TRAVELS IN BRAZIL 



91 



vided into many branches, which conveys several 

 springs from the upper part of the island, we 

 arrived at a hill in the shape of a dome, opposite 

 the north-eastern part of the town, from which there 

 is a delightful prospect over the deep valleys, the 

 town with its verdant environs, the harbour, and 

 the ocean. At the foot of the mountain, planted 

 singly about the country houses, are the waving 

 date palm, the broad-leafed pisang, the juicy sugar- 

 cane, the edible yams maize, and melons ; higher 

 up the mountain are vines trained upon lattices, and 

 fenced with aloes and cactus, which spread as it 

 were a green carpet over this beautiful island ; still 

 farther up the mountain is a shady wood of sweet 

 chesnuts and laurel trees ; lastly, the highest points 

 are covered with heath, broom, ferns, and grasses. 

 If we take a comprehensive view of the whole, we 

 fancy that we have, in these deep mountainous 

 defiles, adorned with the juicy verdure of the vine, 

 these steep ascending pastures, which lean on lofty 

 basalt walls, these beautiful shady woods, diversi- 

 fied by limpid streams rushing over the rocks, the 

 picture of an European alpine country, which has 

 been enriched with all the additional charms of a 

 southern clime. The black basalt walls, however, 

 impart an air of melancholy to the landscape which, 

 at least during the time of our visit, was rendered 

 more striking by the remarkably small number of 



* Phoenix dactylifera, Musa sapientum and paradisiaca, 

 Saccharum officinarum, Caladium esculentum. 



