i
i
í'„: i
52 PORT PRAYA— RIBEIRA 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
he 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 ordinai-y visitor, though interesting enougli to
a geologist. A desolate and hilly counü-y, sun-burned and
stony, with hut few trees even in the vallies, and those only the
withering, spectre-like trunks of old palms, surrounds the harbour.
The distant and higher pai-ts of the island, however, present
a striking outline; and in the interior there is more to be
seen, as the following extract from a few notes made by Älr.
Rowlett will show.
“ AVe procured .some indifferent horses and rode to Ribeira
Grande, the remains of an old town, about nine miles west of
Port Praya, wliich was formerly the residence of the Portu-
guese governor of the Cape Verd 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 IMartin, and enjoyed drinking some of
the finest water we had ever tasted. On a commanding
height stood the ruins of a very large fortress, and within the
limits of the old town were remains of a cathedra], a bishop’s
palace, and a college; besides a modern church, in tolerable
repair, mi 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 which, said to be that of a bishop, was the
date 1571, and on another we thought the almost obliterated
figures w-ere 1497.
“ No person wdio has only visited the port of Praya can
form the slightest idea of the beauty of the interior country
; it exceeded any thing I had seen, either in Brazil or in
the West Indies.
* Perhaps by an earthquake ?
1S32. PRODUCE POPULATION ARCHILLA. 53
“ Fruit was abundant; there were oranges, grapes, plantains,
bananas, sour-sops, mmmnee apples, pomegranates, guavas^
quinces, sapodillas, papaw apples, pines, citrons, medlai-s,
figs, and occasionally apples.”
Notwithstanding its unfavourable exterior, its small and
dirty town, and its black or brown population, I am inclined
to think Port Praya of more consequence to shipping than is
usually supposed. Water may he procured by rafting the
casks, placing a pump in the w'ell, mid hiring a few of the
natives to do the more laborious work of fillinOg and rollingO.
The local authorities are attentive and obliging : it is indeed
their interest to be so, because much of their trade, and even
many of the necessaries of Hfe, depend upon the visits of ship-
liing. Fowls, turkeys, and pigs, m-e very plentiful, hut it is
better to procure them by barter than wdth money. Clothes,
new or old, are eagerly sought for, and their full value may he
obtained in the produce of the island.
The population is said to be about thirty thousand, a few- of
whom are Portuguese by birth, and many m-e descended from
Portuguese parents, but the greater number are negroes.
I could hear no decided account of any earthquake having
happened; but being so near Fogo, now an active volcano,
one may suppose that St. Jago is not exempted from an occasional
shock.
The exports of the Cape Verd Islands are small quantities of
sugar, cotton, and coffee. Hides of small bullocks, sheep and
goat-skins, are likewise exported; and horses, mules, and asses,
of an inferior description, are sometimes sent to the West-
Indies. The Archilla weed, so much used in dyeing, is
however the staple commodity, and, under proper management,
might be made highly profitable. At the time of our
3asit, the yearly revenue arising out of the government monopoly
of this article amounted to fifty thousand dollars; mid
in some years it has been as much as three hundred thousand
dollm-s. This weed grows like a kind of moss upon
the cliffs, and is collected by men who climb up or are let
down by ropes, like the samphire gatherers.
: ■ !