ginal structure of Madeira, and preceded its new form. The rock
directly in contact with, and above the limestone, looked in some
parts like a conglomerate of small nodules of basalt, imbedded in
an indurated tufa, with stripes and patches of lime; but it lost
this character two or three feet above the limestone, and became a
simple rock, of a chocolate brown, and greyish red, with lines of
buff, losing all effervescence, and somewhat of a slaty structure.
Its entire depth, however, was only 4 | feet, and the heights above,
which rise to nearly 1000 feet more, were composed (as far as I
could judge without ascending them, which was impossible) of
beds of basalt and tufa, intersected by basaltic dikes. The altered
basalt of the dikes intersecting the limestone, would perhaps be
called wakke in the cabinet, having acquired a brownish hue, and
its specific gravity being reduced to 2.7 or 0.2 less than that of the
ordinary compact basalt of Madeira. The unknown cause which
threw up the vast masses of basalt and tufa, which now envelope
the island so deeply, that it seems to be exclusively composed of
them, must have resided far beneath this bed of transition limestone;
I reached the middle of St. Vicente, or rather Sta. Magdalena,
which seemed to be a separate village, by four o’clock ; and having
rested a little, I determined to follow the banks of the torrent to
the sea, which did not appear to be more than two miles distant.
The vines, trained around the lofty chestnut trees, crossed the
road from one to the other, interlacing like a natural trellis work,
to shelter the road from the sun, and reminding me of the creeping
plants which connect whole forests in Africa. The two
villages nearest the sea, seemed neater and better built; that in
the hollow was sheltered from the north wind by a natural wall
of tufa, and contained a good church, with a very snug looking
house for the vicar adjoining, which seemed to promise a clean
bed, old wine, and fresh marmalade to any welcome guest. An
insulated hollow rock stood on the beach at the mouth of the
torrent, and with the simple addition of a door and a few steps,
had been converted into a chapel ;
the vast cliff of tufa on the east, seemed to threaten to overwhelm
it.
I met the Padre, a very respectable looking man, taking his
evening walk, with, as I was afterwards told, the principal family
of the neighbourhood. The old lady seemed to be asserting her
right to an interference in some of the affairs of the parish ; two
awkward-looking young men followed at a short distance, arm in
arm, and left a handsome-looking girl to walk behind them, entirely
alone; she returned the salutations of the peasantry with the
prettiest grace imaginable. Perhaps this poor girl was destined
to be thrown away on one of the insensible beings who were
strutting before her, for choice has nothing to do with Portuguese
marriages, until widowhood leaves a’ female her own mistress. I
was favoured with a bow by each of the party, although my white
jacket and trowsers, so nearly approaching the garb of the peasantry,
did not entitle me to it, in the first instance; I would .have
gone without my supper, hungry as I was, to have been allowed
to pass the evening with them. I took up my quarters for the
night in the remaining part of the habitation of the ancestors of
a lady, whose weekly quadrille parties, and brilliant annual ball, I