66 EXCURSIONS IN MADEIRA 



and Pico de Neve, (whose bare summit towers above the others) 

 immediately behind it. As we sail past the cliffs and rocks which 

 follow, we shudder at the sight of the peasantry, crawling down to 

 cultivate a niche scarcely accessible, and on the very brink of 

 eternity ; whilst the fishermen let themselves down by ropes to 

 some favourite point, regardless of the rude crosses, wliich, erected 

 on the lofty crags, record the sad fate of many who have preceded 

 them. Approaching Machico, the basalt becomes of a deeper, 

 duller red, loses all traces of columnar form, is full of horizontal 

 fissures, and presents vast caverns near the sea, sometimes divided 

 by rude shafts, and sometimes blocked up by huge fragments, 

 recaUing the cave of Cacus. Of all formations, the basaltic presents 

 the most sublime scenery, and suggests the grandest natural ca- 

 tastrophes to the poet : we cannot wonder at the pleasing gloom of 

 Ossian, when we recollect, that he sung amongst its vast columnar 

 caves, and frowning peaks. The bay of INIachico seems to have 

 been formed by a great slip of the eastern cHffs, and is so inviting, 

 that it is not surprising, that our countryman Machim should have 

 directed his shattered bark to its shelter, rather than explore 

 any fvu'ther. 



" With longing eyes observing to survey 



Some smooth ascent, or safe sequestered bay. 

 Between the parting rocks at length he spied 

 A falling stream with gentle waters glide, 

 Where to the seas the shelving shore declined, 

 And formed a bay, impervious to the wind." 



The fragments of basalt washed down by the river, or torrent, of 

 Machico, abound in oUvine (sometimes presenting the regular 

 crystallization of chrysolite), pyrites, and Hme ; the latter, generally 

 botryoidal, and lining small cells. 



My last excursion was to the Lagoa, or The Crater, as it has been 

 called by some, about eleven miles to the eastward of Funchal. 



