NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 



179 



the narrow glens of the Furnas valley, in the warm streams of mineral water flowing 

 from the hot springs, the edible Arum (Caladium esculentum), the staple food ("taro") 

 of the Polynesians, thrives exceedingly well, and is cultivated all over the Azores. 

 In the excessively hot water of the hot springs, close to their points of issue, bright green 

 lowly organised Algae (Botryococcus) grow, and in places form a thick crust upon the 

 rock surface on the sides of the fissures from which the hot water escapes. Similar 

 growths of lowly organised plants, thus growing in the water of hot springs, have been 

 observed in various parts of the world. 1 



&*** 



sr ** >*r 



Fig. 77. — Orange Groves near Poiita Delgada. (From a Photograph.) 



A fine breakwater was in course of construction at Ponta Delgada, which, when com- 

 pleted, would form a well-sheltered port — a great desideratum, as the southwest gales send 

 in a very heavy sea.. This breakwater was partially washed away in 1 867, during a violent 

 storm, in consecpience of its outer slope not having a sufficient angle ; this defect, however, 

 was remedied, and it was believed no other accident would occur. Some idea of the 

 violence of the sea in the Atlantic may be gathered from the fact that the swell, dashing 

 against the breakwater, has been known to wash up a block of stone, 6£ tons in weight, 

 from the water's edge to the top of the breakwater, a distance of over 30 feet. 



The Azores to Madeira. 



The ship left San Miguel on the 9th July for Madeira, and anchored in Funchal Bay 

 on the 16th at 7 a.m., fine weather being experienced on the passage. 



1 For further account of the vegetable growths in the hot springs of Furnas, see H. N. Moseley, Joxirix. Linn. See. 

 Lond. (Botany), vol. xiv. p. 321, 1875. Also papers on the same subject by Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer and Mr. W 

 Archer, Ibid., pp. 326, 328. 



