THE EARTHQUAKE. 95 



The chief curiosity of this side of the island is what 

 is familiarly known to the inhabitants as the " Earth- 

 quake." It is a chasm, evidently the result of a great 

 convulsion of nature ; and local tradition confidently 

 assigns it to that tremendous shock, in 1755, in which 

 Lisbon was overwhelmed, and which was felt over 

 nearly the whole of Europe. The ascription to it of 

 such an origin has been ridiculed, but on very insuffi- 

 cient grounds. No one, I think, can look upon it 

 without feeling the conviction that it has been pro- 

 duced by an earthquake ; and the one to which it is 

 currently assigned is to the full as likely to be the 

 true one as any other. 



We were directed to pursue the coast-line, along 

 the edge of the cliffs, until we should reach the middle 

 of the island, nor was there any difficulty in finding 

 it, or in recognising it when found. It is a yawning 

 chasm, or cleft, in the granite, running along in a line 

 irregularly parallel to that of the precipice, for about 

 five hundred feet. The width varies in different parts, 

 but may be taken at fifteen feet upon the average. 

 The sides of the cleft are quite perpendicular, to a 

 depth of fifty feet. They are fringed with luxuriant 

 ferns, and the common flowering plants that grow 

 upon the sea-cliffs. The whole ground and rock 

 round about, for some distance, is much shaken, and 

 broken into chasms and fissures. 



There is a second smaller cleft, which I had well- 

 nigh overlooked, though it is, in fact, the more inter- 

 esting of the two. It is situated much nearer to the 



