314 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



change of civilities arose in consequence, which very much 

 added to my pleasure during the few days we remained on 

 the island. 



Amongst other courtesies, as they saw I was a chasseur 

 (our conversation was carried on in French) from the ad- 

 venture of the falcon, they invited me to accompany them 

 the following day on an expedition to shoot guinea-fowl, 

 which I need not say I was delighted to accede to. 



This island, about twelve miles in circumference, is the 

 last of the Cape de Yerd group, and situated within a short 

 distance, and nearly opposite the volcano of Fogo. It rises 

 to the height of nearly three thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea, and on every side the land presents a brown volcanic 

 appearance, with no signs of verdure or cultivation. The 

 stranger, however, who has an opportunity of exploring the 

 hidden recesses of the interior, will be most agreeably dis- 

 appointed, and confess, perhaps, that amidst these arid and 

 barren mountains he has witnessed an oasis rarely if ever 

 equalled in richness and beauty ; or at least such was my im- 

 pression upon penetrating, or rather ascending to the summit, 

 of the island, in company with a merry party, and by paths 

 and tracks I verily believe inaccessible to any animal but a 

 donkey by long experience accustomed to the locality. Such, 

 indeed, was our mode of travelling, and more wonderful 

 specimens of the asinine genus I suspect were rarely collected 

 together. 



After clambering up more than two thousand feet of the 

 mountain side, through the most rugged and impracticable 

 paths, and meeting many similar specimens of our own steeds 

 descending, loaded with water-skins, fruit, vegetables, poultry, 

 and pigs, the character of the soil began to change, and 

 instead of the dry, rocky, and volcanic surface, to be every- 

 where covered with a thick creeper of beans or scarlet- 

 runners, furnishing that universal Spanish and Portuguese 



