2 ST. JAGO—CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS, [cuap. 1 
steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate conical hills, 
and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain of more lofty 
mountains. The scene, as beheld through the hazy atmosphere 
of this climate, is one of great interest; if, indeed, a person, 
fresh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a 
grove of cocoa-nut iees, can be a judge of anything but his own 
happiness. The island would generally be considered as very 
uninteresting ; but to any one accustomed only to an English 
landscape, the novel aspect of an utterly sterile land possesses 
a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil. A single green 
leaf can scarcely be discovered over wide tracts of the Java plains ; 
yet flocks of goats, together with a few cows, contrive to exist. 
It rains very seldom, but during a short portion of the year 
heavy torrents fall, and immediately afterwards a light vegeta- 
tion springs out of every crevice. This soon withers; and upon 
such naturally formed hay the animals live. It had not now 
rained for an entire year. When the island was discovered, the 
immediate neighbourhood of Porto Praya was clothed with trees,* 
the reckless destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena, 
and at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility. The 
broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few 
days only in the season as watercourses, are clothed with 
thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these 
valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo Jagoensis), 
which tamely sits on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and 
thence darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly coloured, 
but not so beautiful as the European species: in its flight, man- 
ners, and place of habitation, which is generally in the driest 
valley, there is also a wide difference. 
One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Ribeira Grande 
a village a few miles eastward of Porto Praya. Until en 
reached the valley of St. Martin, the country presented its usual 
dull brown appearance ; but here, a very small rill of water pro- 
duces a most refreshing margin of luxuriant vegetation. In the 
course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira Grande, and were sur- 
prised at the sight of a large ruined fort and cathedral. This 
little town, before its harbour was filled up, was the principal 
* I state this on the authority of Dr. E. Dieffenbach, in hi 
translation of the first edition of this Journal. “an his German 
