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

1832. PRODUCE POPULATION AllCHILLA. 53 " Fruit was abundant; there were oranges, grapes, plantains, bananas, sour-sops, mammee apples, pomegranates, guavas, quinces, sapodillas, papaw apples, pines, citrons, medlars, 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 be procured by rafting the casks, placing a pump in the well, and hiring a few of the natives to do the more laborious work of filling and rolling. 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 life, depend upon the visits of ship- ping. Fowls, turkeys, and pigs, are very plentiful, but it is better to procure them by barter than with money. Clothes, new or old, are eagerly sought for, and their full value may be 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 are 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 occa- sional 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 manage- ment, might be made highly profitable. At the time of our visit, the yearly revenue arising out of the government mono- poly of this article amounted to fifty thousand dollars ; and in some years it has been as much as three hundi-ed thou- sand dollars. 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.