88 FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF MADEIRA 



be offered for sale in the town of Funchal. In 

 describing this beautiful ravine, over which towers 

 Pico Ruivo and the Torres, both some 6,000 feet 

 in height, Miss Taylor, who was a great authority 

 on native ferns, says : " Many rare and beautiful 

 ferns will be found, growing both close to the 

 running water and on the mountain-sides above the 

 levada. Trichomanes radicans and Hymenophyl- 

 lum Tunbridgense grow in great abundance ; also 

 Acrostichum squamosum, Pteris arguta, Asplenium 

 umbrosum, Woodwardia radicans, and numberless 

 others. Lichens of every sort and mosses Lyco- 

 podium suberectum and Selaginella Kraussiana 

 seem to fill up every available space and crevice, 

 and engage the hands and delight the mind of 

 the collector." 



The more arid path to Ariero will not provide 

 such treasures for the collector, who must content 

 himself with the views of surpassing loveliness 

 down to the deep, wooded ravines, which as the 

 shadows begin to lengthen after midday, grow 

 more mysterious -looking, getting grander and 

 more beautiful as their deep blue turns to 

 purple; and gradually the haze, which is certain 

 to come before nightfall, fills the valleys and 

 blots out the sea beyond. The rare orchis 



