The North Side 



path, only passable on foot, has been hewn in 

 the face of the precipitous cliffs. It leads in 

 about two hours to the village of Seixal. It is 

 never more than six feet wide and often much 

 less, it has no parapet, and the overhanging 

 rock sometimes makes it impossible for a tall 

 man to walk upright. Here and there, where 

 waterfalls descend from the hills above, the 

 rock is tunnelled to afford protection. Some- 

 times the path descends to the sea-level, only 

 to ascend again several hundred feet. And 

 always the cliffs are sheer, with the wild sea 

 breaking at their base. It is not a path suited 

 to the nervous. Wild gullies, deep gashes 

 severing the line of cliff and extending far into 

 the heart of the mountains, are passed on the 

 way. The deepest and most precipitous is 

 called, not inappropriately, Ribeiro do Inferno. 

 The botanist will remark that the moist crannies 

 in the rock are everywhere filled with splendid 

 specimens of the sea spleenwort, Asplenium 

 marinum ; and the cliffs are studded, as else- 

 where on the north coast, with a species of 

 houseleek, Sempervivum glandidosum^ varying in 

 size from that of a small pincushion to that of 

 the crown of a tall hat, or larger. 



225 Q 



