1832. | RIBERA GRANDE—ST. DOMINGO. « 8 
place in the island: it now presents a melancholy, but very pic- 
turesque appearance. Having procured a black Padre for a 
guide, and a Spaniard who had served in the Peninsular war as 
an interpreter, we visited a collection of buildings, of which an 
ancient church formed the principal part. It is here the gover- 
nors 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 us 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-lcoking inmates. 
We returned to the Vénda to eat our dinners. A considerable 
number of men, women, and children, all as black as jet, col- 
lected to watch us. Our companions were extremely merry ; 
and everything 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. Ona 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 we 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 
* The Cape de 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. 
