Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



or ford, by shovelling down the steep banks on 

 either side to make the water shallow, and 

 provide a means of descent and ascent, a some- 

 what lengthy job. So we made a road. And 

 the next man who passed that way no doubt 

 followed in our tracks ; why should he trouble 

 to cut fresh trees and make fresh drifts } And 

 with each succeeding traveller the road became 

 better defined. I should not be surprised to 

 hear that it is now frequented by motor-cars. 



To return to our Madeira road. If you 

 follow its course across the moorland, and turn 

 westv7ards into a mountain track a little short 

 of the top of the pass, you will not be long in 

 reaching a plateau of considerable extent on 

 which stands an unused observatory. Here if 

 you are riding you will leave your horse, and 

 an easy climb will take you in an hour, first 

 through some giant bilberry bushes, and then 

 up a stony slope to the summit of Pico Arriero. 

 This point is 5893 feet above sea-level, and 

 considered the second highest in the island. 

 The view is very fine ; both the northern and 

 the southern seas are spread before you and all 

 around are jagged peaks, some of them quite 

 inaccessible. You are at the head of the Grand 



256 



