Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



The best known and perhaps the oftenest 

 attempted excursion from Funchal is to the 

 Grand Curral, called by the Portuguese Curral 

 das Freiras, " the Nuns' Fold," from the 

 Convent of Santa Clara having formerly 

 possessed considerable property in it. It is 

 a deep valley, of more or less circular shape, 

 almost in the centre of the island, and bounded 

 on its northern curve by the highest peaks. 

 At its lovrer end it contracts to a gorge too 

 narrow to admit of a road. It is therefore 

 necessary to ascend the enclosing hills on one 

 side or the other, east or west, to obtain a view 

 of the valley. Neither excursion conducts the 

 traveller to any great height, the former to an 

 altitude of about 3300 feet, the latter to about 

 4400 feet. The eastern side being the nearer 

 to Funchal is more often visited. It is perhaps 

 the pleasanter ride, but the western side affords 

 the finer viev/. From either point one looks 

 down into the great basin, with its strip of 

 cultivation and its little church standing on its 

 floor 2000 feet above the sea ; the encircling 

 mountains scarred with fissures from base to 

 summit, and culminating on all sides in towers 

 and pinnacles of rock. The form of the valley 



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