in 1564, by Captain David Carlet. and to the Cape de Verd Islands, in 1566, by George Fenner.

All the shipwrecked persons being assembled at St. Louis, as we have already said, the governor, two days before his departure for Cape Verd, thought of sending a vessel on board the Medusa, to look for a sum of 100,000 francs, which was intended to form the treasure of the colony, as well as provisions, which were in abundance on board, and of which there was some scarcity in the colony.

He was in this temper of mind, and in the melancholy situation which we have just described, reduced to the ration of a common soldier, during the forty days which had just elapsed, when he caused the captain of an American merchant vessel to be asked whether he would do him the pleasure to take him to Cape Verd, to which place he was to go; the answer was affirmative, and the departure fixed for two days after.

Let us now turn to the unhappy persons assembled in the camp at Daccard, not far from the village of that name, situated on the Peninsula of Cape Verd.

The French Governor, as we have already observed, being unable to enter into the possession of the colony, resolved to go and remain upon Cape Verd, which had been recognized to be the property of France.

The next day the men were removed to Cape Verd: several soldiers and sailors had already repaired to it; these were those who had first crossed the desert: the flute, la Loire, had conveyed them thither some days before, with the commander of the frigate.

Let us return to the new establishment, which collected the remnant of us on Cape Verd.

The Cape de Verd Islands, are eighty leagues to the West.

This isle lies in the direction of S.S.E and N.N.W. and is only about 2600 metres distant from Cape Verd.

The Island of Goree may become of the greatest importance if the government should ever think proper to establish a powerful colony, from Cape Verd to the river Gambia; then this isle would be the bulwark of the settlements on the coast of Africa.

But it will be objected that Goree is very small, and that great establishments can never be formed there; we think, only, that it is proper to be the central point, till a greater colony shall be established on Cape Verd, which nature seems to have intended for it, and the advantages of which, in a military and maritime point of view, are of the highest importance.

The position and figure of Cape Verd are such, that it would be easy to form there an excellent port at a small expense; perhaps it would not be impossible to make some use of the Lake or Marigot of Ben, which is but a short distance from the sea.

The following is an extract from a Letter, written to Mr. Corréard by a Physician, who has carefully examined Cape Verd.

For more ample accounts of these countries, we refer to the excellent works of Messrs. Durand and Geoffroy de Villeneuve, who have examined them like enlightened observers, and perfectly well described them in their travels, only that they have too much exaggerated the agricultural advantages of Cape Verd.

Nothing but the necessity of procuring refreshments can authorise vessels, bound to the Cape of Good Hope, or to the south of America, to touch at the Canaries, or at the Cape Verd Islands.

Some Spaniards from Teneriffe, who came to Cape Verd, at the time that the French Expedition had taken refuge there, struck us all, by their resemblance with these Africans.

In the winter fevers which prevail at Goree, Cape Verd, &c. two methods of cure were employed which had different effects.

[A15] XXIV.On the Islands of Goree and Cape Verd.

At the distance of 1200 toises from the Peninsula of Cape Verd, a large black rock rises abruptly, from the surface of the sea.

Considered geologically, the Island of Goree is a group of basaltic columns still standing, but a part of which seem to have experienced the action of the same cause of destruction and overthrow, as the columns of the same formation of Cape Verd, because they are inclined and overthrown in the same direction.

Cape Verd is a peninsula about five leagues and a half long; the breadth is extremely variable.

In short, Africa, such as we have seen it either on the banks of the Senegal or the Peninsula of Cape Verd, is a new country, which promises to the naturalist an ample harvest of discoveries, and to the philosophical observer of mankind, a vast field for research and observation.

In a publication, printed since this expedition, it has been stated, that maize was cultivated in the open fields, by the negroes of Cape Verd, whereas they cultivate no species of grain, except two kinds of houlques, to which they add, here and there, but in smaller fields, a kind of haricot, or French bean, dolique unguiculé, which they gather in October, and a part of which they sell at Goree and St. Louis, either in pods or seed.

This Frenchman, My Lord, is Alexander Corréard, an engineer, an honorary member of the commission appointed to examine Cape Verd and its environs, one of the fifteen persons who escaped out of the hundred and fifty individuals shipwrecked, with the raft of the Medusa frigate, of whom only eleven are still living.

This animal, which is not uncommon at Cape Verd, climbs up trees, frequents the marshy places, and is said to inflict severe wounds if it is not laid hold of with great precaution.