1832.] IIIBKIL'A GRANDE ST. DOMINGO. 3 



the governors and captain-generals of the islands have been buried. 

 Some of the tombstones recorded dates of the sixteenth century.* 

 The heraldic ornaments were the only things in this retired place 

 that reminded ITS of Europe. The church or chapel formed one side 

 of a quadrangle, in the middle of which a large clump of 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. considerable 

 number of men, women, and children, all as black as jet, collected 

 to watch us. Our companions were extremely merry ; and every- 

 thing 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 wo 

 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 their heads cocked up; and if 

 pursued, they readily took to the wing. 



* The Cape tie Verd Islands were discovered in 1449. There was a 

 tombstone of a bishop with the date of 1571; and a crest of a hand 

 and dagger, dated 1497. 



