71 



movements which seem to penetrate each other, 

 and by which the ocean is continually agitated. 



We passed Cape St. Vincent, which is of ba- 

 saltic formation, at more than eighty leagues dis- 

 tance. It is not distinctly seen at a greater dis - 

 tancethan 15 leagues, but the granitic mountain 

 called the Foya de Monchique, situate near the 

 Cape, is perceptible, as the pilots pretend, at the 

 distance of 26 leagues *. If their assertion be 

 exact, the Foya is 700 toises (1363 metres) and 

 consequently 116 toises (225 metres) higher than 

 Vesuvius. It seems extraordinary that the Portu- 

 guese government should neglect to maintain a 

 fire on this point, which must be made by every 

 vessel coming from the Cape of Good Hope or 

 Cape Horn, and is an object for which they look 

 with the greatest eagerness. Between Ferrol and 

 Cadiz there is but one single light-house, that of 

 Cape la Rocque, to direct the mariners on coasts 

 where the approach is so dangerous. The fires on 

 the Tower of Hercules and Cape Spichel are so 

 feeble, and so little visible at a distance, that they 

 scarcely deserve to be cited. Besides, the con- 

 vent of the Capuchins, which rises above Cape 

 St. Vincent, would be one of the fittest places 

 to build a light-house, with a rotatory light like 

 that of Cadiz, or the mouth of the Garonne. 



* Elementos de Navigacion de Don Dionisio Macarte, p. 

 47. .Borda, Voy. de la Flore, vol. i, p. 39, pi. 2. Link and 

 Hoffmansegg. Voy. en Portugal, vol. ii, p. 128} vol. iii, p. 

 323. 



