharmonious cries. We presented the black 

 priest with a few shillings, and the Spaniard, patting him 

 on the head, said, with much candour, he thought his 

 colour made no great difference. We then returned, as fast 

 as the ponies would go, to Porto Praya. 



Another day we rode to the village of St. Domingo, 

 situated near the centre of the island. On a small plain 

 which we crossed, a few stunted acacias were growing ; 

 their tops had been bent by the steady trade-wind, in a 

 singular manner — some of them even at right angles to 

 their trunks. The direction of the branches was exactly 

 N.E. by N., and S.W. by S., and these natural vanes must 

 indicate the prevailing direction of the force of the trade- 

 wind. The travelling had made so little impression on the 

 barren soil, that we here missed our track, and took that 

 to Fuentes. This we did not find out till we arrived there ; 

 and we were afterwards glad of our mistake. Fuentes is a 

 pretty village, with a small stream ; and everything appeared 

 to prosper well, excepting, indeed, that which ought to do 

 so most — its inhabitants. The black children, completely 

 naked, and looking very wretched, were carrying bundles 

 of firewood half as big as their own bodies. 



Near Fuentes we saw a large flock of guinea-fowl — 

 probably fifty or sixty in number. They were extremely 

 wary, and could not be approached. They avoided us, like 

 partridges on a rainy day in September, running with tlieir 

 heads cocked up ; and if pursued, they readily took to the 

 wing. 



' The Cape d< Vcrd Islands were dibCovcrcd in 1449. There was a tombstone 

 of a bishop with the date of 1571 ; and a crest of a band and dagg^ 

 dated 1497. 



