198 Mr Scouler's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. 



island consists of steep hills, intersected by numerous deep val- 

 lies, which are generally watered by some small rivulet, whose 

 supplies are obtained from the melting of the mountain snows. 

 The rocks are of a blackish colour, inclining to blue, and the 

 decomposition of the basalt affords a favourable soil for the 

 growth of the grape. 



The fortunate situation of Madeira, placed between the 

 limits of the temperate and torrid zones, enables the inha- 

 bitants of this favoured clime to cultivate the plants of two 

 climates. The common potato grows in company with the 

 esculent Arum, and the Date of the east with the Banana, and 

 the Fuschia coccinea is seen in company with the Vinca and 

 Lonicera. In the course of our excursion we visited the mo- 

 nastery of Nossa Senhora del Monte, surrounded by groves of 

 chesnut-trees, and the cultivation of its garden seemed to 

 form the chief amusement of its inhabitants, who have adorn- 

 ed their retired abode with some of the finest plants of Eu- 

 rope and America. At sunset the chiming of the bells re- 

 minded us that it was time to return to the vessel, while our 

 strange pursuits had attracted the notice of the islanders, and 

 seemed to have excited their contempt. Next morning we 

 left Madeira, and by the 15th August our proximity to the tro- 

 pic was indicated by the abundance of flying-fish we now saw ; 

 and, in the dull monotony of a long voyage, it was no small 

 pleasure to preserve and dissect even these well-known ani- 

 mals. 



On entering the tropical regions, the marine Zoophytes be- 

 come more abundant, and we had now every opportunity of wit- 

 nessing that beautiful though still obscure phenomenon, the 

 luminous appearance of the ocean. We fortunately were suc- 

 cessful in procuring one of the most interesting of the phos- 

 phorescent inhabitants of the Atlantic. Since we had left the 

 temperate zone, we were delighted by the brilliancy of a tropi- 

 cal sun, and the clear and serene sky, where a cloud or a shower 

 are regarded as an agreeable novelty, and where, in the even- 

 ing, the deep azure colour of the waves is replaced by flashes of 

 vivid phosphorescence ; but as we approached the equator - , the 

 weather became squally and cloudy, attended by frequent 

 though moderate thunder storms, which generally prevail in 



