ISLANDS OF CAPE.** This group, situate in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, between the parallels of 14° 20' and 17° 20' N. Lat., and 22° 20' and 35° 30' W. Long., consists of ten islands, viz.—Sanct' Antao (commonly miswritten St Antonio), Sao Vicente, Santa Luzia, Sao Nicolao, Sal, Boa Vista, Maio, San Thiago (the St Jago of the English), Fogo, and Brava, besides a few uninhabited islets. They form a sort of broken crescent with the concavity towards the west. The distance between the coast of Africa and the nearest island (Boa Vista) is about 200 miles. Their total area is estimated at 1240 square geographical miles. They belong to the Portuguese, and derive their name (Ilhas de Cabo Verde) usually erroneously written Cape de Verde Islands, from the adjacent African promontory of Cape Verde, or the Green Cape. The archipelago was discovered in 1446 by an expedition fitted out by Dom Henrique of Portugal, and four years afterwards settlers were sent thither. It has ever since remained in the possession of the Portuguese. These islands, however, were known to the ancients under the name of Gorgones or Gorgades; and Pliny states that Hanno the Carthaginian reached them. There is a tradition that negroes were found upon San Thiago, but the earliest writers are silent as to this, and it is most probable that all the islands were uninhabited at the period the Portuguese visited them. The new settlers, however, imported negroes from the African coast. The population now amounts to upwards of 90,000, and it would have been much greater if famine, caused by droughts and epidemics, had not frequently decimated it. The blacks and mulattoes far outnumber the whites, whose constitution is less suited to the climate than that of those fitted by nature to endure the heat of the tropics. Slavery existed here until the Portuguese government abolished it a few years ago. At that time the number of persons subjected to "involuntary servitude" amounted to about 6000. Criminals are transported hither from the mother-country, and the punishment is much dreaded. All the towns are poor dirty places; even the best have few tolerable houses. In religion, the people are Roman Catholics, extremely ignorant and superstitious, with many heathen notions and practices amongst them, brought from the African coast. All the inhabited islands have churches save S. Luzia.

The archipelago forms one of the foreign provinces of Portugal, and is under the command of a governor-in-chief appointed by the crown. Each island has a military commandant, a few soldiers, and a number of salaried officials, such as police magistrates and custom-house directors. Here is also an ecclesiastical establishment with a bishop, dean, canons, &c.

**Climate and Meteorology.**—The atmosphere in the vicinity of these islands is generally hazy, especially in the direction of the continent. This haziness appears to be owing to an impalpable brown dust which is constantly falling, and is supposed to be produced by the wear and tear of volcanic rocks on the coast of Africa. With occasional exceptions during summer and autumn, the north-east trade is the prevailing wind, blowing most strongly from November to May. The rainy season is during the months of August, September, and October, when there is thunder and a light variable wind from south-east to south-west. As the wind approaches the northern tropic, the African continent becomes much more heated than the neighbouring sea, and consequently the air over that continent rises, whilst the cooler air of the sea flows in to supply its place. This explains the fact, that during summer the winds along the Gulf of Guinea, and as far westward as Cape Blanco, blow from the south-west, but all more or less from shore. As these winds come from the sea, they are loaded with moisture, and its precipitation occasions the heavy rains on that coast during the rainy season, which is coincident with these winds. The close approach of the inner margin of the north-east trade-winds, and the in-draught to the neighbouring continent during July, August, and September, necessarily tend to render the winds about the Cape Verdes very variable during these months. The Harmattan, a very dry east wind from the African continent, occasionally makes itself felt. The heat of summer is high, the thermometer ranging from 80° to 90° Fahr. near the sea. The unhealthy season is the period during and following the rains, when vegetation springs up with surprising rapidity, and there is much stagnant water poisoning the air on the lower grounds. Remittent fevers are then common. The people of all the islands are also subject to an endemic of a bilious nature in May called locally levedias, but the cases rarely assume a dangerous form, and recovery is usually attained in three or four days without medical aid. The droughts already spoken of are sometimes general, sometimes partial. On some of the islands rain has occasionally not fallen for three years. The immediate consequence is a failure of the crops, and this is followed by the death of great numbers from sheer starvation. To add to the horrors, epidemics usually break out afterwards. These disastrous occurrences have greatly obstructed the progress of the colonies. In the general famine which began in 1831, and lasted three years, 30,000 persons are supposed to have perished.

