Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 3/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS.
The Azores.
HE Azores, or "Hawk" Islands, are the most oceanic of all the Atlantic archipelagoes. Rising from abysses some 2 miles deep, San-Miguel, their easternmost point, lies 830 miles due west of the Portuguese Cape Roca, and 930 miles from Cape Cantin, the most The archipelago is still farther removed from the New World, Corvo, the north-westernmost islet, being over 1,000 miles distant from Cape Race in Newfoundland, the nearest American headland, 2,400 miles from St. Thomas, at the north-east angle of the Antilles, and 1,800 from the Bermudas, which, although lying in deep water, advanced headland on the Marocco coast. may still be regarded as belonging geographically to America.
Disposed in three groups of unequal size, the Azores are scattered over nearly three degrees of latitude and more than six of longitude ; but of this vast marine area, about 80,000 square miles in extent, the space occupied by dry land is extremely small, all the islands together having an area of scarcely more than 1,000 square miles. The population, however, is relatively greater than that of the mother country, Portugal, exceeding two hundred to the square mile, although there is much waste and uninhabitable land on the upper slopes and about the volcanic cones.
Since the middle of the fourteenth century, that is to say, eighty years before they were first visited by the Portuguese, the Azores were already known to the Mediterranean seafarers navigating the dreaded waters of the "Mare Tenebrosum,' or "Gloomy Sea." A Florentine document, dated 1351, already presents a correct outline of the whole group, except that they are turned in the direction from north to south instead of from south-west to north-east. Two of the islands have even preserved, in slightly modified form, their Italian names; the farthest removed from Europe, after having been called the Insula de Corvis Marinis, has become the Ilha do Corvo, or "Raven Island;" while San-Zorze, whose very name shows that it was a Genoese discovery, has taken the Spanish appellation of San-Jorge. The Azores were first sighted in 1431 by the Portuguese while occupied with the systematic exploration of the Atlantic, which constitutes their title to renown during the age of the great nautical expeditions. On this occasion they saw nothing but the reefs of Formigas between San-Miguel and Santa-Maria; but Gongalo Velho Cabral, returning to these waters next year, discovered Santa-Maria itself, which Don Henri presented to him as a fief. Twelve years afterwards he landed on San-Miguel, the chief island in the archipelago, which he also received in vassalage under the Portuguese crown. The eastern group of Cabrera, or Las Cabras, had already formed part of geographical nomenclature, but another twenty years passed before the last of the nine members of the group was finally surveyed.
Although scattered over a vast space, the islands have many features in common. All are hilly and dominated by volcanic craters whence lava streams have been discharged, and all terminate seawards in rugged masses of black scoria
presenting a forbidding aspect. With the exception of Santa-Maria, at the southeastern extremity, which contains some limestone beds dating from the Miocene period, all are composed exclusively of ashes, scoriæ, and lavas. Geographically they form three perfectly distinct groups, of which the easternmost is the largest, although comprising only the two islands of San-Miguel and Santa-Maria, with the reefs of Formigas, which may be regarded as the crests of a submerged rocky islet.
The central group consists of five members — Terceira, which has at times given its name to the whole archipelago; Graciosa, San-Jorge, Pico, and Fayal. The CLIMATE OF THE AZORES. 25
western group, least in extent, population and historical importance, comprises only the two remote islets of Flores and Corvo, which are alone disposed in the direction from north to south, all the others forming volcanic chains running north-west and south-east. A comprehensive study of the whole archipelago shows that it constitutes three such parallel chains equidistant from each other, the first formed by Graciosa, Terceira, and San-Miguel, the second, or central, by Corvo, San- Jorge, and the Formigas, the third, or southernmost, by Flores, Fayal, Pico, and Santa-Maria. The regular parallelism is perhaps to be attributed to successive eruptions occurring on fractures or crevasses in submerged ridges aligned in the direction from north-west to south-east.
The lavas of the Azores are much more recent than those of Madeira and the Canaries, none appearing to be older than the Miocene period, that is, the epoch whence date the limestone formations of Santa-Maria. At present the volcanic activity, if not extinct, is at least very quiescent at the two extremities, that is, on the one hand in Santa-Maria and the eastern part of San-Miguel, on the other in the Flores and Corvo group. But the fires still rage under the central islands, especially under the volcano of Pico, and still more fiercely in the western part of San-Miguel. Here have occurred all the most terrible catastrophes, eruptions, and earthquakes during the four centuries that constitute the historic period of the Azores.
Indications of upheaval are visible in Terceira, where the beach, although composed entirely of volcanic rocks, is, at certain points, strewn with boulders of crystalline and sedimentary origin, such as granites, quartz, schists, sandstones, and limestones. These foreign fragments have evidently been deposited on the strand, but are now scattered to a distance of over half a mile inland in sufficient abundance to be used by the peasantry, with detached blocks of lava, in the con- struction of their enclosures. On Santa-Maria are also found some fragments of gneiss, the origin of which it is difficult to determine. The great depth of the surrounding waters excludes the idea that they might have been torn from some surviving reefs of the submerged Atlantis. Nor are these blocks rounded like the shingle long exposed to the action of the waves, but have for the most part pre- served the sharp outlines and freshness of their breakage. Hartung supposes that they may have been brought during the glacial period from America, where, under the same latitude, the glaciers deposited their moraines, while detached boulders were carried with the drift ice to the Azores.
Climate.
All these islands enjoy an equable and healthy climate, which would seem almost perfect but for the violence of the Atlantic gales. IN'otwithstanding the sudden shifting of the winds, the changes of temperature are very slight, the seasons following each other without any marked transitions. Autumn especially delights the visitor, although the leafy groves lack those varied tints which at that period are characteristic of the European, and still more of the North 26 WEST AFEIOA. American scenery. The annual range of temperature from season to season scarcely exceeds 14° F., although at Horta M. de Bettencourt recorded a differ- ence of over 45° (42° to 87°) between the hottest and the coldest day in the whole year. The chief climatic changes are due to the directioiTof the winds, the Azores lying as nearly as possible in the intermediate zone between the trade and counter winds. AVhen the southern breezes prevail it is warm and moist, becom- ing cool and dry when the wind shifts to the north. Hence a notable contrast between the two slopes of the islands, one being exposed to the balmy zephyrs and rains of the south, the other to the northern atmospheric currents. Thus in the Azores the climatic conditions are determined less by latitude than by the aspect of the land. In general the Azorian climate presents a mean between those of Lisbon and Malaga on the one hand, and that of Madeira on the other. Between the latter island and Fayal the yearly temperature differs only by about two degrees, but in the Azores the range from winter to summer is relatively considerable. Lying 350 miles nearer to the pole, they have a colder winter but also a hotter summer than Madeira, although the heat is never so great as on the mainland of Portugal lying under the same latitude. Altogether the Azorian climate is more extreme than that of Madeira, and much less agreeable for strangers. Snow is rarely seen in the lower valleys, but hail often falls during the winter storms, and at times the hills remain for a few hours wrapped in white. It also freezes on the higher grounds, and in San-Miguel people are said to have perished of cold on the plateaux, rising 3,000 feet above sea-level. At the same time strangers are much more sensitive to the cold, in consequence of the high gales and moist atmosphere. The rainfall due to the great oceanic winds is very abundant, being at least twice as heavy as in Madeira. At Horta M. de Bettencourt recorded a hundred and ninety-six rainy days and eight of hall, with a total rainfall of 62 inches. It rains in all seasons, but especially in winter when the west winds prevail, and notwithstanding their steep incline, many of the mountain slopes are clothed with mosses and turf, resembling the peat bogs of Ireland. The rainfall, however-, diminishes from west to east, Santa-Maria, the easternmost, being also the driest island of the group. To protect themselves from the moisture and from sunstroke, always to be feared in damp climates, the peasantry in all the islands wear a sort of cloth hood, covering head and shoulders, and somewhat resembling the " sou'- westers " worn by sailors. Flora. Compared with that of Madeira and the Canaries, the indigenous flora is very poor. In the whole archipelago Watson discovered only three hundred and ninety-six flowering and seventy-five flowerless plants, mostly belonging to European species. One-eighth of the plants are common also either to the other Atlantic groups, or to Africa and America, leaving not more than fifty species peculiar to the Azores, amongst them a cherry, which has become very rare, and which would have probably disappeared had it not been introduced into the gardens. The decided predominance of the European flora is appealed to by those geographers who claim the Azores as a natural dependency of Europe. Hence the term "Western Islands" applied to them by English mariners, as to European lands lying farther west than all others. Even the indigenous species nearly all resemble European types, so that the question arises whether they are to be regarded as independent species, or merely simple varieties gradually transformed by isolation. Nor is it any longer always possible to say with certainty whether those common also to Europe have been introduced intentionally or unconsciously, or whether they form part of the native flora assimilated by analogous surroundings.
The original flora includes not more than five trees, and five or perhaps six shrubs, all inferior in size to the allied plants in Madeira and the Canaries. The palm family, so characteristic of the tropical regions, was absent at the time of the discovery, the prevailing vegetable forms being grasses, reeds, sedge, ferns, all suitable to a moist climate. At the arrival of the Europeans the hillsides were clothed with timber. Fayal, that is the " Beech Grove," owed its name to the forests of Myrica faya, which the mariners mistook for beech-trees. Graciosa and Flores were also indebted to their beautiful flora for these appellations, and even so recently as the present century Flores still possessed magnificent groves of the yew, all of which have since been cut down. In many parts may also still be seen huge trunks almost concealed beneath the mosses and other lower growths, while others have been partly covered by the lavas. The most remarkable of the woody plants on the elevated lands are the faya, or "laurel of the Canaries," and a species of juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus) spoken of by the natives as a cedar. It is the only conifer in the archipelago, where it is found usually associated with the arborescent heaths and myrsinas of African origin.
The heights, being now destitute of fine timber, mostly present a sombre and monotonous aspect, while the ravines and lower valleys still reveal a varied and picturesque vegetation. For although large trees have nearly everywhere disappeared from the open tracts, all parts of the archipelago where the scoria had not acquired a metallic hardness are clothed with verdure. Thanks to their uniform and moist climate, the Azores are well adapted for experiments in acclimatisation. A large number of species from the tropical and temperate regions of Australia, the Old and New Worlds, have already been introduced, and thrive admirably in this "natural conservatory." Hence the taste for pleasure-grounds developed among the wealthy natives. In a few brief years they see their poplars, eucalyptuses, casuarinas springing up to a height of 40 or even 60 feet, although still seldom rivalling in size their congeners in Europe, the Canaries, and elsewhere. In the gardens of Fayal and San-Miguel the native shrubberies have been replaced by thickets in which the oak, beech, and lime of Europe intermingle their foliage with the taxodium (cypress) of Louisiana, the Virginian tulip-tree, the Brazilian araucaria, the cedars of Lebanon and the Himalayas, the camphor of Japan, the Australian acacia, and the palms of both hemispheres. The fruit-trees and cultivated plants from, the Portuguese orchards and arable lands, the bananas and ensete of Ethiopia are invading the coastlands, while the European
weeds are driving to the uplands or exterminating the old indigenous vegetation. INHABITANTS OF THE AZORES. 29 Efforts have also been made to re-plant the waste spaces and higher slopes of the mountains. In this way the whole of San-Miguel has become a garden of acclimatisation, in which a thousand arborescent species have been naturalised, and in some cases multiplied prodigiously. Amongst the most valuable forest-trees thus introduced are the marine fir, the Japanese cryptomeria, the eucalyptus, acacia, cypress, and oak. Fauna. The indigenous fauna is much poorer than the flora of the Azores. On the first arrival of the Europeans it comprised no vertebiates except birds, although some writers speak of a bat found also in North Europe. But this animal was perhaps introduced from Flanders by the Belgian settlers in the sixteenth century. From Europe also came the rabbit, the ferret, the weasel, the black rat that nests in trees, the grey rat, and mouse Of birds there are about thirty species, some remaining throughout the year, some migrating, but nearly all common to Europe, or at least the Atlantic. The green canary was formerly very common, but has been proscribed as a great destroyer of corn. The bird whence the archipelago takes its name of the Azores, or " Hawk " Islands, appears not to be a hawk at all, but a species of buzzard. There are no reptiles, except two species of lizard found in Graciosa, where they are recent arrivals, perhaps from Madeira. The frog, also a stranger, has multiplied rapidly, while the toad, brought from the United States, has failed to become acclimatised. The African locusts have occasionally alighted in swarms and devoured the crops. There are fresh- water eels, but no river molluscs, although as many as sixty-nine species of land molluscs have been found, nearly half of which occur nowhere else. They represent, with six varieties of coleoptera, nearly all the primitive Azorian fauna. Even marine shells are extremely rare, and in some places one may walk for miles along the beach without meeting with a single specimen. The deep-sea fauna is represented chiefly by the cetaceans, porpoise, dolphin, spermaceti and Physeter 7nacroccphahis, the last named formerly very numerous, and of which about a hundred and fifty are still annually captured by the American whalers. Inhabitants. When first visited by the Italian and Portuguese navigators, the Azores were found to be uninhabited. The pioneers of the colony founded in 1444 by Gon^alo Velho Cabral on San-Miguel were some " Moors," sent forward, so to say, to test the climate and resources of the country for the Portuguese who were to follow them. Afterwards the large owners of feudal estates introduced with the white peasantry a certain number of black slaves, by whom a slight strain of dark blood was transmitted to the other settlers. The Jews expelled from Portugal at the beginning of the sixteenth century w^ere also condemned to slavery and distributed over various districts in San-Miguel. Some thousand Flemish colonists introduced into the central group by Jobst van Huerter gave the name of " Flemish Islands '* 30 WEST AFEICA. to the whole archipelago, while Fayal was more specially named "New Flanders." In 1622 there still survived some Belgian families with the characteristic features of their race ; but they had ceased to speak Flemish, and had even changed their patronymic names into Portuguese forms. Thus the Van der Haegens, great land- owners in San-Jorge, assumed the familiar Portuguese appellation of Da Silva. Many shipwrecked mariners of other nations also became merged in the general population, in which the Portuguese enjoy such a decided predominance that all these foreign elements may safely be neglected. But whence comes the great bulk of these Portuguese themselves ? Little can be gleaned on this point from official documents, or the conflicting evidence of physical types, dialects, popular songs, local usages, and the like. Some authori- ties bring the San-Miguel islanders from the province of Minho, in North Portugal, others from Algarve, in the extreme south. In any case the Azorians are far from presenting a uniform type, the greatest variety being presented by the different communities throughout the archipelago. They are generally under- sized, with rather coarse features, large mouth, thick lips, ill- shaped nose, and cranial capacity decidedly inferior to that of the average European, although the Azorians are said by some authorities to hold their own in science and literature with their continental fellow-countrymen. In the form of the head and physical charac- teristics they forcibly recall the " Celtic " tj^pe of Auvergne and Brittany as described by Broca and other French anthropologists. By a curious coincidence, the village of San- Miguel, noted for a French pronunciation of certain syllables, also bears the name of Bretanha, like the Armorican peninsula. On the other hand the Santa-Maria dialect is distinguished beyond all others for its numerous archaic expressions. Although by no means of a fanatical disposition, the Azorians are very religious, the frequent earthquakes tending to foster that sentiment of fear which theologians hold to be " the beginning of wisdom." At every shock the natives rush for safety to the churches, and it is related that on one occasion after an agrarian rising, an earthquake having overthrown some houses in the village of Povoa9ao, the terrified people immediately fell on their knees with loud cries of repentance and supplications to the landowners for pardon. The miraculous images are visited by countless pilgrims, and their shrines enriched with offerings. An Ecce Homo in the Ponta-Delgada convent is specially renowned for its wonder-working powers not only throughout the archipelago, but even in Portugal and Brazil. But despite their religious fervour, there is a less variety of supersti- tions among them than in the mother- country, which may be due to a less vivid imagination produced by their monotonous lives, uneventful history, poor surround- ings, and absence of ancient monuments. Rapid intellectual changes are now also taking place in this hitherto secluded community, thanks to the long voyages made by the emigrants and those engaged in the whale fisheries. Thousands have already visited Portugal, Brazil, the West Indies, the Sandwich Islands, and the Arctic Seas, and no other insular population probably contains so large a proportion of men who have made the tour of the world. Amongst the rural classes marriage is nearly always an affair of pure convenience and interest. A few traces still survive of the former seclusion of the women, noticeable in the construction of the houses and especially in the costume. Enveloped in their large hooded cloaks, the Azorian women seem to flit about like phantoms. Many of these hoods are still so contrived as to meet in front, leaving only a narrow opening for the wearer with which to see without being seen. In the district of San Miguel the wife, when paying a visit or going to mass, may not walk by the side of her husband, who struts majestically a few
paces in front. Formerly the ladies in the towns could not even go abroad to make their purchases, but had to do all their shopping at home, never leaving the female apartments except to visit the church. At the approach of a man it was even etiquette to turn towards the wall in order to avoid a profane glance.
