and Porto 8a?ito. 
321 
ing that I could get its horizontal distance from Ruivo very ac- 
curately from Lieut- Col. Paulo Dias de Almeida’s Survey, just 
completed, after six years’ labour, drawn originally on a scale 
of 28 inches to a Portuguese league, and containing even every 
quinta on the island. My own attempts to get a sufficient base 
by angles from a smaller one, measured with the aid of an arti- 
ficial horizon of crystal and a proof telescope, (lunette cP epreuve ,) 
failed from unfavourable weather. 
6 e 6' 20" apparent angle of Ruivo. 
26 refraction. 
6 5 54 which, with 24805 feet for the horizontal distance, gives 2578 feet. 
Height of apparent above true level for 24805 feet, - 15 
Height of point of view above the level of the sea, - 3710 
Height of Ruivo, 6303 
being 139 feet more than that given by the barometer, which 
was Fortius, and had been compared with that of the Observa- 
tory for several weeks. 
M. Von Buch, and Professor Smith, found the Torrinhas 
(notoriously lower than the Pico Ruivo), 5857 feet above the 
sea. All these circumstances considered, I cannot help feeling 
some confidence in the result of my own observations, although 
I observed by Captain Sabine’s recent article in the Journal of 
Sciences, that he made it only 5438 feet above the level of the 
sea. Baron de Humboldt found the decrease of caloric at Te- 
neriffe, to be 94 toises for every degree of the centrigrade ther- 
mometer * ; De Saussure at Etna, 91 toises; my observation gives 
89 toises, or 5 less than De Plumboldt’s. This would seem to be 
a further evidence in favour of the greater height of Ruivo. I 
have measured several other peaks. 
I have not room for any zoological extracts ; and will merely 
observe, that I have had the good fortune to meet with a Chi- 
roptera, two birds, five fishes, and one mollusca, generically new ; 
eight new species of fishes are drawn in addition. 
I have submitted my authorities and evidence for concluding, 
that Kirwan’s informants led him to rate the mean temperature 
of Funchal nearly 3° too high, (?. e. 68.9 instead of 66°), as he 
did that of the Havannah. 
* Humboldt, Mem. d'Arcucily p. 602. 
vol. ix. no. 18 . oct. 1823 . 
X 