**Productions, Agriculture, &c.—** The chief occupation of the islanders is cattle-feeding. In some of the islands the making of salt from sea-water employs a considerable number of persons. Orchil is gathered, and the indigo, castor-oil, and physic-nut plants are cultivated. The fruit of the latter is exported in large quantities to Portugal, where the oil is expressed and consumed in lamps. Maize, sugar-cane, and the mandioca plant are also much cultivated, as well as cotton, coffee, and tobacco to a limited extent. Though the soil and climate are fitted to produce many tropical fruits, these are little attended to. Cocoanut trees, date-palms, and bananas are seen on most of the islands. Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and the kalo, are generally cultivated. Wood, except in the interior of S. Antao, is entirely wanting, and the people are reduced to great straits for firing. Quails are found in all the islands; rabbits in Boa Vista, and an African bird in San Thiago and Fogo. The neighbouring sea abounds with fish, and the coral animal is at work building up dangerous reefs on submerged rocks. Turtles come from the African coast to lay their eggs on the sandy shores of these islands.

The exports consist chiefly of salt, physic-nuts, hides, coffee, maize, kidney-beans, sugar-cane spirit, and coarse sugar. The imports are cotton cloths, timber, hardware, crockery, glass, and wine. There is a considerable intercourse in the way of exchange between the islands one with another. There is a British consul stationed at Porto Grande in S. Vicente, and a vice-consul at Porto Sal Rey in Boa Vista.

**Botany.—** The flora of these islands has been described by Mr Barker Webb in his *Spicilegia Gogones*, or a catalogue of all the plants as yet discovered in the Cape de Verde Islands, which forms part of the *Niger Flora*, London, 1849; also by Dr J. A. Schmidt in his *Beiträge zur Flora der Cap-Verdischen Inseln*, Heidelberg, 1852. From these works it appears that the total number of wild flowering plants amounts to 424, of which 77 are monocotyledonous, and 347 dicotyledonous. Of the former, an asparagus and 14 grasses are peculiar; and of the latter, 30 are peculiar, and these belong to the genera Euphorbia; statice (2 sp.); liraria (4 sp.); campylanthus, globularia, orobanche, echium (2 sp.); lavandula, micromeria, sarcostemma, campanula, tornabenea (2 sp.); sapota, erigeron (2 sp.); convya (3 sp.); phagnalon (2 sp.); inula, odontospermum (3 sp.); artemisia, graphalium, tolpis, sonchus, rhabdorrhiza, cremaspura, pavetta, dialium, semmeringia, lotus (5 sp.); sempervivum, polycarpion, paronychia, cistus, fagonia, and forskaliae. There are besides 14 ferns, two of which are peculiar. The flora is closely related in the main to that of the neighbouring continent, and is strongly impressed with a tropical character. Doubtless a large proportion of the plants have been introduced.

**Geology.—** These islands are all of volcanic origin, but little is known of their geological structure. As far as we are aware, Mr Darwin's examination of San Thiago (St Jago) is the fullest that has been made of any island, and that was only partial. (See his Observations on Volcanic Islands.) Marine shells are found embedded in tuff at Boa Vista (as we learn from Bowdich, who visited that island in 1823), showing an upheaval to some extent. In Fogo is a still active volcano several thousand feet high, which merits the investigation of geologists; and indeed all the islands would doubtless repay the student of volcanic phenomena for the time and labour bestowed in their examination. For instance, an inquiry into the circumstances under which calcareous sand is thrown upon the island of Boa Vista, and heaped up by the winds into hills 30 feet high, would probably tend to explain the origin of the superficial layer of similar sand on part of Madeira and Porto Santo.

The Portuguese divide the islands into two groups; six to the windward (a Barlavento), viz.: S. Antao, S. Vicente, S. Luzia, S. Nicolao, Sal, and Boa Vista; and four to the leeward (o Sotavento), viz.: Maio, S. Thiago, Fogo, and Brava. We shall proceed to give a short notice of each.

