4 



266 CAPE VERDS. [1828. 



idea of selling any thing to a lady, they being in the habit of making 

 them presents or compliments. 



If the citadel does not yet surrender, preparations are made to carry 

 it by storm, and for this purpose a reinforcement of infantry assail it 

 with small-arms on several sides at once. His daughter Louisa is very 

 partial to American cider; Isabella prefers porter ; while Maria, the 

 youngest, a bewitching little gipsy of sixteen, would give any thing 

 in the world for some American cheese and fruit ; but their mother 

 thought that no other part of the world produced such excellent flour 

 as the United States. If the garrison still hold out, such flattering 

 terms of accommodation are proposed as generally throw them off 

 their guard ; like the following : 



" Will you have the goodness to walk up to the house with me, 

 captain, and see my daughters ? they perform divinely on the guitar, 

 and will be proud to amuse you this evening by playing and singing." 



This ruse de guerre generally succeeds. The confiding garrison 

 are drawn into an ambush, and compelled to surrender at discretion. 

 Alas ! that beauty should bait the hooks of avarice and cupidity. The 

 holiest sentiment of our nature is thus made a vassal to the meanest. 



In this place it may be proper to remark, that all the gentlemen here 

 have obtained a sufficient knowledge of the English language to hold 

 a sprightly conversation ; and, indeed, there is scarcely a person of 

 any respectability in the whole town who does not speak enough of this 

 language for the purposes of bartering and begging. 



After taking my leave of the governor and his family, I took a stroll 

 through the town or village, which is built on a sandy plain at the east 

 side of the bay. I soon learned that no refreshments could be had at 

 this place, nor does the island ever furnish any except they are first 

 brought from the other islands in small drogers, for which they charge 

 a high price. It is likewise difficult to obtain fresh water here, ex- 

 cepting in small quantities, and that of a brackish flavour. No fuel 

 suitable for nautical use can be had here at any price. Goats' flesh, 

 milk, turtle, and fish are the principal food of the inhabitants, but they 

 have none to spare. 



The productions of Bonavista are salt, indigo, and cotton : the first 

 is produced in great abundance on the north-west and eastern parts of 

 the island in natural pans or ponds, where it crystallizes in the sun. 

 These receptacles for sea-water are in the low valleys near the sea- 

 shore, and in the whole process nature receives very little aid from the 

 hand of art. This salt, however, is not equal in quantity or quality to 

 that which is produced on the island of Sal, a cargo of which will cost 

 about six cents a bushel on board, while here at Bonavista it costs about 

 six and a quarter cents ; and in taking a small quantity, it comes some- 

 what higher. The inhabitants convey it to the vessel by means of asses, 

 which travel in troops of fifteen each, every troop being under the charge 

 of a negro. 



The indigo, which grows without being cultivated, is gathered by 

 the inhabitants ; they have not the art of separating the die, and of 

 making what is called the blue-stone in the southern section of the 

 United States, but they satisfy themselves with bruising the greea 



/ 



