VISIT TO CUREAL. 18 



We halted at the Pass of the Curral, to which 

 Captain Stanley's barometrical observations* assig-n 

 an elevation of 2700 feet above the sea. Shortly 

 afterwards the mist gradually dissolved, unveiling- 

 the mag-nificent scenery below and around. The 

 Curral gives one the idea of a vast craterf of 

 irregular form, surrounded by a rugged wall 

 (upwards of a thousand feet in height) of grey 

 weather-beaten rock cut down into wild precipices, 

 intersected by ravines and slopes of debris mixed 

 up with masses of crumbling rock, and towering 

 upwards into fantastic peaks. A winding path 

 leads to the bottom — a small fertile valley watered 

 by a streamlet which leaves it by a deep gorge on 

 the left, and forms a picturesque waterfall on its 

 way to the sea. The scattered rustic huts and 

 snow-white chapel of the Curral complete the pic- 

 ture of this peaceful and secluded spot, buried in the 

 very heart of the mountains. 



* The height of the Pico los Bodes, determined in the usual 

 way by the mountain barometer, was found by Lieut. Dayman to 

 be 3677 feet ; his observations on the msignetic dip and intensity 

 (for which, see the Appendix) are interesting, as shewing a great 

 amount of local attraction at the summit. 



j- There is reason to suppose the Curral to have been the 

 principal, although not the only centre of that submarine volcanic 

 action, during the continuance of which Madeira first emerged 

 from the sea, an event, which the evidence afforded by the 

 limestone fossils of St. Vincente (on the north side of the island) 

 associates witli the tertiary epoch. See Paper by Dr. J. Macaulay 

 in Edinb. New Philos. Joimi. for October, 18-JO. 



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