S. Antao, the most north-westerly of the group, has an area of 240 square geographical miles, and a population of about 21,000. Its shape is very irregular, but diagonals drawn at right angles to each other would measure about 30 miles. Its surface is very rugged, and the interior so lofty that it can be discerned from a considerable distance at sea. The Sugar Loaf, its highest mountain, is thought to reach the altitude of 8000 feet. This island is reputed to be at once the most picturesque, the healthiest, and the most fertile of the archipelago, water being abundant. On the other hand, the difficulty of passing from one part to another is very great. Improved roads have been made of late years, but formerly, it is said, the higher part of the island was only accessible by means of a rope. There is a story of a bishop who, discharging his duty to visit every part of his see, went to S. Antao, and returned safely by this rope. Arriving safely at the top, he gave thanks to God; but he never had courage to descend, and therefore resolved to give up the world and remain where he was for the rest of his life. There are three indifferent landing-places, of which the most frequented is Ponta do Sol, where the custom-house stands, distant more than a league from the chief town, Ribeira Grande, situate in the north-east of the island, a place of 7000 inhabitants. Tarrafal Bay is spacious, and sheltered from the prevalent winds. Here is the best water in the whole archipelago, of which mariners speak with enthusiasm. The island produces good coffee, and the sugar-cane is cultivated; but the people are reputed to be indolent and inattentive to the advantages which soil and water afford them. The climate is considered salubrious. Lead is said to be obtained here, and there is a current opinion that other metals exist. Somewhere on the island is an extinct crater, from which the people declare that a wind occasionally issues so strong that it flings back any object that may be cast into the hollow. In 1855, the crop of grain and vegetables was entirely lost for want of rain, and many persons perished.

S. Vicente (S. Vincente) lies adjacent to S. Antao on the east. It has a superficies of 70 square miles, and a population of a few hundreds. At Porto Grande, on the north-west coast, is an extensive and excellent harbour, and here a coaling station for British steamers has been established. The island is a wretched place, and so exposed to the fury of the north-east winds, that not a tree will flourish upon it. Its soil yields very little, and the inhabitants are supplied with grain and fruit from S. Antao. One of the mountains is thought to be nearly 3000 feet high. The hills are chiefly near the coast, the interior being a sandy depression. Some years ago the home government ordered that the head-quarters of the local government should be on this island, but the decree has never been carried out. In the summer of 1856 the people were attacked by cholera, and half of them died or deserted the island. The distance from S. Vicente to S. Antao is about 8 miles, to S. Luzia, only about 4 miles.

Santa Luzia is a small island situate between S. Vicente and S. Nicolao, with an area of about 18 square miles. The inhabitants, who are wholly occupied in attending to their cattle, do not exceed a dozen. Much orchil was formerly gathered, but of late years this branch of industry has been little attended to. A little to the south are the two uninhabited inlets of Branca and Rasa.

S. Nicolao is a long narrow island of a crescentic shape, with an area of about 115 square geographical miles, and a population of about 7000 persons. The climate is not very healthy, the people having been often decimated by fevers, dysenteries, &c. Maize, kidney-beans, mandioca, sugar-cane, and vines are cultivated; and in ordinary years grain is exported to the other islands. Severe droughts are occasionally experienced. In 1855 the whole harvest was lost from want of water, and many persons died. The interior is mountainous, and has two remarkable hills which can be seen for many leagues; one has the shape of a sugar-loaf, and is near the middle of the island; the other, Monte Gordo, is near the west end, and has a height of 4220 feet. All the other islands of the group can be seen from S. Nicolao in clear weather. Vessels frequently enter Freshwater Bay, near the south-east extremity of the island, for water and fresh provisions; and the custom-house is here. The distance from S. Nicolao to S. Vicente is more than 20 miles; to Sal nearly 60 miles; and to Boa Vista, rather more than 60.

Sal, a narrow island, through whose centre passes the meridian Verde, of 23°, has a length of 20 miles, an area of 70 square geographical miles, with a population of about 600 persons, one-third of whom are employed in the manufacture of salt, which is largely produced and exported. Its name is derived from a small spring, at which the trade commenced; but this has now been abandoned for artificial salinas more conveniently situated. Mrs. Biddich compared the appearance of the island from the sea to a coffin of sand. In the middle are three hills, the loftiest of which attains the height of 1340 feet. A space of nearly 20 miles intervenes between Sal and Boa Vista.

