CHAP. II.] MADEIRA TO THE COAST OF BRAZIL. 101 



the island lias a very remarkable appearance. The land is gen- 

 erally not very high, an irregular cliff rising from the sea to a 

 height of about a hundred feet, succeeded by undulating land 

 and conical hills, usually covered with luxuriant vegetation. A 

 little to our right there was a very singular-looking mountain, 

 the Peak. A broad, craggy base rises abruptly from the sea, 

 all the clefts amono- the rocks covered and filled with low veore- 

 tation, and every here and there lines and patches of bananas. 

 From a height of about 400 feet a column of rock starts up for 

 600 feet more, the last 200 feet certainly inaccessible. On one 

 side tliere is a great cleft undercutting a projecting portion of 

 the rock, and adding to the grotesqueness of its outline. The 

 citadel, a small fort, the station of the guard of Brazilian sol- 

 diers, is on the top of a projecting square cliff, right before the 

 anchorage. The village occupies a slight depression between 

 the citadel and the Peak, and follows the depression a good way 

 landward. There is a little bit of sandy beach to the right of 

 the citadel, just below the village, wdiich is the usual landing- 

 place ; and to the left of the citadel (from the ship) there is a 

 rather long stretch of sand, with another landing, in ordinary 

 weather better than that near the town. To the extreme left 

 there is a chain of small islands, one of them with a fine, bold 

 outline called St. Michael's Rock, and another much larger, flat 

 and rather bare. Eat Island. The view to the right is closed 

 in by two very peculiar conical detached rocks, called " The 

 Twins." 



The captain and I went ashore in the galley to pay our re- 

 spects to the governor, and to see how the land lay. There was 

 a heavy sea rolling on the rocks and beaches. Some queer little 

 catamarans were moving about, each with a man on it, a stool, a 

 round basket, and a coil of fishing-line. The man either sat on 

 the stool, or stood and propelled or guided his frail boat with 

 one spade-like paddle, which he plied alternately on either side. 

 Almost the whole of the boat, which consists simply of two logs 



