20 BOA VENTURA. — ENTROZA PASS. [chap. i. 



village with a good church. Here you have none of the 

 gradual sloping of tufa plains towards the sea that you find 

 on the south side, but a lofty iron front is everywhere pre- 

 sented to the angry waves. A narrow horse-road, bold, but 

 safe, skirts the midway of these high cliffs, which tower 

 1000 feet above you, so perpendicularly as to hide from 

 your sight, in some places, an almost vertical sun, whilst 

 the sea is nearly as far below your feet. Here and there, 

 where some ravine gives an outlet to a torrent that perhaps 

 originally formed it, you come upon a lovely village which is 

 a garden of vines and chestnuts. 



BOA VENTURA. 



After passing the Ponta Delgada, you leave the shore and 

 ascend a winding road up a steep hill, to descend again into 

 the ravine of the Boa Ventura. You can return to Funchal 

 up the valley, passing through the Curral. The road is very 

 bad, and the journey fatiguing, but you are rewarded for it by 

 the grandeur of the views. 



ENTROZA PASS. 



Next you come to the Eutroza Pass, where the steadiness 

 of your own head and your horse's hoofs are put to a severe 

 trial ; the road is narrow, and covered with loose stones ; 

 a precipice below you overhangs the sea, and a cliff above you 

 presents a smooth high side which it makes you giddy to look 

 up to. This steep pathway is said to be constructed on 

 timbers projecting out of the bare rock. There is more 

 danger in appearance, however, than reality, and accidents 

 seldom happen ; many, however, prefer their own legs to those 

 of their horses, in passing this point. 