Boa Vista, the most easterly island of the group, lies in Lat. 16° 5' N., and Long. 22° 55' W. Its length from east to west is about 17 miles, and its breadth from north to south is about 16 miles. Its shape is irregularly heptagonal, the coast being indented by numerous shallow bays, the largest of which, situate on the western side, serves as a road for shipping. A chain of heights traverses the middle of the island, and there are inferior hilly ranges on each side; the loftiest peak attains the altitude of 1200 feet. All the hills have basaltic summits. The plateau from which the hills rise has a height of about 60 feet above the sea, and is composed chiefly of calcareous sandstone. Near Porto Sal Rey are tufts containing abundance of marine remains; and near the same place is a rock covered with cockle shells. The superficial calcareous sandstone sits above in shells. In the northern part of the angle of the island there is a low tract covered with loose sand, which is blown about by the winds, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants. This part is inundated with water during the rainy season; and here are some extensive salt-pans, where the sea-water is evaporated by the heat of the sun. The inhabitants are about 4500, and the island is in great part uncultivated. Horned cattle and goats are tolerably numerous. Salt and orchil are exported. With the exception of a few cocoanut trees, there is no wood, and in the dry season the island offers to the eye nothing but an arid waste. The little vegetation that then exists is in the bottom of ravines. Here corn, beans, and cotton are cultivated. The springs of good water are few. Porto Sal Rey, on the western side of the island, is the chief town (population 1000); and there are several villages scattered about the island. The inhabitants are negros, mulattoes, and a few Europeans, chiefly Portuguese and English. The natives are generally above the middle height, and are well formed; many of them live to a great age. Remittent fevers occur during and after the rainy season, and diarrhoea, pectoral complaints, and ophthalmia occasionally occur. A good deal of fish is taken on the coast, and the islanders are unenterprising islanders, with much of their food. Towards the end of 1845 yellow fever broke out in the island, and carried off about a fourth part of the population. The British government sent out a physician (Dr. MacWilliam) to inquire into the circumstances, and it was proved that the fever had been imported from the African coast by a British ship. The mean temperature of the air in April, May, and June, 1845, he found to be $73^\circ$-$74^\circ$ F., and $74^\circ$-$75^\circ$ F.; and the mean daily range $5^\circ$-$6^\circ$, and $6^\circ$. The difference between the mean due point and the mean temperature he found to be $6^\circ$-$8^\circ$, $6^\circ$-$8^\circ$, and $6^\circ$-$2^\circ$, during the same months. Forty years ago there resided on this island a certain Senhor Manoel Martins, who, from the number of his slaves, his possessions on the different islands, and his extensive commerce, had acquired great influence and power. He it was who constructed the salt-works in Sal, and laid down there the first iron railway that the Portuguese dominions possessed, for the purpose of conveying the salt from the salinas to the shore. Mrs. Biddich has given a lively account of a visit she and her husband paid to the person at Boa Vista.

Maio, whose length is 15 miles, and its area is about 50 square geographical miles. The population amounts to upwards of 2000. Little of the land is cultivated, the inhabitants deriving their support chiefly from their cattle and from the exportation of salt made in a natural pit on the coast. Fish is abundant. This island is a barren treeless waste, surrounded by dangerous rocks, where many vessels have been wrecked. The best landing-place is at English Road, on the west side. The two extremities are low, the middle elevated, with three rounded hills, the highest of which is 720 feet above the sea. Maio is 35 miles from Boa Vista, and is separated from San Tiago by a channel 7 miles wide.

