Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

52 PORT PRAYA — RIBEIRA GRANDE. Jan Strono- crusts 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 be 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 ordinary visitor, though interesting enough to a geologist. A desolate and hilly country, sun-burned and stony, with but few trees even in the vallies, and those only the withering, spectre-like trunks of old palms, surrounds the har- bour. The distant and higher parts of the island, however, pre- sent a striking outline ; and in the interior there is more to be seen, as the following extract from a few notes made by Mr. Rowlett Avill show. " We procured some indifferent horses and rode to Ribeira Grande, the remains of an old town, about nine miles west of Port Praya, which 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 Martin, and enjoyed drinking some of the finest water we had ever tasted. On a commandino; height stood the ruins of a very large fortress, and within the limits of the old town were remains of a cathedral, a bishop's palace, and a college ; besides a modern church, in tolerable repair, an 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 were 1497. " No person wlio has only visited the port of Praya can form the slightest idea of the beauty of the interior coun- try ; it exceeded any thing I had seen, either in Brazil or in the West Indies. * Perhaps by ati cai thqiiake ?