46 E IGHT STONES MADF.IKA. Jan.
On the 3d of January we were occupied in looking for
the “ Eight S t o n e s b u t nothing was seen to indicate either
rocks, or shoals, or even shallow water. Tlie sun was shining
brightly on a deep blue sea, of one uniform colour: no soundings
could be obtained ; and had there been a shoal or rock
within seven miles of us at any hour of that day, it could not
have been passed unnoticed. So many vessels have searched,
in vain, for this alleged group of rocks, that their existence
can now hai'dly be thought possible.
At day-light, on the 4th, the rocky high islet of Porto
Santo was seen looming through haze and clouds which hung
around it. We steered between Porto Santo and the Desertas,
intending to anchor in Funchal Roads; but the wind drew
round to south-west, with such strong squalls, that I abandoned
my intention, and at once steered for Tenerifte. The roadstead
I have just mentioned is well known to be unsafe in southwest
gales; and there can he no doubt that the most prudent
plan is to keep at sea while they la s t: but I have been told by
old traders to Madeira, that ships sometimes remain at anchor,
about half a mile from the Loo rock, and ride out south-west
gales without difficulty : the ‘ under-tow’ being so considerable
that then’ cables are little strained.
In fine weather, and it is fine at Madeira nine months in the
year, the view of this steep and lofty island,* covered with bright
verdure, and enlivened by numerous scattered houses, as white
as snow, is very striking to a stranger who arrives from the low,
and tame-looking shores of the south coast of England.
Seamen are often deceived, when about to anchor in Funchal
Roads, in consequence of the sudden transition which they
have probably made from a low shelving coast to an abrupt
and high mountain-side: for the bottom of the anchorage slopes
away as suddenly as the heights overlooking it, and the anchor
must indeed be let go upon the side of a mountain. Hence
ships seldom go close enough, unless guided by a person who
knows the place; and many a chain cable ran out to the clinch,
when chains were first used, owing to an incorrect estimate of
* About five thousand feet high. ^