HISTORICAL SKETCH 137 



uninhabited land, diversified by hills and vales, 

 intersected by clear rivulets, and shaded with pine- 

 trees." 



Dr. Caspar Fructuoso, in his work entitled " As 

 Saudades da Terra," written in 1590, tells of the 

 lovers' great joy when, "on the morning of the 

 fourteenth day, when they had been hourly expect- 

 ing destruction, and were in a hopeless and 

 exhausted condition, they saw a dark object before 

 them, which they imagined might be land, and 

 when the sun rose they perceived that their 

 surmises were correct and their hopes fulfilled. As 

 they drew near, they saw that the mountains rose, 

 as it were, almost directly from the water's edge 

 in many places. The almost perpendicular cliffs 

 seemed to preclude any landing, except where 

 the grand ravines opened right down to the sea. 

 It was into one of these openings of enchanting 

 loveliness that Machim directed his vessel to be 

 steered, and, casting anchor, a boat was most 

 eagerly launched. Machim and some companions 

 hurried on shore, and they soon returned with such 

 an encouraging account that he took his beloved 

 Anna from off the vessel where such terrible and 

 anxious days had been passed, and landed on a 

 shore where he hoped he should, with such com- 



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