The population increases rapidly by natural excess of births over the mortality, families being very numerous, and the death-rate amongst children relatively extremely low. At the same time the survival even of the weaker offspring tends apparently to bring about a general degradation of the race, and men are no 32 ^^ST AFRICA. longer seen in the archipelago at all comparable to the sturdy peasantry of North Portugal. Epidemics occasionally break out, and the old chroniclers speak of " pestilence," which in combination with the Moorish corsairs laid waste the rising settlements. At present gastric and typhoid fevers are endemic, although their virulence is much diminished by the topographic distribution of the towns and villages. Trade has given rise to few large centres of population, the houses mostly following in long straggling lines around the island, and thus enjoying the invigorating influence of the sea breezes. The diet also is at once simple and strengthening, large quantities of maize bread being consumed with all the other aliments, such as vegetables, fruits, and fish. "To be wall fed, take all with bread," says the local proverb. Although very fertile, and in all the islands well tilled to a height of over 1,600 feet, the land no longer suffices for the support of the ever-growing popula- tion. This result must be mainly attributed to the distribution of the landed estates. At the time of Hunt's visit in 1840 the number of proprietors repre- sented only a thirty-sixth of the adult inhabitants, and although primogeniture has been abolished, the old feudal division has been largely maintained. San- Miguel still belongs almost entirely to about a dozen large landowners, as at the time of the first settlement. Several domains comprise a broad belt stretching from the rock-bound coast to the cones of the volcanoes. 'No doubt tenants have the traditional right of remaining on the cultivated land and receiving compensa- tion for improvements ; but the rack rents exacted by the landlords represent a large share, sometimes fully one-half, of the whole produce. Small proprietors are far from numerous, and at a change of hands the real value of their holdings is greatly reduced by the fees for sale and the other legal dues by which these small estates are encumbered. Thus the owner too often becomes dispossessed in favour of the rapacious lawyer, or of some wealthier emigrant returning from Brazil, who is willing to pay a fictitious value for the property. Hence the junior members in all families swarm abroad, the number of yearly emigrants varying from two thousand to three thousand, while the annual amount remitted to their relatives is estimated at forty thousand pounds. Shipping companies have been formed to take advantage of this movement, which is directed towards Brazil, the United States, the Portuguese African possessions, and recently also to the Sandwich Islands. In 1882 alone, over two thousand from the single district of Ponta-Delgada migrated to Hawaii, where in 1884 there were reckoned 9,377 of Portuguese race, mostly Azorians. Young men escape from the archipelago especially to avoid military serdce and the wearisome life in some Portuguese fortress. A recent law obliging them to deposit a sufficient sum to provide a substitute is frequently evaded. Agriculture is the great industry of the Azorians, whose implements are still of a very primitive type, the harrows tipped with fragments of lava dating, in fact, from the stone age. But so fertile is the land, that even so it yields twenty- fold the corn committed to the earth. Unlike other great feudatories, the proprietors are seldom absentees, residing constantly on their estates, and TOPOGRAPHY OE THE AZORES. 33 industriously reclaiming every inch of arable land. Wheat, which degenerates in San-Miguel, thrives well in Santa-Maria. Beans and haricots are also culti- vated, besides sweet potatoes and yams, which serve not only as food, but also for distilling alcohol. In many places the rotation of crops has been intro- duced in such a way as to yield two harvests in the year ; nevertheless, the produce is generally inferior to that of the mainland and of the other Atlantic archipelagoes. The vine, in recent years mostly destroyed by oidium, yielded to the middle of this century an indifferent but abundant white wine. It is now replaced by orange- groves, especially in San-Miguel, which in a single season has exported to London as many as two hundred and fifty million " Saint Michaels," valued at nearly £120,000. But this plant also has begun to " weep," stricken by lagrima and other diseases, which have reduced the export to one-fourth. A fibre is extracted from the pliovmium ienax, or New Zealand flax, introduced at an unknown date ; pineapples of fine flavour are raised under glass, and since 1878 attention has been paid to the tea industry. In 1885 a single plantation contained as many as twenty- seven thousand shrubs. But the staple agricultural product is maize, of which a considerable quantity is exported, notwithstanding the enormous local consump- tion. The peasant class itself is still in a miserable condition, wages ranging from about eightpence to fifteen pence, and during harvest-time rising to half a crown. Formerly the islanders wore clothes made almost exclusively of indigenous fabrics ; but the cheap foreign cotton and woollen goods have nearly extinguished the native looms. The only local industries, properly so called, are tanneries, flour- mills, and cheese-making, all not occupied with agriculture being engaged in trade. The foreign exchanges are steadily advancing, having increased tenfold between 1830 and 1880, although since then a considerable decrease has been caused by the ravages of the various diseases that have attacked the orange- groves. Topography. Santa Maria, which lies nearest to Portugal and Madeira, is one of the smallest and least populous members of the archipelago. But it appears to have formerly been much larger, for its marine pedestal, eaten away by the surf caused by fierce western gales, extends for a considerable distance to the north-west of the island. The Formicjas and Formigore reefs, "pigmy ants encircling a giant ant," which lie some 24 miles to the north-east, are also mere fragments of an islet about six miles long. But while one side of the Santa -Maria bank has been eroded by the waves, the island has elsewhere been enlarged by a slow movement of upheaval. The traces of old beaches are clearly visible round the coast to a height of about 300 feet. This western section of the archipelago appears to have been long exempt from eruptions and underground disturbances. No recent scoriae occur, and the old lavas have either been weathered by atmospheric action or clothed with humus and verdure. Santa-Maria 1s distinguished from all the other islands by the presence of some limestone beds deposited in the shallow waters before the upheaval of the coasts. These deposits, which date from the close of the Miocene epoch, are utilised by the lime-burners, who export the product of the kilns to Ponta-Delgada, in San-Miguel. The red argillaceous clays are also used for the manufacture of pozzolana.
Villa do Porto, capital of Santa-Maria, scarcely deserves its name, which means the "harbour town." Its creek, a mere fissure in the south coast, is exposed to the west and south winds, and the anchorage is so bad that the shipping has often to keep to the roadstead, ready to take to the high seas at the approach of danger. Few of the islands suffered more than Santa-Maria from the raids of the French
and Algerian corsairs in the sixteenth century. In dry seasons it is threatened with scarcity, and at times with famine."
San-Miguel is the largest and by far the most important island in the archipelago, containing nearly one-half of the entire population. It consists of two really distinct islands, the channel between which has been filled up by a series of eruptions. This intervening space rises above the rocky plain formed by the lava-streams flowing from the two original islands. It is studded by a multitude of volcanic cones, whose outlines present: from a distance the appearance of a line of giant molehills. The volcanic ashes mingled with the débris of these lavas, and modified by the action of the rains, have developed an extremely fertile vegetable humus, constituting the chief agricultural district in the island. Here, also, is concentrated the great majority of the population.
The eastern part of San-Miguel, resembling Santa-Maria in the aspect of its ravined slopes and weathered lavas, is dominated by the Pico da Vara, highest summit in the island. This old crater has been quiescent since the arrival of the first colonists, and the Africans left on the island in 1444 took refuge on its wooded slopes during the violent earthquakes which wasted the western districts. West of the Pico da Vara the irregular chain is broken at intervals by plains in the form of cirques, one of which opening southwards takes the name of the Val
das Furnas, or "Valley of the Furnaces." It is traversed by the Ribeira Quente, or "Burning River," which reaches the sea through a narrow valley used for raising early fruits and vegetables. For the space of about the fourth of a mile, in all directions the ground is pierced by innumerable openings, throwing up jets of water and vapour. Some of these apertures have scarcely the diameter of a needle, and take the name of olhos, or "eyes;" but the most copious spring is the caldeira, or "cauldron," which ejects with a rumbling noise a liquid stream to a height of over three feet above the level of the basin. From the encircling rocks, worn and bleached by the acids, there escape some boiling rivulets, and even in the bed of the main stream hot springs are revealed by the bubbles and vapours
Thermal springs and vapour jets are numerous in other parts of the island, where they are disposed in a line running from north-west to south-east, that is, in the same direction as the axis of the archipelago itself. San-Miguel also abounds most in lakes, formerly craters which vomited burning scoriae, and are now filled with rain water. One of these occupies an oval depression immediately to the west of the Yal das Furnas, while a neighbouring basin, 3 miles round, with a depth of over 100 feet, was completely filled with ashes during the eruption of 1563, and is now known as the Lngoa Secca, or "Dry Lake." Six miles farther on is the lagoon Do Cotigro, filling a deep crater, with steep walls rising 100 feet above the water. Beyond it is the alpine Lagoa do Fogo, or " Fiery Lake," which has replaced a burning crater opened in 1563. On this occasion the Volcao, or " Volcano," a lofty mountain so called in a pre-eminent sense, disappeared altogether, being transformed to a mass of ashes and pumice, which were strewn over the island and for hundreds of miles over the surrounding ocean. Some of the volcanic dust was even said to have been wafted by the wind as far as Portugal. The western extremity of San-Miguel is almost entirely occupied by a circular crater, with a surprisingly regular outer rim 9 miles in circumference, and cut up at intervals by the action of the rains. The vast amphitheatre is dominated by several volcanoes, culminating south-eastwards in the Pico da Cruz, 2,830 feet high. The sheet of water flooding the great crater lies at an altitude of little over 1,000 feet above the sea, and according to tradition this chasm was opened in 1444, the very year when the first settlers were landed on the island by Cabral. This statement, however, has not been confirmed by a geological study of the crater, which has also received from the popular fancy the name of the Caldeira das Sete Cidades, or " Cauldron of the Seven Cities." Here were doubtless supposed to have been submerged the " Seven Cities " of Antilia, founded by the seven legendary bishops said to have fled from Portugal at the time of the Moorish invasion. The lake, which has an extreme depth of over 350 feet, is disposed in two distinct basins, the Lngoa Grande in the north, separated by a scarcely emerged tongue of land from the southern Lagoa AzuJ, or "Azure Lake." Each of the two volcanoes lying a little farther south has also flooded craters. Within the historic period some submarine volcanoes have risen close to the coast in the vicinity of the Sete Cidades. The regular crater facing the port of Yillaf ranca, on the south side of the island, is of unknown date. The first eruption witnessed in the open sea occurred in 1638, when a column of ashes was thrown up to the south-west of Cape Ferraria, a blackish cone at the same time slowly rising above the water ; but in a few months the new island was swept away by the winter storms. In 1811, however, another appeared to the south-west of the same spot. This was the famous Sahn'na, so named from the British frigate which witnessed the eruption, during which jets of scoria) and ashes rose at intervals to a height of over 680 feet above the cliffs of the neighbouring coast. A cloud of vapours revolved round about this column of debris like a vast wheel, and on the fourth day the first dark outline of Sabrina rose to the surface. In three hours it was already 20 feet high, with a round crater 1,500 feet in circumference. Sixteen days after the beginning of the eruption the cone acquired its greatest dimensions — 250 feet high and 14 mile round; but consisting entirely of loose ashes and scoriæ, it could not long resist the action of the waves, and gradually disappeared to a depth of about 100 feet below the surface.
The earliest Portuguese settlement on the south coast of San-Miguel takes the simple name of Povoacam. Villafranca, which succeeded it as the capital, lies also on the south side, where the roadstead is sheltered from the west winds by the volcanic islet and the flooded isthmus connecting it with the shore. Although
destroyed by an eruption in 1522, when all its five thousand inhabitants perished, Villafranca has again become a populous place, carrying on a direct trade with England. But the capital has been removed farther west to Ponta-Delgada, which ranks for population as the fourth city in Portuguese territory. The formerly exposed anchorage is already partly protected by a pier 2,850 feet long, which was begun in 1860, and which, when completed, will shelter from all winds a harbour large enough to accommodate a hundred vessels. More than half of the foreign trade of the Azores is carried on through this port, which is connected by good roads with the northern slope of the island. Here are situated Rubeira-Grande, second town in San-Miguel, and Capellas, the most frequented summer retreat of the wealthy islanders.
The waters separating San-Miguel from Terceira were the scene of violent submarine disturbances in 1720, when a temporary volcano rose for a short time above the surface. In 1867 the convulsions were renewed near the village of Serreta, at_ the western extremity of Terceira, when another heap of scoriæ was formed, without, however, reaching the level of the sea. On this occasion the ground was in a constant state of agitation for months together, as many as fifty shocks occurring more than once in a single day, some strong enough to overthrow the houses. The eruption which gave birth to the sub-marine volcano lasted seven
days, during which the surrounding waters were coloured yellow, green, and red by the ferruginous salts in solution.
Like San-Miguel, the oval island of Terceira, or "the Third," consists of two sections, the central and eastern, with its Caldeiram, or "Kettle," and the western with its Culdeira, or "Boiler," of Santa-Barbara, belonging to different geological epochs. The Kettle is a cirque some 6 miles in circumference, encircled by volcanic cones and entirely overgrown with a thicket of brushwood. From its rim a view is commanded of all the central islands in the archipelago, and the faint outlines of San-Miguel, away to the south-east, may even be discerned in fine weather. The last eruption in the interior of Terceira occurred in 1761, the red lava streams then ejected being still nearly destitute of vegetation. A little gas 40 WEST AFEICA. and vapour at a temperature of 194° F. still escapes from the crater, while round about the solfataras are deposited crystals of sulphur, whence this central part of the island takes the name of Furnas d'Enxofre, or " Sulphur Furnaces." Off the south coast of Terceira lie the Cabras rocks, representing an old sub- marine cone, now separated by the waves into two distinct islets. Attached to the same coast is the Morro do Brazil, another submarine volcano lying west of the port of Angra. A fort erected on its slope defends Angra, chief town of Terceira, formerly official capital of the Azores, and still residence of the military commander. Although smaller than Ponta-Delgada, the " City of Churches," as it is called from the number of its sacred edifices, it presents a more monumental appearance. In the local records it bears the pompous title of "Angra do Ileroismo," in memory of the successful resistance it opposed to the troops of Don Miguel in 1829. Graciom, the " Delightful," no longer deserves this name, since its former vesture of arborescent vegetation has been replaced by more economic growths. Besides agriculture, some industries are carried on in its two towns of S^mt/i- Cruz and Praia, both situated on the north coast. Since the arrival of the Portuguese there have been no eruptions, and seldom any severe earthquakes in this island. The only present indications of volcanic activity are a thermal and mineral spring flowing seawards, and some carbonic acid and other vapours emitted from a " cauldron " in the eastern district. San- Jorge, central point of the middle group and of the whole archipelago, .differs from the other islands in its long narrow form, disposed exactly in the direction of the general Azorian axis, and traversed for some 30 miles by a ridge destitute of deep "cauldrons," and even of craters, properly so called. Although quiescent in its eastern section, which was the first to be occupied by Jobst van Huerter's Flemish colonists, San-Jorge is still frequently disturbed at the other end. Here is Vellas, the capital, sheltered by a headland from the west winds. Submarine volcanoes are said to have made their appearance near the western extremity in 1691, 1720, and 1757 ; in the latter year as many as eighteen ephemeral islets, all soon swept away by the waves. Formerly San- Jorge produced the best wine in the archipelago, but is at present chiefly occupied with stock- breeding. South of San- Jorge the archipelago culminates in the lofty summit of Pico, or the " Peak," in a pre-eminent sense, which towers to a height of 7,800 feet, and which, although developing at its base a circuit of 70 miles, has never been known by any more definite name. On both sides of the island the slopes rise gradually towards the apex, but more rapidly on the west side, which, seen from below, present the appearance of almost vertical walls. During clear weather the summit is seen from a distance to terminate in a crater encircled by more recent cones, formed by successive eruptions. But this summit is even more rarely visible than that of Teneriffe, the mountain being wrapped in clouds and fogs for months together, while the snow, sheltered by the vapours from the solar rays, remains even during midsummer in the ui3per crevasses. TOPOGEAPHY OF THE AZORES. 41 Since tlie time of the Portuguese occupation violent eruptions have occurred, but none in the terminal crater itself, which emits nothing but a light column of vapour, mingled with carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. The CFuption of 1572 appears to have been specially distinguished by the intensity of its fires, lighting up the whole archipelago, changing night into day, and illuminating the waters of San-Miguel at a distance of 150 miles. Like Terceira and Graciosa, Pico consists mainly of lavas which were ejected in a perfectly fluid state, and con- sequently spread in serpentine windings over the slopes. Around nearly the whole island, as round Etna in Sicily, the waters filter through the ashes and porous lavas, under which they develop subterranean streams, reappearing on the coast, where they are alternately exposed and covered by the tidal ebb and flow. Hence, notwithstanding the abundant rainfall, the inhabitants are obliged to husband their supplies in artificial reservoirs. Although of much larger extent, Pico has a population very little superior to that of the neighbouring Fayal. Formerly the large landowners of this island accumulated great wealth from their extensive vineyards, especially in Pico, which in 1852 yielded over 2,860,000 gallons of a vintage resembling Madeira ; but in 1853 the crop was reduced by the ravages of oidium to one-fifth, and a few years later the vines had only the value of so much fuel. Since then a few vine- yards have been restored, and attention has been paid to the cultivation of other fruits and to grazing on the upland pastures. But the produce of Pico, and consequently the trade of Fayal, have been much reduced, so that the impoverished inhabitants have largely contributed to swell the tide of emigration. Lagens, capital of Pico, is a wretched village near the south coast, on the banks of a lagoon which it is proposed to convert into a harbour. Geographically, Fa^al may be regarded as a dependency of Pico, from which it is separated by a channel less than 300 feet in depth. The spurious beeches, whence Fayal, or the " Beech Grove," takes its name, have almost disappeared, being now found only in a "cauldron" in the centre of the island 1,340 feet deep and nearly 4 miles round, and flooded with a small lake. Of all the Azores, Fayal is the best cultivated, and yields the finest fruits, such as oranges, apricots, and bananas. The industrious natives manufacture some woven fabrics, and the women prepare a thousand fancy objects for strangers, amongst which beautiful lace made with agave fibre. Ilorta, capital of Fayal, occupies a pleasant position over against Pico at the entrance of the fertile Yale of Flanders, so named from its first settlers, amongst whom was Martin Beham, the famous Niirnberg cosmographer. 'No other district in the archipelago surpasses that of Horta for the variety of the indigenous and exotic flora and the beauty of its shady groves, in which are intermingled the European, American, and Australian species. Owing to the abundance of its vegetable and other produce, Horta has become the chief port of call of the American whalers frequenting these waters. Its roadstead also is the best sheltered in the whole archipelago, being protected from the dangerous west winds by the surrounding heights, from those of the east and north- east by Pico and 6r— AF San-Jorge, and from the south by the Quemado and Aguia, or Guia, rocks. A breakwater in course of construction, running from Quemado to the south of the anchorage, will enclose a safe harbour of about 30 acres in extent.
