MADEIRA. 15 



beautiful country, meeting with the gigantic virgin forests of Laurels, 

 sixty feet high and four feet in diameter, and occasionally woods of 

 arborescent Heaths, of equally surprising size with those they had 

 seen the day before, in their journey across the island, farther to the 

 eastward. 



No traces of distinct craters were found on any part of the island 

 they visited ; the rocks were composed of volcanic breccia, and the 

 surface of these was much decomposed. 



The mountain-paths by which they crossed, are almost inaccessible 

 in some places. The Madeira ponies were obliged to leap from rock 

 to rock, frequently at an angle of 45° with the horizon. The lover of 

 the picturesque will be amply gratified by pursuing the same route. 



Another party, consisting of Messrs. Hale, Eld, Dana, and Holmes, 

 went towards the east end of the island, as far as Canical, beyond 

 Machico, to examine a bed of fossils, said to exist there. This proved 

 to be a bed or deposit of coral, which will be spoken of in the 

 Geological Report. 



Passing through Machico, they saw and visited the small church or 

 chapel, said to have been erected over the graves of the lovers, Anna 

 d'Arfet and Robert Machim, the story of whose love and sufferings 

 has long since been placed among the fabulous, though still credited in 

 Madeira. 



As their adventures are supposed to have led to the discovery of this 

 island, it may be as well to give the history of them a place here, as 

 recorded by Alcoforado. 



It is as follows : 



"In the reign of Edward the Third of England, Robert Machim, an 

 English gentleman, became the lover of the beautiful Anna d'Arfet. 

 It was long before their mutual attachment was known. When it 

 became so, Machim's imprisonment was procured by the influence of 

 her family, for his presuming to aspire to the hand of one so much 

 above his rank. During his confinement, Anna d'Arfet had been 

 forced into a marriage with a nobleman, who confined her in his 

 castle near Bristol. By the assistance of a friend. Machim escaped, 

 and induced her to elope with him, to seek an asylum in France. 

 They sailed during a storm, which prevented them from gaining their 

 intended port, and after many days of anxiety and suffering, thev 

 found themselves in sight of land clothed with the richest vegetation, 

 and wild flowers in the greatest profusion. They determined to 

 disembark, and experienced a climate of surpassing beauty, with birds 

 of the gayest plumage. Whilst wandering a few days about in this 

 paradise, there came on a violent storm, which drove the vessel from 



