PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
36 
the revenue arising from the sale of cattle to foreign vessels, on 
every head of which is a duty equal to one half the amount, paid: 
by the purchaser. Whether this is an imposition of the officers 
of government, I will not pretend to decide ; I would, however, 
advise such vessels as require fresh provisions to purchase sheep, 
hogs, and poultry, in preference to beef, on account of the cheap- 
ness and quality. Nor would I advise the purchase or contracts 
to be made the first day of the arrival; if a salute should be fired, 
in the course of a day or two the country people flock in from all 
parts of the island, and the price of every article is reduced one 
half. 
St. Jago produces, besides every species of tropical fruits, 
sugar, indigo, coffee of a superior quality and flavour, orchilla, a 
vine for dyeing, which is a monopoly of the crown, cotton, and 
(during the fruitful season) corn, in such considerable quantities, 
as to enable them to make large exportations to Madeira and the 
Canaries. Manufactories of a kind of cotton shawl, w r orn by the 
women of the island, are carried on in almost every family ; it is 
remarkably neat, and consists of a number of narrow stripes, so 
artfully joined as to render the seam scarcely perceptible. Cover¬ 
lids of the same kind for beds are also made. 
On leaving the port we shaped our course to the S.E. with a 
view of deceiving the people of Praya, and impressing a belief that 
we were bound to the coast of Africa; when, however, we were at 
such a distance that the ship could no longer be seen from the 
town, I stood S.S.W. by compass, with a view of falling in with 
the island of St. Pedro de Ponedro, said to be situated in lat. 0 Q 55" 
north, and, according to Blunt, in long. 29° 10" west. The 
French, however, have situated it in long. 29° 34" west from 
Paris, answering to 27° 14" west from Greenwich. The sailing 
directions for the East India Pilot place it between 0 Q 55" and 
1° 20' north latitude, and longitude west from London 31° 25"; 
ail these calculations have been made by the run of vessels from 
St. Helena and Ascension, and not from astronomical calculations, 
I determined to fix the true position of the island, if we should be 
enabled to find it. 