Flores and Corvo, separated from the other Azores by a space of about 150
miles, and from each other by a strait 11 miles wide and over 830 fathoms deep, form a little group apart, communicating seldom with the eastern groups, except for administrative purposes with Horta, capital of the province of the Azores. AECHIPELAGO OF MADEIRA. 43 Nevertheless, the natives are daring mariners, trading directly with Portugal and Brazil, and often supplying fresh hands to the American whalers. The cattle of Corvo, descended from the Algarvian breed, are probably the smallest in the world, the largest scarcely exceeding 36 inches, but always well-proportioned. The two islands have a typical Azorian climate, mild, moist, and breezy, with a heavier rainfall than elsewhere, more sudden gales, more verdant perennial vegetation. Although disafforested, Flores still remains the island of " Flowers," with a great variety of vegetable species and wonderfully fertile slopes and dells. All the slopes of the hills in both islands are scored by deep valleys radiating regularly from the centre to the periphery. This formation is due to the great age of the lavas, which during the course of countless centuries have been cut up into broad valleys, formerly densely covered with forest growths, now occupied by rich cultivated tracts. No eruptions, or even any violent earthquakes, have been recorded either in Flores or Corvo throughout the historic period. The craters have ceased to emit any vapours, and are now partly flooded with lakelets, partly clothed with brush- wood and herbage. The great cauldron occupying about half of Corvo, is the most regular in the whole archipelago, forming an oval cirque over 4 miles round, and intersected by numerous gorges, some converging towards the inner lake, others diverging seawards. Administration. The Azores, attached administratively to Portugal as an integral part of the kingdom, comprise three districts subdivided into twenty-two concelhos and a hundred and twenty-five communes. Each district is administered by an elective colonial council, and by a special civil government depending directly on the metropolis. The Azores send eight deputies to the Portuguese chambers, four named by Ponta-Delgada, two by each of the other districts. A tabulated list of the islands, with their districts, chief towns, and popula- tions, will be found in the Appendix. Archipelago of Madeira. The group of Atlantic islands and islets lying 500 miles to the south-east of Santa-Maria in the Azores, occupies a very insignificant space amid the surround- ing waters. But although Madeira, the chief island, with all its little dependen- cies, has a total area of less than 400 square miles, so densely is it peopled that it contains a population relatively four times greater than that of the mother-country, Portugal. * . Less European in its climate than the Azores, Madeira lies, nevertheless, much nearer to the mainland, the distance from Funchal to Sagres not exceeding 550 miles, or two days of steam navigation. The African coast is still nearer. Cape Cantin, in Marocco, lying 420 miles due east ; while Palma and Teneriffe, in the Canary group, are distant less than 270 miles to the south. Madeira is entirely 44 WEST AFEICA. encircled by deep waters, in which the sounding-line plunges 2,200 fathoms without touching the bed of the sea. But in the direction of Europe there occur several banks and plateaux, such as that of Gettysburg, about 150 miles from the nearest Portuguese headland, flooded only by 200 feet of water. This bank of bright pink coral forms the crest of an extensive submerged land, which ramifies on the one hand towards Madeira, on the other towards the Azores through the Josephine bank lying under 85 fathoms of water. In the early records of doubtful geographical discovery Madeira flits like a shadow before the puzzled gaze of the observer. Is it to be identified with the Jeziret-el-Ghanam, discovered by the Arab navigators before the time of Edrisi, that is, before the twelfth century ; and is Porto-Santo the Jeziret-el-Tiur, or " Isle of Birds " of these explorers ? On the map of the brothers Pizzigani, dated 1367, and several other more recent Italian charts, the Madeira group is indicated as the archipelago of Saint Brendan's Fortunate Islands. But so early as 1351 Madeira is already mentioned in a Medicean document by the name it still bears, the " Isle of Wood " (in Italian kgname, the equivalent of the Portuguese madeira, " wood " ), the other islets of the group being also indicated by their present appellations. Nevertheless, Madeira was again forgotten by the western seafarers, or at least the vague memory of its existence faded away into a popular legend. " It seems," says one au-thor, " that such a delightful island could only have been discovered by love ; " and thus arose, embellished by a Portuguese writer, the story of the two English lovers who fled from Bristol in the reign of Edward III., and were driven by a storm to the coast of Madeira. But however this be, the definite registration of the archipelago in the records of geographical discovery dates only from the year 1418 or 1419. Accord- ing to Barros, the cavaliers Gon^alvez Zarco and Tristam Yaz Teixeyra, "still unaccustomed to sail on the high seas," were driven by the tempest far from the African shore, which they were coasting in the direction of Bojador, and landed at Porto-Santo, the " Sacred Port," or haven of refuge. On their return to Portugal they received from Don Henri a commission to colonise the new island, and they proceeded forthwith to explore a dark spot visible from Porto-Santo on the south-western horizon. Madeira was at last discovered. Contemporary evidence leaves no room to doubt that the Portuguese navigators really rediscovered the archipelago. At the same time it cannot be pretended that the islands were previously unknown to Prince Henry, for the very names given them by the Portuguese were identified with those already assigned to them on the Italian maps. Madeira, chief member of the group, so far exceeds all the others in extent, population, and resources, that in ordinary language no account is taken of these minor satellites, and Madeira is spoken of as if it were a solitary island in the waste of waters. Disposed in the direction from east to west, it has an extreme length of over 35 miles, and a width of 14 miles at its widest part, between the northern and southern headlands of San-Jorge and Santa-Cruz, with a superficial
area of about 280 square miles. Madeira is entirely occupied by igneous rocks 
the rocks have not been clothed with the verdure of brushwood or forest growths. There are no indications of any surviving volcanic life, and earthquakes are of rare occurrence.
The island is traversed from end to end by a high saddle-back, broadening here and there into plateaux, and again contracting to a narrow ridge. Lateral spurs branching from the main range, and separated from each other by profound gorges, terminate on the coast in abrupt headlands, columnar basalt cliffs, and many-coloured tufas, whose brown, red, and yellow tints produce a very vivid effect. Cape Giram, one of these headlands, about the middle of the south coast, falls little short of 2,500 feet above the sea. But the general axis lies much nearer the north side, where the slope is consequently far more abrupt. Here also the general aspect of nature is wilder, the headlands more rugged, the coastline more sharply outlined, without, however, anywhere developing natural havens. The whole island presents no safe refuge where shipping may safely anchor at all times.
According to Oswald Heer, Madeira emerged probably during the Quaternary epoch, to which age seem to belong the beds of fossil plants discovered on the
north side, and the prodigious masses of land shells forming steep ramparts about Cape Sam-Lourenço at the eastern extremity of the island. Marine fossils found 1,270 feet above sea-level date from the Tertiary period, and some facts are mentioned by Walker which show that the sea has receded in the Funchal district, and which seem to point at a recent upheaval of the land.
According to Ziegler, Madeira, regarded as a horizontal mass, has a mean altitude of 2,700 feet. But in its western section the central chain, here very irregular, rises to a height of over 4,000 feet. It then expands into an extensive tableland about 10 miles round, with precipitous escarpments. This is the Paul CLIMATE OF MADEIRA. 47 da Serra, or " Mountain Morass," whose depressions, here and there filled with peat, have somewhat the aspect of the English moors. East of this district the main range is dominated by the Pic Ruivo, or Red Peak, 5,870 feet, culminating point of the whole island, which overlooks the Carral das Freiras, a vast cirque enclosed on three sides by steep walls over 1,600 feet high. Here, perhaps, was the old central crater, now enlarged and partly effaced by the erosion of running waters. A dismantled lava wall connects the Ruivo heights to a very irregular plateau dominating on the north the Bay of Funchal. Beyond this plateau, which still exceeds 3,000 feet, the central range falls rapidly, and the island tapers to the eastern peninsula, which, with its terminal islets, presents the best anchorage for shipping. The little haven of Machico, at the neck of this penin- sula, is the spot where the legend places the grave of the two English lovers, said to have been the first that landed on the island, driven to its shores by a tempest. The rugged easternmost headland of Sam-Louren9o is continued seawards by the islet of Fora and by a submarine bank, which is extended eastwards and south- wards in depths of from 280 to 500 feet. Still farther to the south-east this bank rises to the surface, forming some reefs and the chain of the three Desertas, or " Desert " islets, which long deserved their name, but which are now inhabited by a few hundred fishermen and shepherds. In the valleys of the largest (Grande Deserta) some corn is also cultivated. Porto-Santo, lying 90 miles to the north-east of Madeira, and separated from it by an abyss 1,200 fathoms deep, differs also in its relief. It is far less hilly, consisting of two volcanic masses with an intervening sandy plain, where are situated the chief centres of population. Climate. Lying between 32° and 33° N. latitude — that is, about one- third of the distance between the equator and the Arctic pole — Madeira is renowned for its mild and delightful climate. When we speak of any pleasant spot or happy island, Madeira at once recurs to the memory. Although meteorological observations have been taken almost exclusively in the specially favoured district of Funchal, situated on the south coast and well sheltered from the north, the whole archipelago may be said to enjoy a remarkably, equable climate. The mean temperature of Funchal is naturally somewhat higher than that of Ponta-Delgada and Fayal in the Azores, which lie five degrees farther north, but the annual extremes are considerably less, the heat being greater in winter and less sultry in summer. Between February, the coldest, and August, the hottest month, the difference is less than 12° F., the mean for winter being 60° F., for summer 69° F., and for the whole year 64° F. This remarkable uniformity is due not only to the marine situation of Madeira, but also to the annual equilibrium of the winds. During the hot season, that is, from February to September, the cool north-east trade winds prevail, these being succeeded in winter by the soft western breezes. At the same time the deviations 48 WEST AFEICA. from the normal directions are very frequent in these waters, which lie in the intermediate zone between the tropical and temperate seas. Thus the north-west currents are often deflected eastwards by the neighbourhood of the Sahara, and transformed to north and north-east winds. At times also the Icsfe, as the scirocco is here called, blows from the desert towards Madeira, but it is usually very weak and seldom lasts long. The system of general currents is daily modified by the regular movement of the terral, or land-breeze, blowing from the uplands sea- wards, and of the imhate, or sea-breeze, blowing landwards. The change of direc- tion often takes place before noon, so that the greatest heat prevails in the early part of the day. The chief moisture-bearing currents are the trade winds more or less deflected and transformed to north and north-west breezes. The wettest month is December, August the driest ; but no season is quite rainless, and the rainfall varies remark- ably from year to year. On an average scarcely a hundred wet days are recorded at Funchal, which is about half that of the Azores, the quantity of rainfall being nearly in the same proportion in the two archipelagoes. According to Heineken, that of Funchal is about 30 inches yearly, so that the inhabitants of Madeira are obliged to husband their resources, utilising the water from the melting snows to irrigate the plains, and diverting the copious streams by means of Icvados, or aqueducts running in galleries through the hills and encircling the escarpments above the valleys. These springs are partly fed by the dense fogs which con- stantly settle morning and evening on the summits of the interior. Flora. Although less extensive than the Azores, the Madeira group possesses a far more varied flora, which is due no doubt to its greater proximity to the two continents of Europe and Africa, and to its milder climate favouring the development both of tropical plants and species peculiar to the temperate zone. Madeira is like a large botanical garden, in which the two floras are intermingled. To the seven hundred species supposed to have been indigenous at the arrival of the Portuguese, there have since been added thousands introduced by man either unintentionally, or designedly for agricultural, industrial, or ornamental purposes. " The violet," says Bowditch, " grows beneath the shade of the bananas ; the strawberry ripens at the foot of the mimosas; palms and conifers flourish side by side; the guava and pear- trees are met with in the same enclosures." Thanks to a few indigenous plants, and especially to the exotics introduced since the colonisation, the present vegetation of Madeira in many respects recalls that of the tropical lands in Africa and the New World, without however losing its general European aspect. Of the 700 species, of which 527 are very probably endemic, 357 belong to Europe, while not more than 30 can be referred to the tropical flora of both hemispheres. As regards the indigenous species either peculiar to Madeira or common to some of the other Atlantic archipelagoes, Madeira shows the greatest resemblance to the Canary group. Hence Webb, Ball, and other naturaHsts have given the collective designation of Macaronesia to all these islands, in memory of
the old Greek "Isles of the Blest." Since the Tertiary epoch this flora has undergone but slight changes, as shown by Oswald Heer's researches on the fossil plants of Mount Sam-Jorge in the north of Madeira. At that time the tree-fern, the myrtle, and allied species were as characteristic of the island as at present. An extremely remarkable botanical phenomenon is the curious contrast presented by the larger island to Porto-Santo and the Desertas, where are found African, Asiatic, and American varieties not occurring in Madeira proper.
