The Bushman | Page 6

more
reckless and daring than themselves.
We were now approaching the Cape Verd Islands. I daresay it has been
frequently mentioned, that there is in these latitudes a vast bed of loose
sea-weed, floating about, which has existed there from time
immemorial, and which is only found in this one spot of the ocean; as
though it were here compelled to remain under the influence of some
magic spell. Some navigators are of opinion that it grows on the rocks
at the bottom of the sea, beneath the surface on which it floats. Others
maintain that it has been drifted across the Atlantic, having issued from
the Gulf of Mexico. Here, however, it is doomed to drift about
hopelessly, for ever lost in the wilderness of waters; on the surface of
which it now vegetates, affording shelter to small crabs, and many
curious kinds of fishes.
One of the latter which we caught, about an inch in length, had a spike
on his back, and four legs, with which he crawled about the sea-weed.
We approached the Island of St. Jago, sailing unconsciously close to a
sunken rock, on which (as we afterwards learnt) the "Charlotte" had

struck about six weeks before whilst under full sail, and had gone down
in a few minutes, barely allowing time for the crew to escape in their
boat.
Notwithstanding we had been five weeks at sea when we dropped
anchor in Porto Praya roads, the appearance of the land was by no
means inviting to the eyes. A high and extremely barren hill, or large
heap of dry earth, with a good many stones about it, seemed to
compose the Island. Close to us was the town, a collection of white
houses that looked very dazzling in the summer sun. Beside, and
running behind it, was a greenish valley, containing a clump of
cocoa-nut trees. This was the spot we longed to visit; so, getting into
the captain's boat, we approached the shore, where a number of nearly
naked negroes rushing into the sea (there being no pier or jetty)
presented their slimy backs at the gun-wale, and carried us in triumph
to the beach. The town boasted of one hotel, in the only sitting-room of
which we found some Portuguese officers smoking pipes as dirty as
themselves, and drinking a beverage which had much the appearance of
rum and water. There was no one who could speak a word of English;
but at length a French waiter appeared, who seemed ravished with
delight at the jargon with which we feebly reminded him of his own
lively language "when at home." Having ordered dinner, we wandered
off in search of the coca-nut valley, and purchased bananas for the first
time in our lives, and oranges, the finest in the world.
Those who have been long at sea know how pleasant it is to walk once
more upon the land. It is one of the brightest of the Everlasting flowers
in the garland of Memory.
We walked along the sea-beach, as people so circumstanced must ever
do, full of gladsome fancies. There was delight for us in the varied
shells at our feet; in the curious skeletons of small fishes, untimely
deceased; in the fantastic forms of the drifted sea-weed; in the gentle
ripple of the companionable waves by our side. And little Fig, the
spaniel, was no less pleased then ourselves. He ran before us rejoicing
in his fleetness; and he ran back again in a moment to tell us how glad
he was. Then as a wave more incursive than its predecessor

unexpectedly wetted his feet, he would droop his tail and run faster
with alarm, until the sight of some bush or bough, left high and dry by
the last tide, awakened his nervous suspicions, and dreading an
ambuscade, he would stop suddenly and bark at the dreadful object,
until we arrived at his side, when, wagging his tail and looking slyly up
with his joyous eyes, he would scamper away again as though he would
have us believe he had been all the time only in fun.
What profound satisfaction is there in the freedom of land after so long
a confinement! The sunshine that makes joyous every object around us
finds its way into the deeps of the heart.
And now we determined to bathe. So we crossed over a jutting rock, on
the other side of which was a beautiful and secluded little bay, so
sheltered that the waves scarcely rippled as they came to kiss the
shell-covered beach. Here we soon unrobed; and I was the first to rush
at full speed into the inviting waters. Before I got up to my middle,
however, I saw something before me that looked like a dark rock just
below the surface.