the holder of a Jaghire.

ST JAGO, the largest and most populous of the Cape de Verde Islands, of which some account has been given in the Encyclopaedia, is represented by Sir George Staunton as liable to long and excessive droughts, for which no philosophical cause can be assigned. When the embassy to China touched at it in the latter end of 1792, it was in a state of absolute famine. Little or no rain had fallen for about three years before. The rivers were almost all entirely dry. The surface of the earth was, in general, naked of any herbage. The greatest part of the cattle had perished, not less through drought than want of food. Of the inhabitants many had migrated, and many were famished to death. Nor was this calamity peculiar to St Jago. All the islands of Cape de Verde were said to have experienced the same long drought, and to be consequently in a state of similar desolation. Yet the frequent showers which were observed by the first navigators who touched at St Jago, induced them to give to the island the name of Pluvialis; and no change had been observed in the steady current of wind, blowing from the east, which is common to tropical climates.

"What were the uncommon circumstances (says Sir George) that took place in the atmosphere of that part of Africa to which the Cape de Verde islands lie contiguous, or in the vast expanse of continent extending to the east behind it, and from which this direful effect must have proceeded (as they happened where no man of science existed to observe or to record them), will therefore remain unknown; nor is theory bold enough to supply the place of observation. Whatever was the cause which thus arrested the bountiful hand of Nature, by drawing away the sources of fertility, it was observable, that some few trees and plants persevered to flourish with a luxuriance, indicating that they still could extract from the arid earth whatever portion of humidity it was necessary to derive from thence for the purpose of vegetable life, though it was denied to others."

Beside the trees of the palm kind, which are often found verdant amidst burning sands, nothing, for example, could be more rich in flavour, or abound more with milky, though corrosive juice, than the Asclepias gigantea (see Asclepias, Encycl.), growing plentifully, about several feet high, without culture, indeed, but undisturbed, it being of no avail to cut it down in favour of plants that would be useful, but required the aid of more moisture from the atmosphere. The jatropha curcas, or physic nut tree, which the French West Indians, with some propriety, call bois immortel, and plant, on that account, in the boundaries of their estates, appeared as if its perpetuity was not to be affected by any drought. Some indigo plants were still cultivated with success in shaded vales, together with a few cotton shrubs. Throughout the country some of those species of the mimosa, or sensitive plant, which grow into the size of trees, were most common, and did not appear to languish. In particular spots the annona, or sugar apple tree, was in perfect verdure. The borassus, or great fan palm, lifted, in a few places, its lofty head and spreading leaves with undiminished beauty. In a bottom, about a mile and a half behind the town of Praya, was still growing, in a healthy state, what may be called for size a phenomenon in vegetation, a tree known to botanists by the name of adansonia, and in English called monkey bread tree. The natives of St Jago call it kalibera; others, baobab. Its trunk measured at the base no less than 56 feet in girth; but it soon divided into two great branches, one rising perpendicularly, and measuring 42 feet in circumference. That of the other was about 26. By it flooded another of the same species, whose single trunk, of 38 feet girth, attracted little notice from the vicinity of its huge companion.

But the annual produce of agriculture was scarcely to be found. The plains and fields, formerly productive of corn, sugar-canies, or plantains, nourished by regular falls of rain, now bore little semblance of vegetation. Yet in the small number of plants which survived the drought, were some which, from the specimens sent to Europe, were found to have been hitherto unknown. Vegetation quickly, indeed, revived wherever, through the soil, any moisture could be conveyed.

Sir George represents Praya, the residence of the Portuguese Viceroy, as a hamlet rather than a town. It consists of about 100 very small dwellings, one story high, scattered on each side of the plain, which extended near a mile in length, and about the third of a mile in breadth; and fell off, all around, to the neighbouring valleys and to the sea. Not being commanded by any neighbouring eminence, it was a situation capable of defence; the fort, however, or battery, was almost in ruins; and the few guns mounted on it were mostly honey-combed, and placed on carriages which scarcely held together.

A party belonging to the embassy crossed the country to the ruins of St Jago, the former capital of the island, situated in the bottom of a vale, through which ran a stream, then both small and sluggish. On each side of that stream are the remains of dwellings of considerable solidity and size; and the fragments of glass bottles, still hanging from the ceilings of some of the principal apartments, denote the elegance or riches that were once displayed in this now deserted place. Not above half a dozen families remain in it at present; the rest abandoned it, or perished. Here was still, however, an attempt at a slight manufacture of striped cotton slips, the same as are made in the other parts of the island, for the use of the Africans on the main, who pay for them in slaves, elephants teeth, and that gum which is generally called arabic.

Amidst the ruins of St Jago, the party found a Portuguese, to whom one of them was recommended, and who who received them with the most cordial hospitality in his house, and treated them with every species of tropical fruits from his garden, lying on each side the river.

He had been a navigator; and informed them that the isle of Brava, one of the Cape de Verde's, was a fitter and safer place for ships to call at for water and provisions than the island of St. Jago; that it had three harbours; one called Puerto Farno on the east side of the island, from which vessels must warp, or be towed out by boats; the Puerto Pajendago to the west; and the Puerto Ferreo to the south, which was the best for large ships, and into which runs a small river. In another of the Cape de Verde islands, called San Vicente, he observed that there was also a large harbour on the north end, but that fresh water was at some distance from it; and there was likewise a good port at Bonavista. This information of the harbours in the isle of Brava was confirmed by accounts given by others to Sir Erasmus Gower, who recommends to make a trial of them.