Here great changes have taken place, thousands of new plants having been introduced, while some of the indigenous species have probably disappeared. The clearing of the forests began with the very first arrivals, and Gonçales Zarco, to
whom the Funchal district had been assigned as a fief, fired the woods covering the site of the future capital. The conflagration spread far and wide, threatening even to devour those by whom it had been kindled. Aloys de Codamosto tells us that in order to escape from the flames the settlers had to take refuge in their boats or to cast themselves into the sea, where they remained without food for two days and nights, immersed to the shoulders in water. For years the fire continued to creep from hill to hill, and the new plants that sprang up no longer resembled those of the primeval forests. Porto-Santo also, formerly covered with large timber, and especially with the draconas used for building boats, was even more wasted than INHABITANTS OF MADEIEA. 51 Madeira, and brushwood has become so rare that cow-dung has now to be used for fuel. The dracona, a typical Macaronesian tree, has disappeared from Porto-Santo since 1828, and has also become very rare in Madeira, where it mostly dies without fructifying. In all the lowlying grounds cultivated plants have replaced the old vegetation, fields and orchards ascending as high as 2,500 feet, which is the limit for the cultivated species of the temperate zone. But the laurel and ferns reach as far as 5,350 feet, where is met the Oreodaphne fcetenSy which emits such a fa3tid odour that the woodman is unable to fell it all at once. Fauna. The original fauna of the archipelago is very poor in species, being limited to a lizard, a bat, a bird, a bee, a grasshopper, a cricket, a few shells and insects, and a spider which weaves no web, but captures flies by fascinating them, as the snake does the frog. Of the 176 land-shells 38 are European; but each island has its special varieties, the Desertas 10, Porto-Santo 44, and Madeira as many as 61. All the quadrupeds have been introduced by the colonists, even the destructive rabbit and rats. The marine fauna is also mainly European, fewer species of the equatorial Atlantic having been discovered than naturalists had expected from the latitude. According to Lowe, the fishes are essentially Lusitanian, occupying an intermediate position between those of the British Isles and the Mediterranean. Inhabitants. Like that of the Azores, the population of Madeira is of very mixed origin. Perestrello, leader of the first settlers, was an Italian ; Jews and Moors have taken refuge in the island; Negroes have been imported as slaves; the English, masters of Madeira during the wars of the Empire, left behind them numerous families; and since the development of ocean steam navigation many strangers have settled here. But all these heterogeneous elements became successively absorbed in the dominating Portuguese race, and nearly all the inhabitants have black eyes, coarse dark hair, and a swarthy complexion, far too general not to be attributed in many cases to a Negro strain. Eeally beautiful features are seldom met, except in the rural districts, but many have a pleasant expression, due to their healthy appear- ance, graceful carriage, and well-proportioned figures. Like their Portuguese ancestry, the people are as a rule very courteous, of a mild, amiable, and cheerful temperament, and law-abiding. The population increases rapidly, having risen from 16,000 in the beginning of the sixteenth century and 64,000 in 1768, to 100,000 in 1825 and over 135,000 at present. It has thus been more than doubled in a century, while the number of births exceeds the mortality by from 1,500 to 2,000. Yet scarcity at times causes a falling off, as between the years 1839-1847, when the potato disease, followed by much distress, reduced the population by over 10,000. The malady of the vine was still more disastrous, and the visitation of cholera in 1856 caused a total loss of about 10,000, victims partly of the epidemic, partly of want and exhaustion. Several ailments prevail which one would scarcely expect to find in such a highly 52 WEST AFEICA. favoured climate. Such are rickets, scrofula, consumption, and even leprosy, as in the mother country. The women emigrate far less than the men, so that they are always in excess by several thousands. During the quarter of a century between 1835 and 1859, over 50,000 altogether emigrated, either to the British West Indies, or to Demerara and Brazil, and settlements have also been formed in the Cape and the Sandwich Islands. The land svstem is the same as that which prevails in the Azores. Although landed property has been free since 1863, the descendants of the old feudatories still own the soil and the water used in irrigation. The tenant, however, claims all the produce and all structures erected by himself, so that he cannot be dispossessed without receiving compensation for the standing crops and improve- ments. He has, in fact, become co-proprietor, and may even sell his hcmfeitoria, or "interest," without the consent of ie morgado (ground landlord). In theory the rent claimed by the latter represents half the crop, but it is usually less, and in some cases not even one-fourth. The first great staple of agriculture was the sugar-cane, imported from Sicily, and in the sixteenth century so prosperous that the hundred mills at that time employed yielded over 90,000 cwts. But this industry having been ruined by the competition of Brazil, capitalists took to wine-growing, the plant, introduced from Candia in the fifteenth century, having succeeded beyond all hope. The better vintages acquired, under the names of " malvoisie " and " dry Madeira," a high repute, and at the time of its greatest prosperitj^ about 1820, the total yield amounted to 2,650,000 gallons, valued at £500,000. But in 1852 oidium, after wasting the vineyards of the Cape Yerd and Canary groups, attacked those of Madeira. The ruin was sudden and terrible, and when growers began to recover themselves in the course of ten or twelve years, phylloxera invaded the districts which yielded the choicest vintages. Nevertheless, the struggle continues, and Madeira still exports wine blended either with the ordinary white vintage of Portu- gal, or with cider, or even with the juice of the sugar-cane. The vine grows best in the Funchal district and at the entrance of the southern gorges. It is rare on the northern slope, where its tendrils twine round the branches of the chestnut. Early vegetables, exquisite bananas, and other sub-tropical fruits, are raised for the Lisbon market. Were trade relieved from its fiscal burdens, this industry might be vastly developed, and Madeira might become the southern garden of Western Europe. Lisbon also largely imports the products of the local handicrafts, such as Lee, embroidery, artificial flowers, straw hats, matting, carved and inlaid wood, and a thousand other objects needing taste and a deft hand. In the villages these articles are produced chiefly by the women and the infirm. Another less praiseworthy but no less profitable pursuit is the systematic plunder of invalids and other strangers who come to recruit their strength in this delightful island. But many of these die in the place where they sought renewed life, and Madeira has even been called " one of London's cemeteries." The fault, however, as remarked by M. Thiercelin, is not with the land where people come to die, but with that where they have lived. The number of visitors varies from year to year
by the constant arrival of numerous passengers, who land for a few hours or days on this fortunate island. Of late years Madeira has also become a health resort for European civilians, officials, and soldiers residing on the west coast of Africa, Senegambia, Sierra-Leone, or Liberia. They come to breathe the cool sea-breezes in the same island where men from the north bask in the warm mid-day sun. 54 WEST AFRICA. Topography. The presence of all these wealthy strangers could not fail to transform the town where they take up their abode. Thanks to them, Funchal, capital and only town in the island, has assumed a neat and elegant appearance, with pleasant walks and charming villas dotted over the slopes and crests of the surrounding hills. Lying on a roadstead open to the south, and deep enough for large vessels, and slightly protected by a fortified islet from the south-west, Funchal will soon possess a thoroughly sheltered harbour enclosed by a breakwater connecting the island with the mainland. It has the further attraction of surprisingly fertile gardens, and the picturesque valley of the Socorridos with its magnificent amphitheatre of cultivated slopes commanded by a semicircle of hills, whence the streams flow in gorges converging on the town. The entrepot for all the produce of the island, Funchal is also the seat of three large colleges — the lyceum, the seminary, and the medical school preparatory for the University of Coimbra. These schools are pretty weU attended, but in the rest of the archipelago great ignorance prevails, more than half of the population being entirely illiterate. Next to Portuguese, the most widespread language is English, mother-tongue of most of the visitors and passing seafaring population. Porto-Santo, ruined by the "colonial contracts," which secured half of all the produce to the landed proprietors, has only 1750 inhabitants altogether. Neverthe- less its capital, Bateira, takes the title of city. Like the Azores, Madeira forms administratively an integral part of the kingdom of Portugal, constituting a separate province under the name of Funchal, its capital, since the arrival of the first settlers. Although geographically belonging to the Canaries, the little Selvagcns group are usually considered as a dependence of Madeira, from which they are distant about 180 miles. Of these uninhabited and worthless islets a Funchal family claims the ownership. They comprise the Great Piton, 5 miles in circumference, and the Little Piton connected with it by a chain of rocks and reefs, frequented by myriads of aquatic birds. The Caxary Archipelago. Lying much nearer the continent than the other Atlantic groups, the Canaries, which are within 64 miles of the nearest Maroccan headland, have been known since the commencement of the historic period. They are the Fortunate Islands of the Greek poets, the abode of departed heroes, who here enjoyed everlasting life under a delightful climate, never checkered by storms or biting frosts. But in those days no geographer could indicate the precise locality of those blissful islands, which in the imagination of the ancients were confused with all the Atlantic lands lying in the "ocean stream" beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Strabo tells us that the Phoonieians knew them well, but kept the secret of their discoveries to themselves. Even in the Periplous of Hanno, the Carthaginian, THE CANAEY AECHIPELAGO. 55 mention is made only of the in-sliore islands, which can scarcely be identified with the Canaries, unless Teneriffe be the " Land of Perfumes," whence flowed seawards fiery streams, and which were commanded by a lofty mountain, known to mariners as the " Chariot of the Gods." Nevertheless the name of Junonia, applied by Ptolemy to one of the islands, would sufiice to show that here was a Carthaginian settlement, for their great goddess was Tanith, identified by the Greeks and Romans with their Juno. The oldest extant documents which attempt to fix the exact locality of the Fortunate Islands, date from the time of imperial Rome, and the first mention of the word Canaria occurs in Pliny, who on the authority of a certain Statins Sebosus, assigns it to one of the islands, whence it has been extended to the whole group. According to Faidherbe, this name is derived from the Berber Canar, or Ganar, formerly attributed to the neighbouring African seaboard; and the Wolofs even still apply the term Ganar to the region stretching north of the Senegal river. Ptolemy also calls one of the western headlands of Africa Canaria, while Pliny speaks of some " Canarian " tribes among the populations dwelling about the Atlas Mountains. Amongst the islands mentioned by the ancient writers, two only can be now identified by their name — Canaria^ the Great Canary of modern times, and Nivaria, or the " Snowy," which certainly refers to the Peak of Teyde. The latter being described as the island farthest removed from the Gates of Hercules, it would seem to follow that the three western islands of Gomera, Palma, and Hierro, were unknown to the ancients, so that the others named by them would have to be sought in the group comprising Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and the neighbouring islets. Several of these being mere reefs were left unnamed, just as at present we speak summarily only of the seven larger islands, although, including the Selvagens, the whole archipelago comprises as many as sixteen distinct lands. Although it is impossible to identify Edrisi's seventeen islands of the " Gloomy Ocean," the Arabs are generally believed not only to have been acquainted with the Khalidat, or "Eternal" islands, but also to have lived, jointly with the Berbers, in the eastern part of the archipelago. In the thirteenth century Ibn-Said describes in detail the voyage of the navigator, Ibn-Fathima, to the south of Cape Bojador, and his shipwreck on the Arguin Bank. Nevertheless De Macedo has endeavoured to show that the Arabs were ignorant of the existence of the Canaries, and that their geographers merely repeated with modifications the texts of the ancients referring to this archipelago. While the Portuguese sailors were still cautiously feeling their way along the African seaboard, the Canaries, which lie south of Cape Nun, had long been visited by those of other nations. Before the expeditions of Gil Eannes, the Portuguese had not ventured to double Cape Nun, and did not get beyond Cape Bojador till 1436, whereas the Genoese were already acquainted with the Canaries at the end of the thirteenth century, and had even occupied Lanzarote, one of the group. Petrarch, born in 1304, tells us that " a full generation before his time " 66 WEST AFRICA. a Genoese fleet had reached the archipelago ; and Lanzarote was the name of the Genoese conqueror (Lanzaroto Marocello) whose family was one of the most powerful in the republic, from the beginning of the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth century. This family was itself of JYorman origin, and when the Kormans, under Bethencourt, occupied Lanzarote in 1402, they there found " an old castle formerly built by Lancelot Maloesel, as is said." During the fourteenth century the Canaries were frequently visited by Europeans, either as pirates or here shipwrecked, and a chart dating from 1351 presents an exact outline of the archipelago, with the names still current, Teneriffe alone excepted, which was called " Hell Island," on account of its burning mountain. The European kings had already begun to contend for these oceanic lands, and in 1344 Pope Clement VI presented them to one of his favourites, Luis de la Cerda, whom he named " Prince of Fortune ; " but the new sovereign lacked the means needed to enabje him to take possession of his kingdom. All the expeditions to these waters, even those of the Italians Angiolino di Tagghia and Nicolosi di Kecco for Alfonso IV. of Portugal, were still made for plunder, and not for conquest. As says the local chronicle : " Lancelot was once very thickly peopled, but the Spaniards and other sea-robbers have oftentimes taken and carried them away into bondage." No actual conquest was attempted till 1402, when the Norman Jean de Bethencourt landed on Lanzarote with fifty men. He was well received by the people ; but internal discord, the want of provisions, and a bootless excursion to Fuerteventura, would have caused a total failure had Bethencourt not offered the suzerainty to the King of Castillo in return for men and supplies. Thanks to this help he was enabled to occupy Fuerteventura in 1404, and Ferro (Hierro) in 1405 ; but his expeditions to the other islands were defeated, and Gomera alone was added to the European possessions by his successor. The valiant resistance of the natives was not finally overcome until the King of Spain had formally decreed the annexation of the archipelago as an integral part of his states, and had undertaken the conquest by regular military armaments. Thus were reduced Palma and Great Canary in 1493, and Teno- riffe in 1497, when the menceys, or kinglets, hounded down like wild beasts, were captured, baptised, and led in triumph to the King of Castillo for the amusement of the court. The conquest had occupied altogether nearly a cen- tury. But other lands were still supposed to exist farther west, and in 1519 the King of Portugal yielded to Spain the undiscovered island, which, however, a first expedition in 152G failed to find. The belief in its existence still lingered on even after further efforts were made to discover it by the Spaniards in 1570, 1604, and 1721, and by the Portuguese from the Azores. At last it was concluded that this phantom island was only a mirage of Palma, which it resembled in outline, produced on the western horizon by the refraction of the moist air brought by the west winds ; in any case the seas had already been explored in every direction, so that further researches became useless. Yet the legend still survives, and
the few adherents of the Sebastianist sect, who await the return of the Portu
guese prince from the fatal battlefield of Alkazar-el-Kebir, cherisli the tope tliat the undiscovered land will at the same time rise above the surface of the waters. Geology of the Canaries. The Canaries are not disposed in any regular order, although roughly forming the arc of a circle, whose convex side faces southwards. But Gomera and Hierro lie beyond this curve, and the archipelago consists rather of two distinct groups — Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and neighbouring islets in the east ; the five other large islands in the west. The first group runs parallel with the continental seaboard ; the second, on the contrary, is disposed at right angles with the mainland. The two eastern islands stand on a common submarine plateau, whereas all the others lie in deep water, where in some places a thousand-fathom sounding line fails to touch the bottom. Lanzarote and Fuerteventura again are but slightly elevated compared with the western group, presenting in fact a steppe formation like that of the opposite continent. All, however, are alike of volcanic origin, their contour being nearly everywhere broken by headlands formed by eruptive rocks, while the primitive or sedimentary formations occupy a very small space amid the lava beds covering most of the surface. Their very aspect attests the antiquity of most of the trachytes, basalts, or obsidians in the western group, where the slopes of the hills are generally furrowed by deep gorges excavated in the course of ages by the running waters. Hence it is difficult to recognise the primitive form of the lava streams formerly ejected from the volcanoes, while in many places the craters themselves have disappeared. Gran Canaria (Great Canary), central member of the whole archipelago, where no eruption has occurred during the historic period, has been most weathered by atmospheric influences, by which the rocks have here been sculptured anew. Vast cirques have thus been opened for the rains of the interior, and the debris carried away seawards, the amount of denudation represenling a considerable part of the original insular mass. The absence of vapour jets and of thermal springs also bears witness to the antiquity of the volcanoes in the Canaries, compared with those of the Azores, which still abound in gases and boiling waters. No doubt there have been extensive discharges of lava and violent earthquakes even since the rediscovery of the archipelago; but these 'phenomena have been confined to the three islands of Lanzarote, Palma, and TenerifFe. Nor do the local records speak of ephemeral islands analogous to those heaps of scoriae which have so often appeared and disappeared in the Azorian waters. The only instance occurred during the series of eruptions which lasted for six years in the western district of Lanz.irote, when flames mingled with vapour flashed up close in-shore, and cones of scoriae, rising above the surface, gradually expanded until they became attached as headlands to the coast. On the same occasion the marine inlet of Janubio was converted into a lake by the enormous quantity of scoriae thrown up by the craters.
6S— AF Climate Of The Canaries.
