Some of the farms and plantations were in very fine and luxuriant condition, and this was an enjoyment to us after the arid country we had before seen, destitute almost of vegetation, and covered with loose stones. Of the feathered tribe, although not very numerous, a few were shot by one of the party, among which were two specimens of _Halcyon senegalensis_, and a fine hawk; quails and Guinea fowls (_Numida meleagris_, Linn.) were abundant, and several of the former were also shot; the crow and several species of _Fringillæ_ were likewise seen. In the afternoon we returned to the town. The population consists for the most part of mulattos and negroes: fruit, including plantains, bananas, oranges, and pine-apples, was abundant, but not yet fully in season. Among the very few decent houses in this paltry town, was one, the residence of a Don F. Melo, (who speculates in orchilla weed,) situated in the Plaza, which displays taste and neatness both in the exterior and interior of its arrangement: on the lower land, behind the house, he has laid out with much labour an extensive garden, well irrigated, and in which European and tropical vegetables, fruits, and elegant flowering plants, were thriving in luxuriance, and sufficiently proved that even in that sterile spot, industry and perseverance could surmount almost any difficulty. At the house of this gentleman, I had an opportunity of seeing some excellent specimens of the orchilla weed; this valuable production of the vegetable kingdom is indigenous to this and other islands of the group, as well as to Madeira, the Canaries, and the coast of Barbary; it is the _Roccella tinctoria_ of botanists,[9] and is held in high estimation for the purplish dye it yields, and I believe, excepting the cochineal, is the only dye that possesses a mordant in itself. This lichen is of a gray colour, and those plants which are of the darkest hue, long and strong, are considered the best; it grows to a great length, but is rarely obtained so, as the natives gather it before it comes to any size, on account of its high value. The quantity collected in one year, among the whole of this group of islands, was 537,600 lbs.; but sometimes a larger quantity is obtained, when, not having much work upon the plantations, the negroes can be employed for the purpose.[10] It is found on the steep rocks in the interior of the islands, and growing in the crevices; the finest orchilla is collected at the island of St. Antonio, where it grows in some places so inaccessible as to be only procured by lowering the gatherer down the cliffs by ropes. This lichen is exported only to Lisbon, there being an order from the Portuguese government to that effect, but quantities were often smuggled direct to some foreign port.[11] Date palms were very numerous in the vicinity of the town, but did not appear to attain any high degree of perfection, or bear fruit, and were used, for what they alone seemed fit, as firewood.