C H A P T E R I 
Having obtained the appointment of a writer in the East India 
company’s service at Bombay, I embarked with fourteen other 
passengers for that settlement, in the month of March 1765, before 
I had attained my sixteenth year; and at that early age I com- 
menced my descriptive letters, and the drawings which accompany 
them. 
After encountering the boisterous seas in the Bay of Biscay, 
we entered the warmer latitudes; and had a distant view of the 
islands of Madeira, Palma, and Ferro: we next saw the Peak of 
Teneriffe, rearing its majestic head above the clouds, and present- 
ing a scene of infinite grandeur. From thence we steered for St, 
Jago, the largest of the Cape de Verd islands, for a supply of 
water and refreshments; and passing by the Isles of Bona-vista, 
Sal, and Mayo, whose barren and rocky shores are seldom visited 
by strangers, we arrived at Porto Praya the middle of May: this 
is the principal sea-port of St. Jago; the city where the governor 
and bishop reside is situated at some distance inland; but there is 
so little attraction in the manners of the Portugueze, and so great 
a scarcity of horses, that the passengers do not often go there. 
The fortress and principal houses at Porto Praya, are on a rocky 
eminence near the watering place; but below it is a beautiful 