Lying farther south than Madeira and nearer to the African continent, the Canaries have a warmer and somewhat less equable climate than that group. The annual extremes of temperature are greater not only in the eastern islands, which are naturally influenced by the neighbouring Sahara, but also in the western group, _ of which Teneriffe is the centre. Here the glass falls at Santa Cruz to 64° F. in winter, rising to 77° in summer, with a mean of 70° F., and a difference of 14° between the hottest and coldest months. There is no winter in the European
sense of the word, the heat being greater at this season than the average of southern Italy. Nevertheless, the coldest day has a temperature of 46° F., while summer is at times too hot for Europeans, especially in the eastern group, where the Saharian blasts prevail much more frequently than in Madeira. With them come dust-charged clouds, blighting the vegetation, causing the ground to crack, men and animals to pine, and at times bringing swarms of locusts, which in 1588 were carried as far as Teneriffe. FLOEA OF THE CANARIES. §9 The Canaries have a relatively slighter rainfall than Madeira, and especially than the Azores, months at times passing without a single refreshing shower. On an average there are reckoned three hundred rainless days, the regular rains usually beginning at the end of November and lasting two months. They thus mainly coincide with the west winds, although moisture is also precipitated at other times, and especially in spring, when opposing currents of varying temperature meet in this region. Tn winter the clash gives rise to tornadoes, local cyclones destructive to shipping and to the crops. But the great cyclones of the West Indies never sweep the Canarian waters. During the dry or summer season, from April to October, the aerial currents set steadily from north-east to south-west, and the " brisa," or trade wind, is so constant that all navigation of sailing craft in the opposite direction is entirely interrupted. Owing to the friction of opposing atmospheric currents, the moisture is greater on the plateaux and slopes of the mountains. Thus on the Peak of Teyde a layer of clouds intermediate between the trade winds and the counter currents rises and falls according to the elevation of the zone of contact, usually descending in summer down to from 3,600 to 6,500 feet and in winter to between 1,650 and 2,300 feet above sea-level. In Teneriffe three aerial strata — the counter wind, trade wind, and marine breeze — may be observed all superimposed one above the other. In proof of this normal disposition, Humboldt refers to two windmills, which worked nearly always simultaneously, one revolving towards the north-west, the other towards the south. Thus the inhabitants of Teneriffe and of the other mountainous islands are able to remove at pleasure from one climate to another, selecting the degree of heat and moisture best suited to their constitutions. Thanks to this advantage, the number of invalids coming to the Canaries in search of renewed health is yearly on the increase, and these islands will probably in the near future be resorted to more generally even than Madeira. Flora of the Canaries. With a drier climate than Madeira, and especially the Azores, the Canaries present a less verdant appearance than the northern archipelagoes, and in many places are even quite destitute of vegetation. In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura neither forests nor plantations of the same species are any longer visible, and the land here assumes the aspect of the steppe. But patches of woodland still survive in the western group, and especially in Palma, at once the best-timbered and the best-watered of all. But although their vegetation is less exuberant, the Canaries are distinguished from the other archipelagoes by a relatively larger number of different species, Webb and Berthelot's lists comprising as many as a thousand, or more than double the number found in the Azores. At the same time it is impossible to determine which are strictly indigenous, for even before the arrival of the Europeans the Berber natives had already modified the flora by additions from the neighbouring continent. Far greater changes were made by the Spaniards, partly by clearing CO WEST AFEICA. the forests, partly by tillage and the introduction of new forms directly from Europe. In all the arable tracts the land has felt the influence of the plough to an altitude of 3,250 feet. There can be no doubt that several local species have thus disappeared, while, on the other hand, thousands of exotics have found their way into the archipelago. The two most characteristic and graceful local forms are the orange-blossomed campanula and the gold-tinted Ceterach aureum, and to the Canaries Europe is also indebted for the lovely cineraceae and one of the finest varieties of the chrysanthemum. Notwithstanding their vicinity to Africa, these islands, like Madeira and the Azores, belong to the European vegetable domain. Two-thirds of their plants are European species, and most of the native forms so closely resemble European types that they may have formed part of the continental flora at some previous geological epoch. But in the eastern group, and in the low-lying districts of the other islands up to altitudes of from 1,300 to 2,600 feet, a flora of Libyan aspect cor- responds to an African temperature. Here flourish the fleshy plants, euphorbias of cactus form, and such exotics as palms, nopals, and bananas. In the Yeneguera Yalley, Gran Canaria, taba'ihas or euphorbias, large as fig-trees, form extensive forests. Lower down prevails the thorny and poisonous Euphorbia canariensis ; higher up the Euphorbia balsamifera, with a harmless milky sap. The Draccenus draco, so named from its curious form and blood-red sap, is also characteristic of the African zone. The gigantic specimen of this plant which formerly flourished at Orotava, in Teneriffe, and which, after serving as a temple for the pagan Guanches, was dedicated as a chapel by the Spaniards, no longer exists, having been blown down in a gale. The European zone, characterised chiefly by laurels and by acclimatised trees, such as the oak and chestnut, occupies the middle slopes of the western islands. Above the laurels, which flourish especially in Gomera, follow the zones of the cistus and pine, the latter represented chiefly in Palma, where is also found the Canarian cedar {Juiiiperiis cedrits). The na;tive pine is one of the most remarkable of conifers, presenting characteristics intermediate between those of Europe and the New "World. Elsewhere it occurs only in the fossil state, in the Upper Miocene formations of the Spanish province of Murcia. At an altitude of 6,600 feet on the Peak of Teyde occur several peculiar plants, amongst which dominates the Sparto- qjiisKS nnbi(/enus, which has preserved its Arabic name of rfrm under the Spanish form of retama, and which occurs in no other country. With it are intimately associated at least four animal species also found nowhere else — a snail, a butterfly, a bird {Frinfjilla Teydeana), and a phalene. Fauna. Thanks to the introduction of domestic species and parasites, the Canarian fauna has acquired a European aspect, while in its lower organisms still presenting an original character. Bourguignat has shown that its molluscs constitute a distinct famUy, remotely allied to that of Mauritania, although far more Mediterranean INHABITANTS OF THE CANARIES. 61 than African. As in the Azores and Madeira, snakes are absent ; but large indigenous lizards, centipedes, and scorpions abound. Of the birds, several differ from those of Europe, amongst them the red partridge, highly esteemed by epicures, and the canary, which has become so common in Europe. Its new surroundings, captivity, food, climate, and crossings have gradually modified both its song and its plumage, originally green, now yellow. It is uncertain whether the mammals found in the islands by the Europeans are indigenous or were introduced by the Berbers ; but in any case they constitute distinct varieties. Although Pliny speaks of a large canine breed, no dogs were found by the Europeans, while those since introduced have acqtiired special characteristics. In Lanzarote they resemble the Newfoundland, and those occurring elsewhere look like a cross between the greyhound and sheepdog. The domestic goats, numbering about sixty thousand, also differ from those of West Europe, being larger, more agile and nimble, with a mild expression like that of the gazelle, and horns gracefully curved backwards. They yield an extraordinary quantity of milk, which acquires an exquisite flavour from the aromatic plants on which they browse. A wild variety is also found in the islet of Montana Clara, near Lanzarote, and in the southern part of Fuerteventura. There is also a vigorous breed of camels in the eastern islands between Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, introduced probably by the Berbers. The marine fauna is on the whole more allied to that of Europe than of Africa, most of the species being Iberian, Mediterranean, and British. There are even several American fishes, which do not occur on the coast of the neighbouring continent. The waters encircKng the Canaries are amongst the best stocked in the Atlantic, and are frequented at all seasons by hundreds of fishing smacks without mat-erially diminishing their teeming animal life. The fish in most request is a species of cod, rivalling in quality that of Newfoundland. With more efficient means these fisheries might be more productive ; but the fish are badly cured and little exported, being mostly required for the local consumption. InhabitanTkS of the Canaries. The Canaries have been inhabited from the remotest times. The types of the successive Stone Ages are perfectly represented in the archipelago, where are found a thousand objects, such as hatchets, clubs, earthenware, textiles, analogous to those occurring in the prehistoric mounds of Europe and America. But no trace has been met of the flint arrow' head, the lack of which is explained by the native archaeologist, Chil y Naranjo, by the absence of rapacious animals in the islands. When studying the multitude of objects already collected, the observer is struck by the progress made from generation to generation in the arts and industries by the indigenous race. But the masterpieces of their skill were specially reserved for the nobles. In the same grotto are found fine garments, perfectly worked utensils embellished with ornamental designs and hieroglyphics, side by side with coarse fabrics and earthenware. Thus has been revealed the ancient aristocratic constitution of Canarian society. 62 WEST AFEICA. The islanders were unacquainted with the metallurgic art, and whatever Azurara may say to the contrary, no iron implements, gold or silver ornaments, have been found amongst them. Nevertheless, the solid construction of the burial-places in Teneriffe, the skilful disposition of the stones in the buildings of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote, the convenient arrangement of the rooms in their dwellings, their paintings in ochre, all attest the high degree of civilisation reached by them in the pre-historic period. The chaplains associated with Bethencourt's expedition have left on record that in Fuerteventura they saw " the strongest castles that could be found anywhere." The idols, figures, and ornaments designed on the vases bear a great resemblance to the types presented on the Egyptian monuments. Inscriptions in characters like those of the Libyan alphabet have even been found at the very extremity of the archipelago, in the Belmaco grotto, Palma, on a wall on the east side of Hierro, and in Gran Canaria. Proof is at least thus afforded that relations existed between the Berber peoples of the mainland and the islanders, although on the arrival of Bethencourt the latter no longer possessed boats, having in this respect apparentlj^ deteriorated. These inscriptions also add great probability to the hypothesis that the natives were of Arabo-Berber origin, all the more that the w^ords of various dialects collected by Webb and Berthelot, to the number of about a thousand, and the proper names preserved by historians, are evidently Berber, also presenting some analogies with Arabic. Benehoare, the old name of Palma, seems obviously identical with that of the powerful Beni- Hawara tribe, while the Bimbashos of Hierro recall the Ben-Bashirs. Teneriffe also supplies many proper names beginning with the article al or with the substantive hen of the Semitic language. Most ethnologists are of accord in regarding the extinct Canarians as " one of the noblest branches of the Berber race," although some writers have looked on them as Kelts, Basques, or even Vandals, on this ground claiming the archipelago as a future province of the Germanic empire. The study of the skulls and bones undertaken by modern anthropologists, while demonstrating the diversity of races in the archipelago, still confirms the first hypothesis regarding the eastern origin of a large number of the inhabitants. In J^uerteventura, Hierro, Palma, and other places, the cranial type is essentially Syro-Arab, the identity being almost absolute between these Canarians, the Algerian Arabs, and the fellahin of Egj'pt. All the former inhabitants are usually spoken of under the collective name of Guanches, a term which, under the forms of Yincheni and Guanchinet, seems to have properly belonged to the Teneriffe islanders alone. Like hundreds of other racial names, it is said to have meant "men," "people," the little Guanche race constituting in their own eyes all mankind. According to contemporary evidence, these Berbers, some fair, some brown, but all with long head and limbs, were distinguished from the Arabs by a less robust body, less elongated features, less retreating brow, a broader and shorter nose, and thicker lips. They had large black eyes, thick eyebrows, fine hair, smooth or undulating, the whole expression INHABITANTS OF THE CANAEIES. 68 being frank and pleasant, corresponding to an unsuspicious, cheerf id, and mild disposition. Endowed with marvellous agility, they bounded like deer from rock to rock, and such was their strength that with two or three blows of the fist they would break a shield to pieces. They went naked, jor clad with a light garment of grass or a few goatskins, smearing the body with fat or the juice of certain herbs to render it insensible to changes of temperature. Men and women also painted themselves in green, red, or yellow, expressing by such colours their particular affections. Marriage usages differed greatly from island to island, monogamy prevailing in Teneritfe, while polyandria is said to have been practised in Lanzarote. But the women were everywhere respected, an insult offered to any of them by an armed man being a capital offence. The natives were also very religious, vener- ating the genii of the mountains, springs, and clouds, addressing invocations to them, unaccompanied, however, by bloody sacrifices. In times of drought they drove their flocks to the consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from the ewes, in order to propitiate the Great Spirit with their plaintive bleatings. During the religious feasts a general truce suspended all civil strife and even private quarrels ; all became friends for the time being. Priests and priestesses were highly venerated ; and in Gran Canaria a/a'iean, possibly the Amh f aid/? , or fakir, presided at the great solemnities, his power acting as a check on that of the gaanarteme, or political chief. In some islands the authority of these chiefs was absolute, while elsewhere small feudatories were united in confederacies. In Teneriffe aU the land belonged to the menceijR, or "■ kings," who leased it out to their subjects. The haughty nobles claimed descent from an ancestor created before that of the poor, who had been commanded to serve him and his race for ever. They looked on manual labour as degrading, and they were especially forbidden to shed the blood of animals, although they might boast of slaughtering men on the battlefield, and burning or quartering their Spanish captives. Nevertheless, they did not con- stitute an exclusive caste, as any plebeian might become ennobled through favour or in virtue of some great deed. The power of the chiefs was also limited by a supreme council, which discussed the affairs of state, judged and sentenced criminals. In Gran Canaria suicide was held in honour, and on taking possession of his domain a lord always found some wretch willing to honour the occasion by dashing himself to pieces over a precipice. In return the nobleman was held greatly to honour and reward with ample gifts the victim's parents. In Palma the aged were at their own request left to die alone. After saluting their friends and relatives, and uttering the words Vaca guare, " I wish to die," they were borne on a couch of skins to the sepulchral grotto, and a bowl of milk placed by their side. Then all retired, never to return. The method of interment varied with the different islands. In Teneriffe numerous embalmed mummies in a perfect state of preservation have been exhumed from the sepulchral caves and vaulted chambers covered with vegetable humus. These mummies, which belonged to the wealthy classes, were carefully wrapped in skins sewn together with 64 WEST AFRICA. surprising neatness by means of bone needles. The processes of embalmment seem to have greatly resembled those of the ancient Egyptians. Since the sixteenth century the natives have ceased to exist as a compact nation. For over a hundred and fifty years they had bravely repelled the attacks of corsairs and invaders, although their only weapons were stones, clubs, and darts hardened in the fire or tipped with a sharp horn. They would have remained unconquered but for the policy of employing those already reduced against the still independent islanders. Although they spared their prisoners, and often restored them to liberty, no mercy was shown them beyond the alternative of captivity or death. In the middle of the fifteenth century Gran Canaria and Teneriffe were still independent, with a joint population of 25,000. The conquest of these islands lasted thirty years, during which most of the men were killed or brought to Spain and sold as slaves in Cadiz or Seville. Others committed suicide rather than survive the loss of their freedom, while a large number were swept away by the niodorra, an epidemic like those which have recently carried off so many tribes in America and Oceania. The survivors were baptized, forgot their language and customs, and gradually merged in the Spanish population. The last descendant of Bencomo, last King of Teneriffe, took orders and died in 1828 at the Spanish court. Nevertheless, Guanche blood still survives in the half-castes sprung from alliances between the first Spanish settlers and the native women. Their distinctive features may still be recognised in many islands, where atavism and the environ- ment keep alive the old element amid the Spanish Canarians. Like their Berber ancestors, the present populations are of a cheerful, trusting disposition, slow to anger, without bitterness or resentment, and very gentle, notwithstanding their passion for cock-fighting. In some villages many of the old customs are still preserved, as well as a number of Guanche family names, and terms indicating plants, insects, or implements. The dances also and shouts of joy are the same as among the old Guanches, and like them the present inhabitants throw corn in the face of the newly married to wish them luck. The European elements are variously distributed throughout the archipelago. The Norman and Gascon followers of Bethencourt and Gadiffer were soon lost in the flood of the Spanish population, in which Andalusian blood seems to pre- dominate. After the conquest Moors were introduced into Gran Canaria, while Irish immigrants escaping from religious persecution founded numerous families in Teneriffe. Some of the villages in Palma were also repeopled by industrious families from Flanders, which, however, soon merged in the Spanish population, even translating their Teutonic names into Castillian. Thus the Groenberghe (" Greenhill ") became Monteverde, and notwithstanding their diverse origin, all the inhabitants of the archipelago have long been zealous Spanish patriots. All attacks made on their fortified towns were always successfully repelled. French Huguenots, Barbary corsairs, English buccaneers, and even a Dutch fleet of seventy ships, vainly attempted to take either Teneriffe or Gran Canaria, and in 1797 Nelson himself failed to reduce Santa-Cruz, losing a ship and an arm on the occasion. The only local industries are agriculture and fishing. Formerly the islanders
sent to Europe "the best sugar known," after which viniculture acquired great 66 WEST AFEICA. importance until the vineyards of the Canaries, like those of Madeira, were ruined bv oidiurn. Planters then turned their attention to cochineal, which was first introduced in 1825, but was little developed till 1852, when guano began to be used to stimulate the growth of the nopal cactus, on which the insect feeds. In a few years the production far exceeded that of the whole world, and extensive forests were cleared in Gran Canaria and Teneriffe to extend this industry, which still forms the largest staple of export, although now mostly replaced by aniline and alizarine dyes. In 1862 several attempts were made to introduce tobacco, which succeeded beyond all expectation, especially in Palma and parts of Gran Canaria. At present the Canary cigars are held in almost as great esteem as those of Havana itself. Of alimentary plants, next to cereals, onions and potatoes are the most important, and are largely grown for the Cuba and Puerto-Rico markets. Oranges, although of fine flavour, are no longer exported. The agricultural produce is insufficient for the constantly increasing population, which has consequently begun to emigrate in large numbers. As comparatively few women take part in the movement, the census of 1877 showed an excess of 20,000 females over males in a total population of 280,000. Most of the young men go to Havana, whence, after making their fortunes, a few return under the name of " Indies," meaning in the eyes of the natives that they possess " all the wealth of Ind." When Louisiana belonged to Spain (1765 to 1800) many Canarians settled in that region, where some of their communities still maintain an independent existence. ToPOG R APH Y — Lanza rote. Ahgrartza, the first island in the extreme north-east, scarcely deserves this appellation, being little more than a rocky and arid mass of lavas dominated by a
- caldron " or crater 360 feet high. A lighthouse on the east side illumines the
waters of this first Canarian rock, which is occupied by a solitary family engaged in collecting orchilla and capturing birds. Farther south rises the cone-shaped Montana Clara (280 feet), followed by Graciom, which is separated only by a rio, or " river," that is, a narrow channel, from Lanzarote. It was formerly wooded ; but the timber having been cut down by the owner, most of the island has been covered with sand from the Sahara. The sands have also invaded Lanzarote itself, which now consists mainly of sand, ashes, and scoriae. The slopes are destitute of trees, springs are rare, and the islanders have in many places to depend on the brackish water of their wells and cisterns. The hills of Lanzarote develop a regular chain only in the north, terminating westwards in the volcanic cones of Corona, Helechos, and Famara, the last being the highest summit in the island. East of Corona occur a number of elliptical and circular pits, varying in depth from 30 to over 60 feet, and leading to galleries formed, like those of the Azores, by the rapid flow of lavas in a highly fluid state. In some places several of these galleries are disposed in storeys one above the other. and one of them is nearly three-quarters of a mile long. Nowhere else, except in the Sandwich Islands, has such a vast system of volcanic caverns been discovered. They often served as refuges for the inhabitants and their flocks during the incursions of the Barbary corsairs.
The centre of Lanzarote is traversed by a low ridge skirted on the one side by shifting sands, on the other by lava-streams with volcanic cones everywhere strewn about in disorder. From the Montana Blanca, highest point (1,400 feet) of this central district, there stretches a chain of lava hills and craters running north-east and south-west, west of which the plains are covered with coal-black ashes. Amid these hills, bearing the expressive names of Playa Quemada ("Burnt Strand") and Monte del Fuego ("Fire Mountain"), were opened the crevasses whence flowed the lava-streams of 1780 and following years, "at first rapidly as water, then slow as
honey." During these formidable eruptions thirty volcanic cones rose above the lava-fields, which spread over nearly one-third of the island, and which in 1824 again emitted flames and streams of pestilent mud.
