NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 183 



chiefly volcanic, with a mean diameter of 0*07 mm., but here also small rounded grains of 

 quartz were found for the first time since leaving the coasts of America. These appear 

 to be wind-borne fragments, carried from Africa by the Harmattan winds (see p. 126). A 

 trawling in 2400 fathoms gave a fragment of a Pennatulid, a red Holothurian with Stylifer 

 in the cloaca, two Starfish, one belonging to a new genus (Thoracaster cylindratus, 

 Sladen), several Polyzoa (Bugula mirabilis, Farciminaria delicatissima) , Scalpellum 

 velutinum, and a Lophioid fish (Ceratias holbdlli), the last with a parasitic Copepod 

 (Lerncea abyssicola) attached to it. Soundings in 2075 and 1975 fathoms gave a Globi- 

 gerina ooze with 60 and 75 per cent, of carbonate of lime. About 2 per cent, of these 

 deposits was made up of Radiolarians and fragments of other siliceous organisms, the 

 remainder being composed of volcanic minerals, a few grains of quartz, and clayey 

 matter. 



Cape Verde Islands. 



Saint Vincent. — The island of St. Vincent is about twelve miles long by six broad, 

 and has an irregularly oval form, consisting of a flat central tract more or less broken by 

 low hills, surrounded by a range of high land. The low central district is evidently the 

 bottom of an ancient crater, of the wall of which the high surrounding range is the 

 remains. The range is composed of strata dipping outwards from the ancient centre of 

 eruption, and is cut up by a series of deep valleys, having a general radiate arrangement, 

 into ridges of various heights, some of them of considerable altitude, which are again cut 

 up by secondary transverse valleys so as to culminate in a series of irregular peaks. 

 The Green Mountain is 2483 feet in height, and one other mountain, to the extreme 

 south of the island, 2218 feet. A break in the encircling range to the northwest forms 

 the harbour of Porto Grande, in the entrance to which lies a small island, called Bird 

 Rock, a fragment of the range, once continuous in that direction. 



More barren and desolate-looking spots than San Antonio and St. Vincent appear, as 

 approached from seawards, after they have been suffering from their usual prolonged 

 droughts, it is impossible to conceive. Their general aspect recalls Aden or some of 

 the volcanic islands in the Red Sea. At the time of the Expedition's visit, no rain had 

 fallen for a year at St. Vincent ; sometimes it does not rain for three years. 



The mountains are of black volcanic rock terminating seawards in precipices, in which 

 the numerous dikes traversing them in all directions, stand out conspicuously owing 

 to the weathering of the surrounding rock. Between the mountain ranges stretches a 

 flat sandy plain, covered with sand dunes and with ranges of low rounded hills of a 

 bright red ochre tint. The white plain terminates at the head of the harbour in a shore, 

 where there is a miserable town. The whole glares in a fierce sun, and appears almost 

 devoid of vegetation ; but from the anchorage some black tufts can be made out with a 

 telescope, which consist of small bushes of Lavender (Lavandula rotundi folia) , the most 



