Relation 
Palm 
Wine. 
There have 
been for¬ 
merly many 
Portuguese 
inhabitants 
at Cape 
Verd, but 
at present 
there 
remain but 
few. 
Women of 
Cape Verd. 
[1669 
hunting, & we repos’d ourselves near a spring of water, 
where there were two girls of the country, very comely 
both in features & figure, who, tho’ black, came to us 
& asked for bread. I gave what I had, & in order to 
reward us, they asked us if we wish’d to lie with them, at 
which we were asham’d, & we betook ourselves instantly 
to the Sea coast where was our boat, which took us back 
on board. 
There are in these woods Elephants, Lions, Tigers, 
Leopards & other dangerous beasts, & plenty of game 
of all kinds. These woods are fill’d with Parrots, Apes 
& Monkeys. We brought back a quantity of small Parrots 
which we bought from the negroes. 
There are also numbers of Palm Trees, from which the 
Natives draw off the Palm Wine. They make holes at 
the top of the Tree, from whence the liquor distils. They 
fasten their calabashes, into which the wine falls, when 
they come to collect it from time to time. This Palm 
Wine is good when ’tis newly drawn from the Palm Tree; 
& it has the taste of good sweet Cider. 
The next day, 10th, the Missionaries having gone on 
shore, celebrated there the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 
& baptis’d the children of the said Dom Joan, the 
Portuguese, & several other children of other Portuguese 
who live at the said Cape Verd. The aboriginals of the 
country are tall, well made & robust in body & very 
black. There are women tolerably well made, & many 
have features as regular as those of Europe. 
The dress & attire of these women is a petticoat 
with which they cover themselves from their waist to 
their feet; the remainder of their body is nude. They 
wear wristlets of gold, of silver, of brass, & tin on their 
arms, & have collars of coral, cornelian & grains of gold; 
they wear also earrings like their necklaces. These 
women are very shameless, & esteem it an honour to 