San Miguel de Teguise, or simply Teguise, former capital of Lanzarote, still bears the name conferred on it by Béthencourt in honour of his native wife. Lying in a waterless district in the centre of the island, it has been replaced by the new capital, Arrecife, which lies in the middle of the east coast, between two completely sheltered havens. The northern port, Puerto de Naos, is especially well protected by a chain of reefs and islets, and the English traders here settled monopolise the traffic with Mogador in Marocco, and with the other islands of the archipelago.
The castle of Rubicon, erected by the conqueror of Lanzarote, no longer exists, but it has given its name to the eastern extremity of the island. 68 WEST AFRICA. FUERTEVEKTURA. Fuerteventura^ the Erbania of the old inhabitants, is separated from Lanzarote by the Bocaina Channel, only 6 or 7 miles wide, but everywhere at least 650 feet deep. Towards the southern entrance lies the isle of Lobos, consisting of a large crater partly destroyed and encircled by lava-streams and sandhills. Like Lanza- rote, Fuerteventura presents an arid and dreary aspect, and is destitute of trees except some stunted tamarisks in a few sheltered glens, and some clusters of date- palms, cocoa-nut, fig, and almond trees round about the villages. But the island is better watered than its neighbour, having some running streams, which however become brackish before reaching the coast. The rocks also are less porous than those of Lanzarote, so that the rainwater does not disappear so rapidly in the soil. But despite these advantages and its noted fertility, Erbania has perhaps less inhabitants than at the time of the conquest. Although over 60 miles long from north-east to south-west and exceeded in extent only by Teneriffe, it has a smaller population than the large towns of the archipelago, being at the last census scarcely more than twelve to the square mile. This is mainly due to the monopoly of the land by a few hands, over half the island belonging to a single family. The southern peninsula of Jandia, forming almost a separate island 70 square miles in extent, is held by a single farmer, who in 1883 had attracted only sixty- seven inhabitants to his estate. In the north little is seen except sands and heaps of scoria ; but the land gradually rises southwards, forming a very irregular central ridge running north- east and south-west, and consisting of crystalline rocks, syenites, diorites, diabases, with here and there layers of argillaceous schists and limestones. Right and left of the ridge, craters have appeared, while lavas fill all the depressions. The ridge terminates southwards in the Garden Hills, connecting it with the rugged Jandia peninsula by a chain of basalts and limestones scarcely 350 feet high, but abruptly rising to 2,650 feet on the west coast. Formerly the peninsula was cut off from the rest of the island by a cyclopean wall, all traces of which have not yet dis- appeared. Like Teguise in Lanzarote, Betancnria in Fuerteventura has lost the rank of capital given to it by its founder, the conqueror of the island. The present capital is Puerto dc Cabran, the chief centre of population, on the side facing the African mainland. But the largest towns, such as Casillas del Angel, Ampiiyenta, Antigua, and Tuimje, are grouped in the fertile plains of the central districts, bounded by the steep cliffs and lava-fields of the " Mai pais." Gran Canaria. Gran Canaria, which gives its name to the whole archipelago of which it occupies the geographical centre, differs in its general relief altogether from the eastern islands. Instead of presenting long ridges, isolated masses, or distinct volcanoes dotted over the plains, it constitutes a single mountain mass with flattened GRAN CANAEIA. 69 cone rising above the surrounding waters. The epithet " Great " would seem to have been applied to it by Bethencourt, not on account of its size, ranking only- third in this respect, but in honour of the valour of its inhabitants. Its nearly round contour bristles with headlands, especially on the north-west side, formed by the projecting spurs of the cenjtral mountain. If the form of the coast is due, as seems probable, to the erosion of running waters, the currents must evidently have trended directly east and west. Such a hypothesis would be fully in accord with the existence of a former Atlantis, by which the waters of the Gulf Stream would have been deflected southwards. But however this be. Gran Canaria presents a summary of all the other islands, at least in the variety of its geological phenomena, and the beauty of its scenery. It has its " caldrons," like Palma, its wild barrancas, or gorges, and waterfalls like Gomera, its lava-streams and sandhills like Lanzarote, its pine forests like Hierro and Teneriffe, besides extensive cultivated tracts, aqueducts kept in good repair, some rising industries, and a relatively well-developed trade. It is also compara- tively more densely peopled than the rest of the archipelago, although nearly half of its rugged surface cannot be reclaimed for tillage. The central peak of Pozo de la iS'ieve (" Snow Pit ") rises to a height of nearly 6,700 feet almost in the geographical centre of the island. But this peak is a cone of very small size resting on a dome-shaped pedestal, which formerly occupied all the centre of the island, and abov6 which rise some other craggy heights, such as the "rocks " of Saucillo, of Cumbre, Bentaiga, and ^ublo, the last-named forming a monolithic block 380 feet high. Close to the south-east base of the central cone is seen the profound Tirajana gorge, which has been eroded to a depth of over 4,000 feet, and which sends its overflow seawards through the narrow fissure of IjOS Gallegos. The west side of this abyss presents two wide openings towards the south and south-west of the island, where the Caldron or Cirque of Tejeda forms a regular amphitheatre enclosed by an unbroken rocky wall 2 1 miles in circumference. From the edge of the precipice a complete view is commanded of the vast ellipse with its numerous converging streams, lines of wooded crests, and scattered villages. On the sur- rounding plateaux a few clusters of pines still survive, mere remnants of the forests which formerly clothed all the higher grounds in the island. Besides these large cirques produced by erosion, there are others formed by volcanic action. Such are, east of the Cumbre, the Caldera de los Marteles, with a stream rushing down over a series of waterfalls, and the Caldera de Bandama, a perfectly round and regular crater near some Tertiary conglomerates in the north-east of the island. This caldron, which has a depth of 770 feet, has been compared by Leopold von Buch to the Lago d'Albano in the Latin hills. Ts'ear it is the Cima de Ginamar, another igneous opening, which has only been half fiUed in. There still remains a "bottomless" funnel, in which long echoes are awakened by stones thrown from side to side. The most recent lavas in Gran Canaria appear to be those of Isleta, a small group of insular volcanoes connected with the north-east angle of the large island by the sandy isthmus of Guanarteme. The sands of this narrow causeway oy planted with tamarisks, consist chiefly of the remains of shells and foraminateræ gradually consolidated into a granular limestone with marine concretions added on both sides. These recent limestones, flecked in black by voleanic sands, are employed for making excellent filtering stones, used in all the houses of Canaria. At the time of the conquest the isthmus of Guanarteme was still nearly flush with the water, and completely inundated by high tides. Some columnar and other basalts to the north-west of Isleta recall the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland.
Las Palmas, capital of the island and largest city in the archipelago, lies near this sandy limestone isthmus, at the opening of the deep Guiniguada gorge, and
on the surrounding terraces of conglomerate, where a few shady palm-groves justify its name. The upper town is occupied by the officials, the lower by the trading class, commanded on the west by the Castillo del Rey, the chief stronghold in the island. Las Palmas presents somewhat the appearance of an Arab town, with its low flat-roofed white houses looking like an irregular flight of steps. The numerous caverns in the neighbouring rocks are still inhabited, as in the time of the Berbers. Good water is brought by an aqueduct from the hills, and carriage roads lead to the surrounding outskirts. The port lies nearly two miles to the north, where the coastline curves round the isthmus of Guanarteme to Isleta. La Luz, as it is called, doubtless from its lighthouse, was greatly exposed to the east winds until the construction of the breakwater, which runs from Isleta in nine fathoms of water for 4,750 feet southwards. Over forty ocean steamers now visit the port every month, and the freedom from custom-house charges enjoyed by Gran Canaria will doubtless soon attract many vessels which at present stop at Saint Vincent and Madeira. Las Palmas is also an industrial and scientific centre, with archæological and natural history collections, and a fine cathedral in the Spanish Renaissance style. Asa health resort it offers many advantages to
invalids, who can here enjoy the benefit of the mineral and acidulated waters abounding in the neighbourhood.
Next to Las Palmas, Telde is the most important place in the island. It lies on the east coast, in the midst of gardens, orchards, and orange-groves yielding excellent fruits. The slopes west of the capital are occupied by Arucas, Firgas, and Teror and the little port of Las Sardinas in the north-west lies the ancient town of Galdar, former residence of the native kings. On the west side the largest place is Aldea de San Nicolas, and on the south coast nothing is seen except some traces of the old Berber town of Arguineguin, where Webb and Berthelot found the remains of four hundred houses.
Numerous villages are scattered over the cirques and on the slopes of La Cumbre. Las Palmas and Port of La Luz.
The most elevated of these is Artenara, which stands at an altitude of over 4,000 feet in the caldron of Tejeda, all its houses being excavated in the brownish tufa of the mountain. Nearly all the inhabitants are charcoal-burners, who have completely cleared many of the former wooded slopes.
Teneriffe.
Teneriffe (Tenerife, Tonerfiz, or the "White Mountain," as explained by some etymologists), is the largest island in the archipelago. Here is also the loftiest volcano, the far-famed Peak of Teyde, which has at times been seen to vomit from above the clouds fiery lava-streams down its steep flanks seawards. Few other oceanic beacons can compare with this 2 majestic cone standing out West of Greenwich _15°aet in white and light blue tints against the deeper azure ground of the firmament. But although visible at times from distances of 120 and even 180 miles, it is too often wrapped in a vapour mantle, concealing it altogether from the eager gaze of mariners.
The island itself, unlike Gran Canaria, consists of three distinct sections differing in their general aspect and geological age. The north-east section mainly comprises the old igneous uplands of Anaga, cut up, eroded in every direction, and at their base carved out by the action of the waves into deep indentations. The western section also consists of an isolated mountain mass, the TENERIFFE. 73 Sierra de Teno, dating from a primitive geological period, and consequently similarly eroded at its base by the sea. Between these two sections towers the lofty cone of the comparatively recent volcano, larger than both the other systems combined, and connected with them by lava-streams and intervening volcanoes. The juxtaposition of three independent groups belonging to successive ages has imparted to TenerifPe a general aspect very different from that of the other islands belonging to the same geological epoch. Instead of developing a circular contour like Gran Canaria, Gomera, and so many other islands of like origin, Teneriffe has the outlines of an irregular triangle, the apex of which belongs to recent and the other two angles to older formations. It is thus an Atlantic Trinacria, like the Mediterranean Sicily, the land of ^tna. Most of the island consists of ashes and scoriae with steep rocky escarpments. But it also presents some romantic valleys, all on the north slope, exposed to the trade winds, as well as some cirques whose rich vegetation presents a striking contrast to the gloomy walls of encircling lavas. Thanks to these productive oases of verdure, Teneriffe is able to support a relatively dense population, although its chief resources, wine and cochineal, now yield but slight returns. The hills, which begin in the north-east corner, near Cape Anaga, do not constitute a continuous chain, although their rocky peaks, one of which rises to a height of 3,420 feet, follow in succession from east to west as far as the plateau of Laguna. At the Anaga headland now stands a first-class lighthouse, and the plateau is crossed at a height of 1,870 feet by the main highway of the island between Santa Cruz and Orotava. The uplands of the Laguna terrace are inter- rupted by a sudden gap, b; yond which the land again rises, developing a regular chain commanded by the heights of Guimar, and again interrupted by a profound depression. Beyond this depression stands a volcano which rose in 1705, dis- charging a stream of lava eastwards nearly to the coast. It is the first cone of the encircling wall, which develops a semicircle east and south of the Peak of Teyde, and which presents on a far larger scale the same aspect as the wall of La Somma round Vesuvius. It is the largest known formation of this class on the surface of the globe, having a total length of 33 miles and a height of over 6,700 feet, above which several of its peaks, such as Azidejos and Guajarra, rise to 9,000 feet and upwards. The concave side of the chain facing the peak of Teyde com- mands a plateau of lava and scoriae lying some 1,000 feet lower down, while on the outer side all the narrow and deep crevasses of the crest, hence known as the Circo de las Cailadas, are disposed in deep barrancas descending in diverging lines to the coast. The western extremity of this system merges in a " mal pais," or chaos of lavas strewn with volcanoes, one of which, the Chahorra, attains an elevation of 8,270 feet. Farther west the cones are so numerous that the inter- vening lava-streams ramify in all directions like a vast labyrinth. The outer edge of the mass rising above the Teno heights ends in the Montana Bermeja, or "Red Mountain," whence was ejected a stream of lava in the year 1706. Thus recent lavas mark both extremities of the enclosure wh'ich encircles the base of the dominating volcano, the Echeyde of the old inhabitants, now known as the Peak 69— AF of Teyde. East of the central cone is the peak of Alta Vista (10,900 feet), where
in 1856 Piazzi Smyth established his observatory far above the clouds that veiled TENERIFFE. 75 land and sea, but in full sight of the fiery stars which darted their golden rays against the black vault of night. Although far from being the loftiest peak on the globe, as was long supposed, the Peak of Teyde is none the less one of the grandest summits visible from the ocean. Amongst volcanoes it is unique for its height and isolation in the centre of the primitive crater above which it has risen, "a mountain built upon a mountain." It dominates by 5,680 feet the ruined cirque encircling it, and from its summits all other peaks in Teneriffe seem depressed. It is easy to understand the veneration with which it was regarded by the Guanches, whose most solemn oath was that taken in its name. When the explorer reaches the plateau whence the supreme cone rises 1,650 feet higher than Vesuvius, he perceives that what from below looked like forests was really formed by streaks of pumice, lines of red scoria3, bands of black lavas, indicating a long series of eruptions continued through successive geological ages. To the south stands the vast Pico Yiejo crater, 10,500 feet high, still filled with semi-fluid scoriae, like a huge caldron about to overflow. Although the great eruptions of Teyde are very rare, occurring not more than once in a century* symptoms of smouldering fires are constantly perceptible. The walls of the highest crater are covered with a snow-white efflorescence, whence are emitted jets of steam at a temperature of about 186° F. mixed with sulphurous gases and carbonic acid, but in such slight quantities that dense vapours are seldom seen to rise above the summit. Nevertheless, the temperature is sufficiently high to support animal life even at this great elevation, and on arriving at the summit the explorer is surprised to find the crater swarming with insects, such as flies and bees, and even swallows and a species of finch peculiar to the peak. But the gases are seldom sufficiently abundant to melt the snows which whiten the cone in winter. A grotto known as the Cueva del Yelo ( " Ice Cave " ) is every year filled with snow and ice, yielding a constant supply to the inhabitants of Orotava. Topography. Sanfa-Cruz, capital of Teneriffe, the Ar/aza of the Guanches, rivals Las Palmas in trade and population. It lies on the north-east coast, where its little harbour is sheltered from the south winds by a breakwater which advances a few yards every year. On the plateau west of Santa-Cruz stands Lnguna, the " Lake " town, which, however, has lost its 'lake since the rainfall has diminished through the reckless destruction of the surrounding forests. Laguna itself is in a state of decay ; but the neighbouring villages of Anaga, and especially Tagnnana, occupy- ing the most fertile and best-cultivated district in the island, enjoy a large measure of prosperity. West of Laguna the main highway of the island, running in the direction of Orotava, is flanked by several flourishing towns surrounded by orchards and gardens. Such are Tacoronte, which possesses a museum of Guanche mummies, with arms and implements ; Sauzal, where some lava quarries are worked, similar to those of Volvic in Auvergne; Matanza, whose name recalls the "slaughter" of eight hundred Spaniards with their native auxiliaries; Victoria, where in 1495 the adelantado Lugo avenged his defeat of the previous year; Santa-Ursula, almost within sight of Orotava. This place, representing the ancient Aratapala, capital of the Amphictyonic council of all the kingships in the island, occupies the centre of a verdant cirque 3 miles from its port on the seacoast. During the flourishing period of the wine industry, when the famous vintages of malvoisie and "canary" were produced, this "puerto" was a very busy place, although possessing only an exposed roadstead. The sheltered harbour of Garachico, lying farther west on the same north coast, was nearly destroyed by an eruption from the Montaña Bermeja
in 1706. An unexplored cavern in the neighbourhood is said by the natives to communicate with the terminal crater of the volcano by a gallery nearly 9 miles long.
On the east slope of the island the town of Guimar occupies a position analogous to that of Orotava on the opposite side. In the neighbourhood are the Cuevas de los Reyes, or "Royal Caves," the most extensive sepulchral grottoes of the former inhabitants.
Gomera.
Gomera, which has preserved its Berber name, is separated from Teneriffe by a strait 17 miles wide. Like Gran Canaria, which it resembles in miniature, it consists of a single volcanic cone, with a central peak and a nearly regular circular periphery indented by cirques. It is composed mostly of old lavas, whose eraters have generally been obliterated, and in which the running waters have excavated deep barrancas and cirques, whence the streams escape through narrow precipitous gorges. The island has been eroded, especially on the west side; and while the cliffs facing Teneriffe have an average height of from 300 to 400 feet, those over against Hierro rise to 2,000. Its forests are comparatively more extensive,
and it is also better watered than Canaria. But although it might thus support a relatively larger population, it is less densely peopled, owing to the feudal system of tenure, which has been here maintained more oppressively than elsewhere in the archipelago.