San Tiago (St. Jago), the largest island of the archipelago, has a length of 37 miles, an area of 360 square geographical miles, and a population of 35,000 persons. Its geological structure is volcanic, and part of it has been minutely described by Mr. Dawson in his Observations on Volcanic Islands. Its interior is very hilly, the highest point being a pointed conical mountain called Pico de Antonio, which attains the altitude of 4500 feet. There are numerous ravines which bring down perennial streams, and in these ravines there is a good deal of cultivated ground, where crops of sugar-cane, maize, kidney-beans, rice, and mandioca are raised. Some of the produce is exported to the other islands. Spirit is distilled from the juice of the sugar-cane, and a coarse sugar is also made. The physic-nut tree is largely grown. The chief port is at Villa do Rei, a town at the southern extremity of the island, with 2000 inhabitants. At this place, called Porto Praya by the English, the governor-general and bishop usually reside. Before the removal of the coal depot for British steamers to St. Vicente, it was better known to voyagers than any other town of the Cape Verdes, and many sailing-vessels still touch here. It stands on a basaltic plateau overhanging the bay, and presents, from a distance, a not unpleasing appearance, with its luxuriant cocoanut trees, and the lofty peak of Antonio rising from behind successive steps of tableland in the background. The town, however, is a mean place, and very deficient in fresh water. The neighbourhood has a desolate aspect from its utter sterility. On entering the harbour, there is seen in the face of the sea-cliffs, and raised about 45 feet above the water, a horizontal band of calcareous stone containing marine shells, such as now exist in the sea. It rests on ancient volcanic rocks, and has been covered with a stream of basalt, which has converted it, in some places, into a crystalline marble. On the west coast an inlet penetrates several miles into the interior, but does not afford secure anchorage. In the ravine, at its head, is the town of Ribeira Grande, the former capital of the island, which, with its ruined fort and cathedral, has a picturesque appearance. This island has no great reputation for salubrity; indeed, the coast is considered dangerous to Europeans. Like the others, it has been subject to famines, and there are records of a very destructive one, that lasted three years; about the middle of the last century. Good specimens of the baobab, or monkey bread-tree, may be seen here.

Fogo.—This island is 30 miles distant from San Tiago, and lies between the parallels of 14°, 42' and 15°, 1' N. Lat., and 24°, 8' and 24°, 32' W. Long. It is of a nearly circular shape, measuring about 12 leagues from N. to S., and about 14 leagues from E. to W. Its area is estimated at 144 square geographical miles. Through the middle runs a mountainous ridge of a semicircular form, the concavity being towards the east, and about the centre there rises a volcanic cone to the height of 9150 feet. This volcano produced fire uninterruptedly from 1680 to 1713. It has been active several times since then, the last eruptions having taken place in 1847, when a current of lava flowed to the sea; the summit still emits vapour. In one part of the island there are a number of extinct craters where much sulphur could be collected. The southern part of the island is the flattest; but the whole island slopes more or less from the foot of the central ridge to the coast, which is bound by rocks. The only anchorage for vessels of burden is in Lux Bay, on the west side. Deep ravines add to the inequalities of the island, and carry off the rain as soon as it falls. Of late years there has been a scarcity of rain, and this is probably owing in no small measure to the absence of vegetation. The inhabitants, with great want of foresight, have been in the habit of felling trees, without replanting, so that very few trees are now to be found. The water is good, but scarce. The population amounts to between 11,000 and 12,000. Sao Felippe, the largest town, has a population of nearly 1200. This is the chief place with any commerce, and here is the best anchorage. The chief articles of produce are sugar-cane, ground nuts, sweet potatoes, and canava, the produce of the manilher. There are few goats and swine, but horses and cattle are abundant. The great majority of the natives are employed in agricultural pursuits, but they are very indolent. Their food consists chiefly of the vegetable productions before mentioned, with beans, maize, and fish, and their habitations are wretched huts. The only houses with any pretensions to comfort are at Sao Felippe. This island is reputed to be one of the healthiest of the group; but in addition to the usual endemic, remittent and intermittent fevers manifest themselves in October and November, the intensity of which is in proportion to the abundance of the rains. In July 1855 there was an outbreak of cholera, the origin of which could be traced to a Sardinian vessel which landed her passengers, afflicted by this disease, for a few days at Sao Felippe. Upwards of a fourth of the entire population was attacked, and nearly 650 persons died.

Brava, the most southerly and the smallest but one of the group, has a triangular shape. Its area is 36 square geographical miles, and its population amounts to nearly 600, so that it is the most densely populated of all. Its distance from Fogo is about 12 miles, from San Tiago nearly 60. The interior is mountainous, but near the coast the land is comparatively fertile, its agricultural productions numerous, and much maize is exported. The people, however, are miserably poor, and have suffered repeatedly from the failure of their crops in seasons of drought. Whalers resort to this island for refreshment, and by their means the scanty resources of the population are eked out. This island is usually covered by a dense atmosphere, otherwise its high land would be seen from a great distance.