MADEIRA. 7 



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 wdiere 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 precipices, or 

 surrounded by an amphitheatre of rugged hills. These narrow bays 

 are the sites of the villages of Madeira. 



As we sailed along from its western end, we occasionally saw, in 

 these quiet and peaceful situations, small white-walled villages, each 

 with its little church at the outlet of the gorges. We were particularly 

 struck with that of the Camera de Lobos, a few miles to the westward 

 of Santa Cruz hill. This is the largest, and is the most interesting of 

 any, from its having been the first point settled by Europeans. The 

 high precipices were new to us Americans : so different from what 

 we are accustomed to in the United States. The scene was still more 

 striking, and our attention was more forcibly arrested, when passing 

 under cliffs of some sixteen hundred feet above us. We were so 

 near them that the sound of the surf was distinctly heard. The whole 

 effect of the view was much heightened by a glowing sunset in one ot 

 the finest climates in the world. 



Off the eastern cape of the island, many isolated rocks were seen 