The Alto de Garajonaï, culminating point of Gomera, stands on the southern edge of the central plateau, falling rapidly southwards to the coast, but on the other sides everywhere presenting gently inclined wooded slopes. Towards the west it terminates in a huge block, which seems shaped by the hand of man; hence is called by the natives the Fortaleza, or "Fortalice." North of the Garajonaï stands a perfectly regular crater, on the level bed of which the local militia musters for drilling purposes.
Of all the Canary islands, Gomera abounds most in cascades, thanks to its abundant waters and steep precipices. Near Chipude, the highest village in the island (4,000 feet), a rivulet falls 650 feet into the Argaga gorge, while the
Agula cascade on the north side is visible from Teneriffe, a distance of 22 miles, whence it looks like a silver streak on an emerald ground. The forests, in some places destroyed by the charcoal-burners, consist mostly of laurels, often growing to a height of 80 or even 100 feet, and forming shady avenues, like the beeches and chestnuts of western Europe.
San-Sebastian, the capital, lies near the eastern angle of Gomera on a perfectly sheltered creek, surrounded by gardens and date-palms, yielding a fruit of exquisite flavour. The cirque of Valle-Hermoso, on the north coast, contains over ten thousand of these trees, the fibre of which is used for weaving mats, and the fruit for making palm-wine and honey.
Palma.
Palma, no less noted than Teneriffe for its romantic scenery, consists like it of different geological formations. The northern section, nearly round in shape, forms an isolated dome, in which occurs the most remarkable caldron-like formation in the world. The triangular southern extremity, of more recent origin, is constituted by a distinct chain of volcanoes, running in the direction of the meridian, and connected with the northern mass through the narrow ridge of the Cumbre, or "Summit."
Certain well-watered districts are extremely fertile, while the timber and fisheries are also highly productive. Hence Pa!ma is one of the most densely peopled islands in the archipelago.
The highest summits, the Muchachos, Cruz, and Cedro peaks, rise above a semicircular ridge in the north, where the convex slope of the hills, scored by deep gorges, falls precipitously down to the sea. But on its inland side the amphitheatre of mountains suddenly develops a prodigious chasm about 9 miles round. This is the Caldera, or "Caldron," in a pre-eminent sense, whose steep walls fall abruptly to a depth of 4,000 feet down to the gently sloping grassy plains. Seen from below, these stupendous cliffs strike the spectator with amazement, the effect being much heightened by the contrast between the vast amphitheatre of diverse coloured rocks and the charming scenery at their feet In the centre of this marvellous natural temple the natives formerly worshipped their gods, assembling on solemn occasions round about the "Idafe," a rock in the form of an obelisk, and offering it prayers and sacrifices. In their thoughts this rock doubtless typified the stability of their race, if not of the island and the whole world.
The ridge of La Cumbre, connecting the northern and southern mountain systems, is traversed at an altitude of over 4,670 feet by a fine carriage-road, which affords a means of communication between the populations of both slopes. The southern slope is dominated by the central peak of Vergoyo, which exceeds 6,700 feet. Numerous streams of black marble descend from the main ridge, both sides of which are strewn with cones and craters. Notwithstanding the wasteful habits of the people, pine forests still clothe a large part of the range, from the southern extremity of which flows the Charco Verde, a copious mineral stream frequented by invalids.
Santa-Cruz de la Palma, capital of the island, and centre of its trade and industries, lies on a little bay on the east coast. On the same slope are the villages of Mazo and Los Sauces, near the latter of which is the grotto which has become famous for its Berber hieroglyphics and inscriptions.
Hierro.
Hierro (Ferro, or "Iron"), smallest and least peopled, is also the most oceanic land of the archipelago. To the natives it was known by the name of Esero, which has been variously interpreted, but which had not prebably the same meaning as its Spanish substitute. Hierro is rarely visited, and has little to offer strangers. But notwithstanding their great poverty, the natives are said to be the most hospitable and kindly of all the Canary islanders. The land is here more subdivided than elsewhere, although a single feudal lord is the nominal owner of the whole island.
Hierro is of triangular shape, with its apex turned towards Teneriffe, and its
base facing the Atlantic. But the elevated part of the island presents a somewhat fantastic appearance. In the north-west it is disposed in semicircular form by a steep cliff, the section of a perfectly regular crater. On one side this basaltic cliff terminates in a sharp point prolonged seawards by the Salmore reefs, on the other by the rounded headland of Dehesa, where spars, fruits, and other flotsam from America are often washed up by the western currents. Towards the centre the cliff rises to a height of 4,680 feet above the sea. ADMINISTRATION OF THE CANARIES. 81 The eastern plateau, still partly covered with forests, presents a somewhat analogous crescent formation, but with a much smaller diameter. Near it is the site of Los Letrcros, where were found inscriptions and raised stones resembling the menhirs of Brittany. Numerous craters and thermal springs are scattered over various parts of the island. One of the central craters is said to have emitted vapours during the first half of the present century ; but Fritsch explored the ground in vain for some traces of this phenomenon. The famous laurel has also disappeared, which grew to the north-west of Yalverde, and which was credited by the popular fancy with the faculty of sucking up and condensing the marine vapours, thus supplying enough water for the wants of eight thousand persons and a hundred thousand head of cattle. Vakerde, capital of the island, lies near the northern extremity, at an altitude of 2,180 feet above the sea. It communicates by zigzag paths with its port, the Puerto de Hierro, formed by a small creek on the east coast. In the neighbouring grottoes have been found numerous mummies of the ancient Bimbashas, or Ben-Bashirs. Hierro has become famous as the point through which runs the line long accepted by some nations as their first meridian. Knowing no land beyond the Canaries, the Greeks naturally regarded them as the end of the world, and necessarily calculated the meridians from this extreme region of the known world. But after the discovery of western lands lying farther west, some geographers fixed their zero of longitude in the Azores, Mercator selecting Corvo, at that time crossed by the magnetic meridian. Nevertheless the Greek tradition long survived, and most cartographers drew their initial Ime through Teneriife. But in consequence of a decision taken in 1634 on the advice of the most distinguished mathematicians, France ofiicially adopted Hierro, which was supposed to lie exactly 20 degrees we«t of Paris. Fouille in 1724 and others subsequently endeavoured to fix its position more accurately, but their determinations were not of accord. Now, however, it is known that Hierro does not lie 20 degrees west of Paris, and consequently that the meridian bearing its name does not touch the island, running in fact 12 miles farther east. Hierro is now no longer taken as the first meridian by any country. Administration of the Canaries. The Canaries constitute a province of Spain, sending six deputies to the Cortes, and represented by two or three notables in the Senate. Santa-Cruz de Teneriffe is the residence of the civil governor and of the Captain-General of the archipelago, while Las Palmas is the seat of the High Courts. Trade is exempt from all customs dues beyond an impost of one-thousandth on imports and a slight tax on wines and tobacco. Each island contributes a small contingent to the army. The archipelago is divided into ninety-three ayimtamientos, or communes, of which twenty take the title of cities or towns. The reader is referred to the Appen- dix for a table of the population of the islands and the chief urban communes. 82 WEST AFRICA. The Cape Yerd Archipelago. These Atlantic islands bear a name for which it would be well to find a sub- stitute ; for it is justified neither by the geographical position, the geological constitution, nor the history of the group. They are distant at their nearest point no less than 280 miles from the African headland after which they are named, while the intervening waters are no less than 2,250 fathoms deep. Hence they are true oceanic lands, and in no sense natural dependencies of the continent. When the south-eastern group of the archipelago was first reached by explorers the cape had already long been known. Since that time — that is, over four hundred years ago — the first appellation has been maintained, so that no change could now be tolerated by all-powerful custom. Nor is there anything to justify the alternative expression Gorgades, or " Islands of the Gorgons," for the text of Pliny referring to these fabled lands could scarcely be applied to an archipelago at such a distance from the coast known to the ancients. The Spaniards for a time called them the Santiago Islands, and the Dutch the Salt Islands, while on Juan de la Cosa's chart they figure as the Antonio group, from one of the first dis- coverers. This question of discovery has been much discussed. According to Major {Life of Prinoe Henry of Portugal) Diego Gomes was the first to reach the archi- pelago; but the passage relied on by this English author has been differently interpreted by other commentators. In his Navigations the Venetian merchant Cadamosto claims for himself and the Genoese Usodimare the honour of having discovered the islands of Boa-Vista and neighbouring lands in the year 1456, and despite some real or apparent contradictions in his statement, he is probably entitled to this honour. Four years later the group was again visited by the Italian Antonio di Noli in the service of Portugal, who in a single day verified the existence of Maio, Sam-Thiago (" Saint James ") and Fogo, which last he named Sam-Felippe. How or when the other members of the archipelago were first sighted and explored has not been clearly determined ; but no doubt the work of exploration was rapidly completed by those who had received grants of the parts already surveyed. Nevertheless forty years after Antonio di Noli's voyage, Sam-Thiago and Fogo had alone been occupied by small settlements. The others were peopled during the course of the sixteenth century by Portuguese colonists and Negroes imported from the neighbouring continent. But Salt Island remained unsettled till the present century, and certain islets are still uninhabited. Compared to the extent of the archipelago the population is slight, a fact due to the scarcity of water. With a total area of 1,450 square miles there were probably not more than 105,000 inhabitants in 1886, or about seventy to the square mile. The archipelago is disposed in irregular groups, forming a large curve of some 300 miles, with its convex side turned towards the African mainland. This curve begins in the north-west with Santo- Antam, which is the second largest member of the archipelago. It is continued south-eastwards by Sam- Vicente (Saint Vincent), Santa-Luzia, Ilheo Branco, Ilheo Razo, Sam-Nicolau, whose hills or mountains all runina direct line, thus constituting quite a separate group, which from a distance looks like a single island indented with deep inlets. Farther east Sult and Bõa-Vista, continued south-westwards by the Bank of Joam Leitano, form a second group at the eastern verge of the semicircle. Lastly the southern section comprises Maio, Sam-Thiago, Fogo, Brava, and a few islets. All the northern islands, including Salt and Bõa-Vista, take the collective name of Barlovento, or "Windward," the four others that of the "Leeward" Islands.
The Cape Verd archipelago seems to belong to an older geological epoch than the almost exclusively volcanic Canaries and Azores. All the islands have no doubt their craters and eruptive rocks, while Santo-Antam and Fogo consist exclusively of scoriæ and lavas. But in the others are also found crystalline rocks, granites, syenites, and "foyaite," so called from Mount Foya in Algarve. Fine metamorphic marbles and sedimentary rocks also occur, and Maio is especially remarkable for the relative extent of its non-igneous formations, a fact which certainly favours the theory of an Atlantic continent formerly occupying these waters. 84 WEST AFEICA. The archipelago also differs from the Canaries and Azores in the generally quiescent state of its volcanic forces. With the exception of Togo, none of the craters have been in eruption since the discovery, and earthquakes are also rare, no violent shocks having been recorded, except in Brava, at the south-west extremity of the semicircle. Iron abounds, especially in the southern group, where an extremely rich titanate of iron occurs on the coasts in the form of black sand, and in such quantities that, when heated by the solar rays, even the Negroes do not venture to tread the ground. Countless cargoes of iron ore might here be shipped. Climate. As in the other Atlantic groups, the mean temperature, equalised by the sur- rounding waters, is less elevated than on the African continent under the same latitude. At the observatory of Praia, in Sara-Thiago, it was 75° F. in 1877, the two extremes in the same year showing a difference of 30° : hottest day, Septem- ber 9th, 91^ F., coldest, December 13th, 61° F. The neighbourhood of the African coast and the influence of the east wind explains this wide range. The climatic conditions are almost exclusively determined by the atmospheric currents, on which depend the heat, moisture, and salubrity of the air. When the north-east trade winds prevail, that is, from October to May, the sky is clear except at sunrise, when the eastern horizon is always overcast. Then follows the wet season, from June to September, during which the land is watered by heavy showers, ** as necessary to the inhabitants as are the waters of the beneficent Nile to the Egyptian fellahin." But the rains and accompanying storms are less regular than on the mainland under the same latitudes, and at times the moisture is insufficient to water the crops, and then the inhabitants are decimated by famine. Sometimes also the north-east trade wind is deflected to the continent, whence it blows over the islands like the blast of a hot furnace. It then takes the name of le^tc, that is, " east wind," which is the harmattan of the Arabs. From the desert this wind brings a large quantity of sand, which is deposited on the islands in the form of impalpable dust. These dust storms may occur at any time, except perhaps in the months of August and September, that is, the season of calms, of variable winds and of heavy showers brought by the sea-breezes. The archipelago lies well within the zone of " dry rains," which extends between 9^ and 16° N. latitude to a distance of 1,200 miles seawards from the African coast. Helmann's observations show that this phenomenon of yellow and red sandy clouds lasts at times several days, and prevails over a space of some 120,000 square miles. To supply such a prodigious quantity of powdered rock extensive mountain ranges must have been worn away during the course of ages, w^hence the present aspect of certain hamadas, or stony wastes, in the Sahara, which for vast spaces offer nothing but smooth polished rock swept clean by the east wind. Some of the dust clouds mingled with animalculac appear to blow with the counter atmospheric currents from South America, but there can be no doubt that the great mass of these sands comes from the African desert. CAPE YERD ISLANDS. 85 The general salubrity of the islands is in many places affected by the presence of swampy tracts and stagnant waters, producing dysentery and marsh fever, espe- cially on the coast of Sam-Thiago. The evil is largely due to the reckless destruction of the forests on the hillsides, which causes the rains to run off rapidly from the surface of the uplands and to lodge in the depressions on the lower grounds. The slopes might, however, be easily replanted, as shown by the results of several essays in this direction. Some of the upland valleys in the higher islands, rising 3,000 and even 6,000 feet and upwards above the sea, also pre-ent favourable sites for health resorts. Flora. The indigenous flora of the archipelago has not yet been studied with the same care as that of the other Atlantic groups. This is partly due to the greater distance from Europe, and partly to the somewhat inaccessible nature of many districts. Saint Vincent also, where nearly all strangers land, happens of all the islands to be most destitute of vegetation, consisting, in fact, of little more than bare rocks and scoriae. Although one of its hills takes the name of Monte Verde, it has little to show except a few tamarisks, and in 1880 the whole island contained only two trees, both exotics, an eucalyptus and a barren date-palm. Salt, Boa- Vista, and Maio present the same arid aspect, but the mountainous lands, espe- cially Santo-Antara and Sam-Thiago, offer in many places verdant valleys, due entirely to the introduction of African plants. IS'ot a single tree appears to be here indigenous, even the dracoena having probably been imported from the Canaries, or from the neighbouring continent. At present Sam-Thiago possesses some baobabs and other Senegambian trees ; but, although lying under the same lat tude as the West Indies and Sudan, the archipelago nowhere presents the splendour of the tropical flora. Excluding the cultivated plants of recent introduction, the known species number about four hundred, of which not more than one-sixth forms the original stock of the islands. The native types are essentially Atlantic, and allied rather to those of the temperate zone, presenting in this respect a much more northern aspect than might be supposed possible from their tropical position. Canarian types are also somewhat numerous, especially in Santo Antam and the other members of the Windward group. But most of the exotics come from Africa, whereas those of the Canaries are mainly European. jS'evertheless, some Mediterranean species also occur on the uplands, especially on the hilly districts of Santo- Antam and Sam-Thiago. Fauna. The aboriginal fauna comprises but few distinct species. The monkey, seen only in Sam-Thiago and Brava, belongs to the Cercopithecus Sahceus family of the African continent. Nor do the wild boars of the Sam-Thiago thickets constitute a separate variety ; while all the other mammals, whether domestic cattle or noxious 86 WEST AFRICA. animals, such as rabbits and rats, bave been introduced from Europe. The guinea- hen, which the natives do not eat, is extremely common, and the sea-mew whirls in clouds above the strand and reefs. Some of the islets are covered with thick deposits of guano, forming a valuable resource for the peasantry of the neighbour- ing islands. Wollaston asserts that snakes are found in some places, but this is denied by the natives, and Doelter failed to discover any. Ilheo Branco, the " White Island," an islet in the north-west group between Santa Luzia and Sam-Nicolau, is distinguished from all the others by a peculiar fauna. Here are large lizards (Macoscrncusi coctei) elsewhere unknown, which live on a vegetable diet, not on insects like their congeners elsewhere. The puffins here discovered by the members of the Talisman expedition also constitute a new variety of this bird. The islet has not yet been completely explored, but even should nothing further be discovered, the existence of two original species in such a microcosmos is one of the most curious facts in natural history. The surrounding waters are well stocked, and a single haul of the net on a bank teeming with life suffices to capture thousands of fishes. Even in the lower depths marine organisms are scarcely less abundant. From 2,000 feet below the surface the fishing-gear of the Talisman brought up about a thousand fish and nearly two thousand prawns of different species. These resources would be ample for the local wants and for a large export trade, but for the fact that a very large number of the animals in these tropical seas are poisonous Crustaceans, gasteropods, and molluscs also abound, as well as two species of coral, the Corallium rubrum like that of Sicily, and the Pleniocoralliuni Johnsoni, a white variety, so named by the explorers of the Challenger. Some N'eapolitans settled in Sam-Thiago are engaged in the coral fishery, which has become an important local industry. Inhabitants. The Portuguese are traditionally said to have found two indigenous blacks wken they landed on