506 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



which is almost quite flat, only exhibiting a few isolatad 

 knolls, and towards one side a small cone of about thirty feet 

 in height, in the centre of which is a miniature crater, very 

 deep in proportion to its width. 



The descent was of rather a fatiguing nature owing to its 

 steepness. On my way down I obtained fine specimens of 

 two species of ferns, one of which, the Lastrcea cemula, is 

 met with in Great Britain, while the other, a Dicksonia {D. 

 culcita), occurs also at Madeira. I was much struck with the 

 extremely handsome appearance presented by the fructifica- 

 tions of the latter. Near the bottom, growing in a damp nook 

 at the edge of a stream, three other species occurred, — the 

 common hart's tongue, Scolopendrium vulgare, an Asplenium 

 {A. monantJiemum), much like our British A. tricliomanes, 

 and the Hymenophyllum Tunhridgense. Another fern that 

 occurred plentifully, near but not in the crater, was Osmunda 

 regalis. After spending some time at the bottom, and 

 visiting the small cone which was densely covered with low 

 shrubs, we commenced the ascent of the steep wall, which 

 we found a still more fatiguing task than the descent had 

 been. Our largest donkey-boy, however, met us when we 

 were about two-thirds of the way up, greeting us with shouts 

 of " Come on, marinero," and relieved me of my heavily- 

 loaded vasculum. Having gained the top, we mounted our 

 donkeys and rode back to the town, stopping for a few 

 minutes at an outlying village, where we had some detestable 

 wine, and our attendants some bread and cheese. After our 

 return to Horta, and we had dismissed our donkeys, we spent 

 about an hour in the inspection of the streets. With the 

 exception of groups of flowers ingeniously cut out of the pith 

 of the fig-tree, but little was to be seen worth investing in to 



