leaving any vestige of a crater. Here I had the gratification of
seeing the Manta for the first time, a new species of eagle, connecting
the divisions haliatus and pandion of Savigm/, and which ought,
perhaps, to form an intermediate one, under the name of limruetus :
first, because the same natural character which has separated the
halieetm from the pandion, separates the limnatus from both, for
its nails instead of being grooved underneath as in the former, or
round, as in the latter, are perfectly flat; and secondly, from an
equal difference in its habits, for although evidently an aquatic
eagle from its half-feathered tarsi, it neither frequents the sea like
the haliretus, nor rivers, like the pandion, but haunts the pools and
other stagnant waters of the mountains, and feeds on water-insects
and worms, amphibious reptiles, grylli, and small birds, but not on
fishb. Returning leisurely, and in broad day, I could not but be
struck with the numerous basaltic dikes which advanced from the
heights, and projected into the valleys and ravines, like buttresses
or bare walls. It was every where evident that these dikes had
intersected beds of tufa, which had been decomposed and washed
away by the rains and torrents, and the frequent occurrence appeared
to me to have contributed considerably to the formation of
the small valleys and ravines, and to their fertility, being thus
naturally covered with what is considered the best soil in the
island. It is also evident, that these vast, irregular deposits of tufa
cannot have resulted from decomposition, but must have been
poured out as an irruption, before the basalt. The prisms met
with in different parts of the road from the Coural to the Poul,> are
of various sizes, of a more compact basalt, and, generally speaking,
b Back and head, brown; tail, light brown, with transverse bands of the darker brown
of the back; throat and belly yellowish, with transverse waves of dark brown; inside
of the wings whitish, with similar waves; tail square, with ten long pen-feathers;
tarsi, yellow; length, one foot nine inches ; envergure four feet one inch. The gastric
glands descend into the stomach in four longitudinal bands.
much more symmetrical than those at, and near, the water-side,
proving that Dolomieu’s opinion, that it is the effect pf their
sudden cooling in water, is unfounded. It is every where evident,
that this structure is accidental, and arises from divisions subsequent
to the formation of the mass. On my way back I found
the siurn falcarium, growing to the Size of a large shrub. I returned
to Funchal, by the Pico da Cruz, which affords a fine view
of the peaks of the interior, and of the Jardin de Serra, as may be
conceived from the accompanying sketch, Plate 4, B .; it is 3237
feet above the sea. I also passed over the peak of Giram, (the
highest land seen to the westward of Funchal, on entering the
bay,) which I found to be 2185 feet above the sea.
Going close along shore in a boat, to the westward, and passing
the natural section, which I have already described, and which is
terminated by a ravine, we Ipse sight of the tufa, .which has either
slipped beneath the sea, or has. not been deposited in this direction.
The basalt, which appears.to be a continuation of that reposing on
the tufa on the.eastward side of the ravine, forms ¡the cliffs exclusively,
and is mixed with a confused. deposit, like indurated
mud, which would seem to have flowed out of. the crater at the
same time, rather than to have resulted from decomposition. It is
in this basalt that, the plomb natifvolcaniquec of M. Haiiy was found.
We next pass a basalt which is particularly scoriaceous and cellular
where it has reached the sea, and continuing, we observe that it
afterwards presents, in its more: elevated parts, immense patches
and bands of earth, resembling tufa, and seemingly resulting from
. c “ Amorphe,- en masses, contourn6e s t h e r e is a specimen in the cabinet pf the
Jardin des Plantes, but not a vestige, of it is to be met with in these rocks at present;
and Don Joze de Vasconcellos, who was with M. Ratske when he found it, tells me.
that the quantity was exceedingly small, and that he never could discover any other
trace of it since, although he has frequently searched. Dead, galena, has since been
found in the basalt near Durham.