Sam-Thiago. Feijo also states that some Wolof Negroes, escaping from their enemies, were borne by the currents and winds to the large island, which they peopled. But such a voyage would have been little short of miraculous, for the Wolofs never possessed any craft beyond open canoes, while in these waters the winds and currents move southwards ; nor do any contemporary chronicles speak of the islands being inhabited when discovered. The first settlers were undoubtedly some free Portuguese and ]N'( gro slaves. In 1461 some families from Alemtejo and Algarve accompanied the feudatory lords to whom the islands had been granted as fiefs. But the great bulk of the immigrants, who settled first in Sam-Thiago and Fogo, were Wolofs, Felups, Balantos, Papels, and other Negroes, captured on the neighbouring mainland. In 1469 an. exclusive monopoly of the slave trade was granted to the local feudatories by Alfonso Y., in consequence of which the neighbouring coast became a hunting- ground where the landowners procured the slaves required for their plantations. The tropical heats, the distance from the mother-country, the degradation of CAPE VERD ISLANDS, 87 labour through the employment of slaves and convicts, have hitherto prevented all Portuguese immigration properly so-called, and for four hundred years the only whites in the archipelago have been officials and landowners. Nevertlieless some crossings have taken place, and although the population consists almost exclusively of coloured people, there has been a gradual approach to the white tj'pe. In general the natives have regular features, with straight prominent nose, slightly crisped hair, and very open facial angle. The men are of tall stature and of noble carriage, the women, at least in Santo- Antam, of handsome figure and features. But great differences are observed in the different islands, which must be attributed to the varying degree of mixture and of European culture, to the diverse pursuits, such as fishing, agriculture^ trade, and so forth. In prosperous times the population increases rapidly, the annual excess of births over deaths being more than a thousand. Notwithstanding frequent droughts attended by terrible famines, the number of inhabitants rose from sixty thousand to a hundred thousand between the years 1844 and 1879. Yet epidemics have at times been scarcely less destructive than the famines, and when the cholera passed like a flaming sword over Sam-Nicolau, some villages were completely depopulated. The dead remained for days unburied in the streets of the capital, and houses are still shown which have ever since remained untenanted. All the natives call themselves Catholics, and are held as such, baptism having brought them nominally within the pale of the Church. Each island has its temples and priests, mostly men of colour, who are preferred by the " faithful," because they interfere less with the pagan rites introduced from Africa. Many devout Christians still believe that the felt iceros, that is, "fetish men " or wizards, have the power of making themselves invisible, of poisoning air and water, of spreading blight and disease over plants, animals, and men. Against their fatal power appeal is made to the curandeiros, or " medicine men," at times more for- midable than the fetish men themselves. At Saint Vincent European customs are steadily gaining ground, but many African usages still linger in the other islands, and especially in Sam-Thiago, where the IN'egro element is less mixed than elsewhere. The bride has still to be carried off by a feigned show of abduction. At funerals, especially when the death is attributed to the spells of a magician, the traditional ceremonies of the guisa are scrupulously observed, a procession of howlers preceding the dead, the women tearing their hair and beating their breasts, men creating a tremendous din with their tom-toming, after which the virtues of the departed are commemorated by a funeral banquet and by more drum-beating, continued every night for one or more weeks afterwards in his late home. As in the other Atlantic archipelagoes the system of large estates still prevails, the land seldom belonging to the tiller of the soil, except in Brava. Many domains are so extensive that their limits are unknown to the owner, and vast tracts lie fallow remote from all human habitations. Other properties are assigned to owners who are unable to produce any valid title-deeds, resting their claim exclu- sively on tradition. One third of Sam-Thiago, largest and most densely peopled of 88 WEST AFEICA. tlie whole archipelago, belongs to a single proprietor, whose tenants and retainers number some three thousand. Many estates, however, have gradually passed by inheritance from the first European concessionaries to their half-caste descendants ; hence the land to a large extent now belongs to men of colour, the offspring of slaves in the female line. Although the final measures for the abolition of slavery date only from 1857, the last slave having disappeared in 1876, complete social equality is already established between men of all colours. A certain number of degradadoa, or convicts, are however transported to all the islands except Saint Vincent ; in 1878 they numbered altogether over a hundred. Pursuits, Agriculture, Industries, Trade. During the early period of the occupation the archipelago was utilised almost exclusively for stock-breeding. The cattle, swine, sheep, and especially goats, let loose in the interior increased rapidly, and the first settlers were almost solely occupied in grazing their herds, or capturing the animals that had run wild. The horses, introduced from the Mandingo country, Senegambia, also prospered, and since the middle of the sixteenth century began to be re-exported to the neigh- bouring continent. Although not shod, these horses climb the rocks with a sure foot like goats. The asses, originally from Portugal, resemble those of the mother country, and are almost exclusively used as pack animals. Many that had lapsed into the wild state were hunted down like game during the great famine of 1831, and those that were not taken and eaten died of thirst, so that the race was completely exterminated. The same fate has overtaken the destructive rabbits which had been imported into Sam-Thiago. Notwithstanding the arid appearance of Saint Vincent and some other islands, much of the land has been brought under cultivation, the volcanic soil yielding- excellent crops of all sorts whenever the rainfall is sufficiently copious. The chief cultivated plants are manioc, maize, haricot beans, and especially the Jatropha curcaSy a medicinal plant of such powerful purgative properties that it is no longer used in the European pharmacopoeia. But the seed and oil are still largely exported for industrial purposes. Industry, properly so called, is little developed in the archipelago. The dj-eing of textile fabrics for the Negro populations of the continent is carried on especially in Sam-Nicolau, and Brava produces some lace work and highly esteemed woollen coverlets But the natives have a more natural bent for trade ; every village has its shops, and a brisk interchange of commodities is kept up between all the islands. Boa- Vista, Sal, Maio export salt, building stone, and goatskins, while Santo Antam supplies the neighbouring Saint Vincent with wood and water. International trade is centred almost exclusively in Porto-Grande and Saint Vincent. Topography. — Santo-Antam. Sanfo-Antam (Saint Anthony), the large island of nearly regular quadrilateral shape at the north-west extremity of the semicircular curve, is the privileged land of the archipelago. Traversed by a lofty range in the direction from northeast to south-west, it presents its north-west slope to the trade winds, which in these waters are nearly always deflected towards the continent. Hence this slope receives an ample rainfall, which supports a vigorous vegetation in the valleys. The population, which increases rapidly, might be doubled or trebled without exhausting the agricultural resources. But the opposite slope, which receives little moisture, is arid and almost destitute of vegetation. Here little meets the eye
except blackish rocks, red clays, and white pumice scoring the hillsides like streaks of snow. Volcanic cones with craters are dotted all over the island as thickly as on the flanks of Mount Etna. Over twenty are visible to ships rounding the north-east cape to enter the port of Saint Vincent. The main range terminates westwards in the Topo da Coram, the culminating point of the island, with a crater on its summit, according to the marine charts 7,520 feet high. Its flanks are scored right and left by deep ravines, and on the west side it falls abruptly down to the sea. But eastwards it towers above a vast plateau which has a mean altitude of 5,450 feet, and which is covered with volcanic cones, some isolated, some disposed in groups or chains, some with perfect circular or oval "caldrons," others rent and torn on one side and presenting the so-called "spoon" or "ladle" formation. Doelter, the geologist, regards this upland plain as an old bed of a vast crater, where the Topo da Coram represents the _ Vesuvius of a great circular Somma, of which the jagged outlines may still be traced.
Santo-Antam was first occupied in the middle of the sixteenth century, when slave labour was introduced. The first white colonists, including a number of
Canarians, made their appearance towards the close of the last and beginning of the present century, and successfully introduced the cultivation of wheat on the upland slopes. In 1780 the slaves in Santo-Antam were declared free; but the decree passed unheeded, and the honour of their emancipation was reserved for a later generation. The inhabitants, nearly all coloured, but sometimes with light hair and blue eyes, are grouped chiefly in some villages near the north-east coast, and in the little town of Ribeira Grande on the same coast. On the neighbouring hills, from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, the cultivation of cinchona has been introduced with great success; nearly a thousand trees had already been planted in 1882.
Saint Vincent. Saint Vincent (Sam-Vicente) is a geographical dependence of Santo-Antam, which, being larger and higher, almost completely deprives it of the moisture brought by the north-east trade winds. Hence it almost everywhere presents a parched and arid appearance, the whole island possessing only one or two small springs and a single valley capable of cultivation. No attempt was made at a settlement till 1795, when some Negro slaves and white convicts were introduced; but even in 1829 the population was still no more than about a hundred. Yet Saint Vincent was known to possess the best harbour in the archipelago, formed by an ancient crater eroded on the west side by the waves, and completely sheltered from all winds. The future commercial importance of this harbour had already been foreseen in 1851, when an English speculator here established a coaling station for passing steamers. The small town of Mindcllo, better known under the names of Porto- Grande and Saint Vincent, soon sprang up on the east side of the haven. But it is a dreary place of residence, treeless and waterless, the inhabitants being obliged to drink distilled sea-water, or water brought in boats from Santo An tam. Never- theless, here is concentrated nearly all the trade of the archipelago, and the port is yearly visited by hundreds of Atlantic steamers to renew their suj)ply of coal. In the foreign trade of the archipelago the first position is taken by the English, who import all the coal. Mindello has become an international seaport, in which the English language prevails, and in which the number of annual visitors is twenty times greater than the local population. Saint Vincent is also the intermediate station for the Atlantic cable between Lisbon and Pernambuco. Sam-N'icolau. East of Saint Vincent fallow Snnta Lucia, occupied only by shepherds, the desert islets of Branco and Raze, and a little farther on the large island of Sam- Nicolau, which about the middle of the last century was already well peopled. The first census of 1774 showed a population of 13,500 — more than at present; the decrease being due to a series of calamities, famine, yellow fever, cholera, following one on the other. In normal times, however, the birth-rate greatly exceeds the mortality. Sam-Nicolau presents the form of an irregular crescent, one of its horns pro- jecting eastwards, the other towards the south. Like all the other members of the Cape Verd group, it is covered with volcanic rocks, disposed either in isolated cones or continuous ridges, and culminating in the north with Mount Gordo, 4,000 feet high. Here is the central point of the whole archipelago, the summit, easily reached even on horseback, commanding in clear weather a complete view of all the islands from Sam-Antam to Fogo. From the south side of Gordo flows a copious stream, which, however, like several other rivulets, disappears in the scoriae. Owini? to the lack of communication, no attempt has been made to utilise 92 WEST AFRICA. these suj^plies, and for the same reason few local craft visit the surrounding creeks, most of which are entirely deserted. The first capital was situated on the port of Lajxt, at the extremity of the southern headland ; but during the temporary annexation of Portugal to Spain under Philip 11. this place was abandoned for the present town of Ribeira-Brava on the south-east side. Notwithstanding the fevers which at times visit this part of the coast, nearly half of the population is now centred in Ribeira-Brava, which has become one of the chief towns in the archipelago, and the centre of the most active local traffic. It exports maize, manioc, and sugar, but coffee, formerly an important industry, has ceased to be grown. Nearly all manufactured goods and foreign produce are introduced through Saint Vincent from England and the United States. In 1867 Ribeira-Brava was chosen, thanks to its central position, as the seat of the Lyceum, the first educational establishment in the archipelago. Sal, Boa-Vista, and Maio. Sal (Salt) and Bda- Vista, forming the eastern group, have almost a Saharian climate, and are consequently but thinly peopled. Although nearly 120 square miles in extent, Sal remained unoccupied from the time of its discovery till 1808, when a few slaves with some flocks were introduced from Boa-Vista. But no regular settlement was made till 1830, when the excellence and abundance of the salt beds attracted the attention of speculators. Cisterns were constructed to husband the rain-water, and some industrial colonies sprang up round about the salt-pans. The railway laid down in 1835 from the chief saline to the coast was the first opened in any part of the Portuguese dominions. Sam- Chn'sfomm, since the end of the fifteenth century known as Bd a- Vista (" Bellevue "), scarcely deserves this title. Like Sal, it lies low, is nearly treeless, has no running waters, is encircled by a dangerous reef-bound coast, and covered with shifting dunes " from the Sahara," as the natives say. Stock-breeding and the salt-works are almost its only resources, and its capital, Salrey, although enjoying the advantage of a well-sheltered harbour, is little visited. Since American vessels have ceased to call here for salt the population of the island has declined. Maio, consisting mainly of sands, clays, and bare rocks, is little more than a convict station. Its few Negro inhabitants work the salt-pans on the beach, and also occupy themselves with fishing and grazing. But they would run the risk of being starved out were they not supplied with provisions from the neighbouring Sam-Thiago. Sam-Thiago. Largest and most populous island in the archipelago, Sam-Thiago (St. James) is also specially distinguished by the fertility and high state of cultivation of its valleys, which yield good crops of maize, haricots, rice, bananas, oranges, and sugar. The surface is hilly, culminating near the centre with the Pico da Antonia, about 6,000 feet, a ruined volcano, which falls abruptly southwards. Some of the eruptive rocks are of submarine origin, and the surrounding waters are of great depth, the sounding-line revealing abysses of 1,260 fathoms within 4 miles of the coast.
Of Ribeira-Grande, the former capital, little remains except its name. It was badly situated on a small pebbly stream, with a hot southern aspect, cut off from the refreshing northern breezes by the inland mountains. But although captured and nearly ruined by the French in 1712, it still retained the official title of capital till the year 1770, when it was replaced by Villa da Praia. This place lies on a semicircular bay on the south-east coast exposed to the south winds, and a meteorological observatory has here been established. There is a small natural history
museum, and Praia is also an important telegraphic station, forming the intermediate station for the Atlantic cables between Europe, Senegambia, and the New World.
Fogo and Brava.
The island of Fogo, or "Fire," is of circular form, and, like Gran Canaria and Gomera, consists of a single eruptive mass, culminating in the centre with the volcano of Fogo, which according to Vidal and Mudge has an altitude of 9,950 feet. The crater, about 8 miles in circumference, lies within another crater, and the peak is visible 90 miles seaward. —
This island, formerly known as Sam-Felippe, did not receive its present name 94 WEST AFEICA. till 1680, when the settlers were so terrified by an earthquake followed by eruptions of lava that many took refuge in the neighbouring island of Brava. Other violent igneous disturbances ensued, such as those of 1785 and 1799, when copious lava streams overflowed down to the coast and entirely filled up a valley covered with rich plantations. The smouldering fires continued down to 1816, when the smoke disappeared and the natives were able to extract the sulphur accumulated in the interior of the crater. Underground convulsions were followed by long droughts and famines, through which the population fell from over 16,000 to less than 6,000 in 1834. But such is the fertility of the volcanic soil and the excellence of its produce, that the disasters are soon repaired and fresh plantations rapidly spring up above the old cultivated tracts. At present Togo is the most populous island in the archipelago, next to Sara-Thiago and Santo-Antam, and the white element, mostly from Madeira, is relatively very numerous. Sam-Felippe^ the capital, lies on an open roadstead on the west coast, over against Brava. Brava, or the " Wild," has long ceased to deserve this appellation. Being the healthiest, best-cultivated, and pleasantest member of the whole group, it is often now spoken of as the " paradise of the Cape Yerd archipelago," in contrast to the four "hells" of Saint Vincent, Sal, Bda-Yista and Maio. But for two centuries after the occupation its only inhabitants were some runaway slaves from the other islands, supporting themselves by fishing and grazing. The population was suddenly increased by the disaster of Togo in 1680, and as the land was then distributed in small independent holdings, Brava became the garden of the archipelago. The natives are a cross-breed, distinguished from those of Fogo by their taller stature, fairer complexion, and features that have been compared to those of a goat. They are industrious tillers of the soil, good fishers and daring mariners. The Americans, whose chief fishing station is in Brava, employ many on board their whalers. Furna, the small but well- sheltered port of the island, lies on the east side, opposite Sam-Felippe in Fogo. On the west coast lies the chief town, Sam- Joam Baptista, whither the officials of the other islands often retire to recruit their health. The two islets of Il/ieos Seccos, north of Brava, are uninhabited. Administration. The Cape Yerd archipelago is divided into two administrative districts : the Windward and Leeward Islands, comprising altogether eleven concelhos and twenty-nine freguezias, that is, " parishes " or communes. The concelho is repre- sented by an elective municipal body, the administrador, or mayor, being nominated by the government. A provincial council, to which the municipalities send two members, co-operates with the governor-general of the province, who is also assisted by a chamber of finance and a government council consisting of the chief administrative functionaries. The governor-general, nominated by the Crown, CAPE VERD ISLANDS. 95 combines in his own person the civil and military functions, and when absent is represented by a secretary-general. Each concelho has its ordinary tribunal, two courts of appeal being also established iii Santo- Antam and Sam-Thiago. Although forming a remote colonial possession,^the archipelago is represented in the Lisbon Cortes by two deputies, elected by a limited suffrage in the two provincial districts. For a table of the islands, with their areas, populations, and chief towns, see the Statistical Appendix.