y'2 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



animals, for we scarcely saw any except a few 

 European singing birds, waterwagtails, some but- 

 terflies, and a few other insects {Brachycerm bar-* 

 barus, Asida coriacea nobis) which inhabit the bar- 

 ren rock. The birds, probably, fly backwards and 

 forwards between the islands and the European 

 and African continents. On the naked shores of 

 the island, which are even without sand, there are 

 no muscles or sea-stars, and in the adjacent seas 

 but few fish, for which reason the dried fish of 

 North America meet with a ready sale. This 

 scarcity of animals in the island is common to many 

 volcanic countries. 



The principal chain of this island extends in 

 the direction of W. by N. to E. by S. Its ex- 

 treme points are Cabo de Pargo, and Cabo de S. 

 Louren90. The highest ridge, which rises in the 

 Pico Ruivo to the height of 5250 feet, runs nearly 

 through the centre of the island, many branches 

 diverging from it in several directions towards the 

 sea, forming valleys of different depths. The 

 mountains are every where found to consist of a 

 greyish black basalt, either compact or with 

 vesicular cavities, the external characters of which 

 entirely correspond with the appearance of other 

 basalt mountains, but it does not show those co- 

 lumnal forms which are so often seen in basalt. 

 Towards the summit we thought we distinguished 

 a kind of steps, in more or less massy divisions, 

 and also more frequent vesicular cavities in it. 



