“St Jago is so miserable a place that my first landing in a tropical country will not make the lasting impression of beauty which so many have described.”
January 13th 1832
“The Volcanic fire of past ages & the scorching heat of a tropical sun have in most places rendered the soil sterile and unfit for vegetation… we walked across the town & came to a deep valley. Here I first saw the glory of tropical vegetation. Tamarinds, Bananas & Palms were flourishing at my feet… It has been for me a glorious day, like giving to a blind man eyes.”
January 16th 1832
Charles Darwin The Journal of a Voyage in H.M.S. Beagle
Further reading: Porter, D. 1983. Charles Darwin, the Cape Verde Islands and the Herbarium Webb. Webbia 36, 2: 225-228
