496 



APPENDIX 



southern end of Greenland is just as likely to be carried south in its 

 traverse of the Atlantic. Rennell mentions a bottle that was re- 

 covered on Teneriffe rather over two years after it had been cast 

 over from H.M.S. Hekla (Captain Parry) on June 16, 1819, in a 

 position about 140 miles south-west of Cape Farewell. This is 

 evidently the " highly remarkable and even enigmatical drift " to 

 which Dr. Schott refers on the first page of his memoir, though he 

 here quotes from the Physical Atlas of Berghaus. However, in the 

 light of facts to be now given the track of this bottle loses a little of 

 its remarkable character. 



Rennell gives the records of four bottles thrown over in Davis 

 Strait in 1818 and 1821 by Captains Parry and Ross, the northern- 

 most in lat. 65° 40'. After periods of from eight to fourteen months 

 they were recovered on the coast of Donegal (two cases), the west 

 coast of Scotland, and the Hebrides. Two of them dropped over 

 within two days of each other and about three degrees of latitude 

 apart (62° 5' and 59° 8') were found afloat within a fortnight of each 

 other, thirteen and a half and fourteen months afterwards, off the 

 Donegal coast and off the Isle of Staff a (W. Scotland). 



Note 36 (p. 388). 



The wells of Pico in the Azores. 



Just as on San Miguel and other large islands of the group, there 

 are no permanent rivers and but few surface streams on Pico ; but as 

 the frequent occurrence of the local name of "Ribiera" indicates, 

 there are numbers of torrent-beds and watercourses, which, although 

 they carry off the water after heavy rains, are dry during most of 

 the year. One of the sights of the great cone of Pico is the deep 

 gorge of the Ribiera Grande, which has been scooped out of the 

 precipitous mountain-side to the east of San Mattheus, the slopes 

 rising up from the coast to a height of 3000 feet within half a mile. 

 It is probable that at the time of their discovery, when the islands 

 of the Azores were densely wooded, the streams were more permanent 

 in their character. Generally speaking, on the island of Pico at the 

 present day the only surface water is the standing water of the 

 upland swamps and of the mountain lakes and ponds. I did not 

 come upon any thermal springs on this island, nor does there appear 

 to be any stream of a permanent character partially fed by hot 

 springs, such as we find in the case of a stream draining the Furnas 

 Valley in San Miguel, which empties into the sea at the village of 

 Ribiera Quente. 



The condition of things on the island of Pico is probably to some 

 degree typical of the other large islands of the group, excepting 

 perhaps San Jorge. There are no springs on the great mountain, 

 and apparently but few in the eastern part of the island. Yet fresh 

 water oozes into the sea all around the coasts. Those of the peasants 

 of the coast villages, who are too poor to build a covered rain-tank 

 of masonry, obtain their water supply from wells sunk in the rubble 

 of large and small blocks of lava immediately behind the beach. 



