BASALTIC DYKES.

33

dimensions; still, as we came, close beneath and looked up, there was something fearful in the contemplation of the enormous mass which was piled above us.

To a geologist the sight would be interesting in a different point of view, and even an unlearned eye must be struck with the basaltic dykes, as I believe they call them, which are seen intersecting from top to bottom, the tufa strata of which the cliff is composed. The contrariety both of material and position, here mark, as plainly as any thing can do, the different stages of convulsion which the soil has undergone, and I can understand the interest of the study which makes it its business to trace by vestiges of this kind the history of our planet beyond the period of its human inhabitation.

Part of the cliff appeared to have given way, and formed, here and there, little ledges of soil between the base and the sea. With a southern exposure, and backed by such a wall, these spots of course enjoy a peculiar warmth of climate, and on them is raised some of the finest wine. One, the fazenda dos Frades, produces from ten to twelve pipes of Malmsey annually.

Near the bottom of the cliff; that is, some two or three hundred feet up the face of it; are several square holes, which were formerly used for quar

D

rying the stone, and by examining closer you distinguish the ladders by which a fearful access was obtained to these excavations. A few years ago, however, some lives were lost by the breaking of one of these ladders, and the quarries were abandoned *:

Upon turning the point of Cape Giram the whole coast westward comes into sight as far as Ponta da Sol, a bold headland to which the cliffs gradually descend from the heights overhead. Near, is the outlet of Ribeiro Bravo, and over it, the chesnut shaded village of Campanario.

Returning, we landed under the Cape at the Fonte Pedrida, a little fountain of delicious water which breaks out at its base. The spot is a pretty one; inaccessible except by boats; and I rather wondered that it was not occupied by a little chapel or hermitage. To an anchoret whose 'feast' comprehended only

A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied,

And water from the spring,'

the little nook might be made to afford abundance. In one of the chapels of the church of Cama de

• The stone is the black kind used for the sills and coping of doors and windows. It is not found in the neighbourhood of Funchal, and this circumstance, with the facility of water-carriage, formed the inducement for attempting to procure it at this spot by so singular a risk of human life.

DRESSING THE DEAD.

35

Lobos we saw the corpse of a young girl awaiting interment; she was laid out on a carpet in a white dress, her feet tied together, her hands clasped, a wreath of flowers round her head, and wild jonquils strewed over the corse; the face was exposed, and wore a placidity of aspect not unaccordant with this gaiety of attire.

Riding home, we met a man bearing on a tray the corpse of a child similarly decked out, and doubtless to the same destination. Upon the remains of the young and fair this sort of decoration sits not unseemly. It is probably confined to them.

The view of Funchal, entering it from this direction, is very striking; indeed I do not think that you see the town, the bay, and the mountains together, to nearly the same advantage from any other point. The Peak Castle standing out bold and prominent in the near ground, contributes much to the picture; and in front the horizon of the sea is well broken by the Desertas.

Jan. 12.-We directed our course to day in an opposite direction, towards the east. This extremity of the town seems the most agreeably situated of any part of it; it is close upon the sea, of which it commands a beautiful view, and has immediate access to a part of the country affording some of the pleasantest rides and walks in the neigh

bourhood. There is a house, next to the Socorro church, which for situation, I fancy, I should prefer to any in Funchal. Perhaps, indeed, I felt more interest in it from a curious legend which I found in an old history of the island, from which it appears to have been at one time the residence of a fair doncella-fra bella e buona, Non so qual fosse piu-but the story is too long to relate here.

The road here runs close to the cliffs, and commands a splendid view of the sea and coast to the eastward. You look down to the waves over the black crags of the cliff, thickly overgrown with the cactus opuntia or prickly pear, which with the aloe are found spreading their grotesque excrescences over all the rocks in the neighbourhood. A more graceful native is the Cassia (accuminata) with its golden flowers; it springs profusely among these sunny rocks. In the orchards about, the fig-tree is already in leaf, and the peach tree in blossom. This last seems a good deal cultivated here, but as they do not take the trouble to engraft it, the fruit is said to be of a very inferior kind; the one side often rotting before the other is ripe. On the other hand the Madeira fig is described as peculiarly delicious.

The Ribeiro de Gonçalos, a pretty little ravine, running down to the sea about a mile from the

Socorro; a picturesque old fort guards its outlet. Beyond this the cliffs rise rapidly; and the road, which no longer follows them, becomes steep and uninteresting. At the top of the ascent you pass the little chapel of Nossa Senhora da Neve; a tract of green mountain pasture, scattered with round-headed firs and descending steep to the cliffs on the left, succeeds; but soon gives place to a tame, dreary, half-cultivated region, in which the absence of every other feature of interest is ill compensated by the extensive sea views, which its elevation commands. Nothing indeed is duller or more tiresome, if continued long, than a mere sea view; unless accompanied by some circumstance of foreground, or accident of light, which may relieve its monotony.

We found our way down to the Brazen Heador Cape Garajuć, as is the Portuguese name. It is by no means the loftiest of the neighbouring cliffs; but, by its projection, it forms the easternmost horn of the bay of Funchal; and is thus an object of constant interest and observation from the place, as all vessels from Europe are first seen coming round its point. The same circumstance of projection affords it a striking view of the rest of the range of cliffs, rising high on each side; wild, broken, of a dark umbered colour; capped above by the green herbage of the mountain, or overgrown