s wholly covered with white
nymphaea, or water-lilly, and in winter time it is frequented by a
multitude of waterfowl, among which, are distinguished by their large size,
die great pelican, the fine crested crane, which has received the name of
the royal-bird, the gigantic heron, known in Senegambia by the venerable
name of Marabou, on account of its bald head, with a few scattered white
hairs, its lofty stature, and its dignified gait.

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. At its junction, with the continent, it is about four
leagues broad; by the deep recess which the Bay of Daccard forms, it is
reduced, near that village, to 600 toises, and becomes broader afterwards.
This promontory, which forms the most western part of Africa, is placed, as
it were, at the foot of a long hill, which represents the ancient shore of
the continent. On the sea-shore, and towards the north-east, there are two
hills of unequal height, which serve as a guide to mariners; and which,
from the substances collected in their neighbourhood, evidently shew that
they are the remains of an ancient volcano. They have received the name of
Mamelles. From this place, to the western extremity of the Peninsula, the
country rises towards the north-east, and terminates in a sandy beach on
the opposite side.

Almost the whole north-side is composed of steep rocks, covered with large
masses of oxyd of iron, or with regular columns of basalt which, for the
most part, still preserve their vertical position. Their summits, which are
sometimes scorified, seem to prove that they have been exposed to a great
degree of heat. The soil which covers the plateau, formed by the summit of
the Basaltic columns, the sides of which assume towards the Mamelles, the
appearance of walls of Trapp, but already, in a great degree, changed into
tuf, is arid and covered with briars. The soil of the Mamelles, like almost
all that of the middle of the Peninsula, which appears to lie upon
argillaceous lava, in a state of decomposition, is much better. There are
even to be found, here and there, some spots that are very