Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-10-17
IT. Antonio.

After an easy passage of six days from
Teneriile, we arrived, on the morning
of the 3Oth of July. off the Bay of Tara
fsl, in the Island of Antonio, one of the
Cape de Verdes. Here vessels can OBJ
tain eocoanutS, bananas. sweet potatoes,
poultry, sheep, goats and, above all, Il
copious supply of excellent water.
Tarafal Bay is sheltered from the pre-
vailing trade winds. but it is otherwise
completely open. We landed near the
mouth of an ample brook, which de-
Scends to the sea, by narrow and sin
nous ravine, from a deep circular basin
or crater formed amid the mass of lofty
mountains in the interior of the island.
Wherever the water can be conducted
sugar cane, cocoanut and banana grow
luxuriantly. The sugar, which forms
the principal article of export, is for
warded TO Lisbon in schOoners. The
sides of the rayine. which extends for
nine miles into the interior, are terraced
and industriously cultivated in every
part in which the water has access. The
laboring population, who are all negroes,
live in mud hutS. rarafal Bay, lying
on the southwest side of st. Antonio, i
in an almost perpetual calm. There
was no stea1y breeze throughout the
day of our visit. and we stood off and
on under steam. Facing the burning
south, sheltered from the cooling
breezes of the northeast trade, the eli
mate would be almost unendurable To
an Englishman. There was an air of
depression about the negroes and their
employer, which was attributed in part
to their isolation, in part To the excess
sive heat.
The scenery of this little-knOwn spot
would, ii il lay in temperate zone and
within the scope Of ordinary travel,
have been long since highly renowned,
and would have inspired the pen and
the pencil of many lovers OF the sub
lime and beautiful The bay lies in an
amphitheatre Of mountains and pre-
cipices. Pinnacles and spires and
turrets of rock are clustered together in
noble masses, and in forms and out
lines of infinite variety. The rocks
have burnt sp volcanic aspect, and
are absolutely barren of vegetation.
The only green spot in the landscape is
the grove of cocOanut trees and bana-
mas, surrounded by few fields of su-
garcanes. in the small delta on the shore
formed by the solitary brook of Tarafal.
Our moist and variable climate furnishes
a frequent topic to discontented people
in England; and yet, to be wholly de-
prived of refreshing and fertilizing
showers, to spend long months un-
sheltered from the rays of tropical
sun, is a far more serious privation- IL
is not In such climate "a that of the
Cape de Verdes that those pleasant
places can be found which abound in
dear old England, and which are so
happily depicted, in harmonious num-
hers, by the poet Gray:
Where'er the oaks thick branches stretch
A browner, broader shade.
Whereer the rude and mOSs-g grown Oeach
Ger canOpies the glade
Beside some waters rllShy Drink
With me the muse shall Sit
Here. too. il may be added, the sports
man NAV carry his gun, may ride TO
hounds. or WELD the bat or the oar, on
A greater number of days in the year
than it would be possible to devote TO
similar wholesome exercises in any
other climate in the world.