MADEIRA. 7 
The different observations gave from twenty-five to fourteen feet ; the 
width of the wave from the same causes was equally variable, and 
each successive result varied from that which preceded it. 
Before sunset, we cast anchor in company with the Porpoise and 
Sea-Gull, and were the next morning joined by the Peacock and 
Flying-Fish. 
Shortly after coming to anchor, we were boarded by the health 
officer, with the captain of the port, who, on being assured of our 
good health, gave us permission to land. The United States' Consul, 
Henry John Burden, Esq., also came on board, and kindly offered 
us all the attention that lay in his power. 
At night, there was a general illumination of the churches, and 
the constant ringing of the bells added much to the excitement of 
many on board, and told us we had reached foreign shores. 
The first appearance of Madeira did not come up to the idea we 
had formed of its beauties from the glowing description of travellers. 
It exhibited nothing to the distant view, but a bare and broken rock 
of huge dimensions, which, though grand and imposing, is peculiarly 
dark and gloomy, and it was not until we had made our way close 
under the land that we could discover the green patches which are 
every where scattered over its dark red soil, even to the tops of the 
highest peaks. 
The mountain verdure was afterwards discovered to be owing to 
groves of heath and broom, which grow to an extraordinary height, 
aspiring to the stature of forest trees. In addition to these groves, 
the terraced acclivities, covered with a luxuriant tropical vegetation, 
change on a closer approach its distant barren aspect into one of 
extreme beauty and fertility. 
The most striking peculiarity in the mountain scenery, is the 
jagged outline of the ridge, the rudely shaped towers, and sharp 
pyramids of rock, which appear elevated on the tops and sides of 
the highest peaks as well as on the lower elevations, and the deep 
precipitous gorges which cut through the highest mountains almost 
to their very base. 
The shores of the island are mostly lofty cliffs, occasionally facing 
the water with a perpendicular front one or two thousand feet in 
height. The cliffs are interrupted by a few small bays, where a 
richly cultivated valley approaches the water between abrupt preci- 
pices, or surrounded by an amphitheatre of rugged hills. These 
narrow bays are the sites of the villages of Madeira. 
