52 



PX)RT PRAYA—RIEETRA GRANDE. 



Jan 



Strong gusts come over the land into the bay during the 

 fine season, when the breeze is fresh ; therefore a ship entering, 

 with intent to anchor, ought to have a reef in her top-sails, and 

 be ready to clew up the top-gallant sails at a moment's warning. 



The vicinity of Port Praya offers little that is agreeable to 

 the eye of an ordinary visitor, though interesting enough to 

 a geologist. A desolate and hilly country, sun-burned and 

 stony, with but few trees even in the vallies, and those only the 

 withering, spectre-like trunks of old palms, surrounds the har- 

 bour. Tlie distant and higher parts of the island, however, pre- 

 sent a striking outline ; and in the interior there is more to be 

 seen, as the following extract from a few notes made by Mr. 

 Rowlett will show. 



" We procured some indifferent horses and rode to Ribeira 

 Grande, the remains of an old town, about nine miles west of 

 Port Praya, which was formerly the residence of the Portu- 

 guese governor of the CapeVerd Islands ; but in consequence 

 of the anchorage becoming blocked up,^ the seat of govern- 

 ment was shifted to the small straggling town, or rather 

 village, which stands upon a height overlooking the port of 

 Praya. We passed through the fertile and beautiful vallies 

 of Achao and San Martin, and enjoyed drinking some of 

 the finest water we had ever tasted. On a commandinj^ 

 height stood the ruins of a very large fortress, and within the 

 limits of the old town were remains of a cathedral, a bishop's 

 palace, and a college ; besides a modern church, in tolerable 

 repair, an inhabited convent, and a hospital supported by 

 charity. In the convent we saw some good paintings 

 from scriptural subjects; and there were some curious old 

 tombs, on one of v*'hich, said to be that of a bishop, was the 

 date 1571, and on another we thought the almost obliterated 

 figures were 1497. 



" No person who has only visited the port of Praya can 

 form the slightest idea of the beauty of the interior coun- 

 try ; it exceeded any thing I had seen, either in Brazil or in 

 the West Indies. 



* Perhaps by an earthquake ? 



