40 



GEOLOGY OF MADEIRA* 



In the deep and singular valley calUd the Corral, which I 

 had an opportunity of exaoiiuiug for several miles, the red 

 and gray lava alternated five or six times. The tops of some 

 Columnar ba- of its barrier hills are formed of columnar basalt; here and 

 ' ^'' there risiu"- to a peak, or broken into what might be termed 



a cryslaiiise'd ridge, or tapenng to a pomt like the granite 

 needles in the Mer de Glare, Tht columnar strata are found 

 here in all directions. They dip usually to the sea, but oc- 

 D}kes. casionally are dislocated in the most abrupt manner. Dykes 



of lava, rising perpendicularly to the horizon, intersect the 

 strata at right angles, 1 saw one 200 or 300 feet in height, 

 which cut through several of tht alternations of the red and 

 Valley of the gray lava. This valley of the Corral well merits the most at- 

 Corral. tentive examination; yet the journey there is one of some 



labour, and the walk down the river that flows in its bottom ' 

 go difficult and toil.>^ome, as aim' st to deter every one from 

 the undertakinjf. We lett the town of Funchal soon after 

 day break, and d.d iiOt return till between eight and nine at 

 night, Hav ng been, duru)g th? whole of that period, in a 

 state of incespjint exertion on horseback or on foot. The 

 bed of the valley itself catmot be descended on mules or on 

 horseback. The WvhIv is eight or nine miles in length, and 

 you are compelled to clamber over rocks, as there is not even 

 a tnirk, or wade, in the bed of the river, which is rapid, and 

 full of large and pointt^tl stones. Some of the highest hills 

 of tht island border on this valley. Several of them rise from 

 the bed of the river in a perpendicular height of 1000 or ISOO 

 feet, judging only by the eye, and are what the French term 

 taille k pic. Others are broken into a succession of steep 

 descents, and are covered with foresrs of wood and a pro- 

 fusion of plants. Down many there fall small cataracts of 

 water, and some are hollowed into deep recesses, whence 

 issue from the lava numerous little streams that contribute 

 to swell the principal river -n the valley. 



As you arrive on tl e brink of the Corral, after a ride of 

 about 10 miles from Funchal, you find yourself suddenly on 

 the edge of a precipice, near to which a sort of traversing 

 stair-case is cut, with a track winding to the bottom. On 

 Wall of lavai the right is a wa.l of lava nearly perpendicular from 400 to 

 500 feet in depth,- composed of the two species of the red 



