NAKRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 185 



siderable length, and with a sinuous arrangement. On the whole, plant-life seems to play a 

 much more important r61e than corals in accumulating carbonate of lime around the Cape 

 Verde Islands ; but the larger Foraminifera are of far greater importance than either in some 

 places, the calcareous sand of the harbour of St. Vincent being mainly composed of them. 



Notwithstanding the desolate nature of the island, St. Vincent is rising into import- 

 ance, for it possesses the only safe and convenient anchorage in the Cape Verde group, 

 or, in fact, anywhere between that group and the south coast of Spain ; its situation also 

 renders it a most suitable halting place for the mail steamers running between England 

 and the ports in South America, or the Cape of Good Hope. Spacious coal stores 

 have been constructed on shore, and piers have been run out into the bay to admit 

 of loading boats rapidly. The coal, kept in bags, is conveyed to the ships in barges, 

 and labourers can be hired from the shore to assist in passing the bags on board, 

 so that vessels requiring to replenish their fuel here can do so without difficulty 

 or delay. A submarine cable connects St. Vincent with Madeira, and Pernambuco. 



The town is well laid out, and there are a few respectable buildings in it, especially 

 the custom house and the residence of the governor, but the great want of the place is 

 water, which can only be obtained in small quantities from a few wells at the back of the 

 settlement. The supply of provisions is extremely bad ; no vegetables of any kind 

 could be procured during the stay, nor, in fact, supplies of any kind, except coal and 

 bread ; the beef was so bad that the ship's company refused to eat it. 



A quarantine establishment of some description is much required, as at present 

 passengers from the fever-stricken ports of South America have to remain in an open 

 boat in the bay until the health officer is satisfied that they are free from disease. 



The climate, although warm, is, owing to its freedom from moisture, not unpleasant; 

 the mean yearly temperature is about 74°, the mean temperature of the coldest month 

 (February) being about 69°, and of the warmest (September) 79°. The trade wind is 

 seldom interrupted, and frequently blows with considerable violence through the channel 

 between the islands of St. Vincent and San Antonio. 



The survey of the anchorage was not completed without some little difficulty. The 

 trade wind was occasionally so strong, reaching on one occasion a force of 8, that the 

 boats could not work, nor could a theodolite be set up on shore, except in a sheltered 

 position ; in fact, the squalls from the hills raised a mass of spoondrift over the whole of 

 the bay and clouds of sand in the plains. A landing was effected and a station established 

 on Bird Island, though not on the summit, the crumbling nature of the rock of which 

 that islet is composed rendering it unadvisable to plant an instrument on its peak. 

 The magnetic observations taken on shore were unsatisfactory, since a position 

 was not found which was free from local attraction. 



Observations on the current in the channel between St. Vincent and San Antonio gave 

 the following results : — The movement of the water was tidal, the N.E.-going stream 



(narb. chall. exp. — vol. i. — 1884.) 24 



