ease of gesture for aaTiícIi the women especially
arc remarkahle.
Some of the Avells outside the town are almost
])icturesque. The AA ell-huilding is usually enclosed
Avithin a Avliite-Avashed stone Avail, and as there is a
little moisture and shade AAdtliin the enclosure,
generally two or three trees of respectahle dimensions
rise over the Avail. There is usually a latticed gate
of entrance with an ever-changing group of lively
good-natured beings, as hlack as Erebus, clustering
round it.
e left Porto Grande on the 5th of August and
proceeded on our course toAA'ards Porto Praya, the
principal town on the large island of San lago, and
the seat of the central government of the Cape Verde
grou2). On the Gth, the fine peak of the active
volcano on the island of Pogo Avas in sight, and
early on the morning of the 7th Ave anchored off
Porto Praya. Although the anchorage is more
exj)osed and not nearly so suitahle for the hahitual
resort of shipping, San lago has greatly the
advantage of San Vicente ashore. The toAvn of
Porto Praya is tidy and Avell-ordered; the gOAmrn-
ment and municipal huildings are commodious; and
the central Praca is- really ornamental, with a
handsome fountain in the middle, and an encircling
row of irrigated and cared-for trees. At one end of
the toAvn there is a fine public well. The water is
led in closed pipes, from a stream coming doAvn from
the higher land, into a large stone-built reservoir;
from Avhich there is a daily distribution from a long
range of ornamental basins and spouts to a constant
crowd of applicants.
The country, although on the Avhole someAvhat
arid and bare, is much less so than San Vicente.
There is a large grove of cocoa-nut trees behind
the toAvn ; some of the streams are permanent, and
the valleys are consequently much greener, and in
some places they are lu xuriantly fertile. The day
Ave arrived Ave rode to the pretty little village of
T rin id ad ; the first p a rt of our way Avas very
desolate, over an expanse of hot gravel relieved here
and there hy trailin g gourds and convolvuluses, and
a scrub of castor-oil plant and a loAv-groAving almost
leafless Acacia, with long, Avicked, Avhite spines. We
passed tAvo or three fine examples of the celebrated
‘ Baobah-tree ’ {Adansonia gigantea) ; the tru n k of
the largest on our route Avas about 50 feet in circumference,
but in some trees of the same species on
the neighbouring coast of Africa, Avhich are supposed
to he among the oldest trees in the Avorld, they attain
the enormous dimensions of 30 feet in diameter.
The Baohab-tree Avith its spreading I oaa*^ c i’oaaoi and
large pendulous greenish-purple floAvers has a very
striking and unusual appearance.
After riding a few miles Ave came suddenly to a sort
of basin at the head of the valley, Avith a s I o a v stream
passing through it and a hroad belt of the most
lu x uriant tropical vegetation on either side. Groves
of cocoa-nuts extended for miles along the banks;
and the land was cleared and fenced for the cultivation
of yams, SAveet-potatoes, maize, pumpkins, and
all the ordinary vegetable productions of the tropics.
AVherever the vegetation Avas alloAved to ru n Avild, it
passed into a tangled thicket of oranges, limes,
acacias, and castor-oil shrubs ; the a v I i o I c " so Avarj)ed