decomposition. This conducts us to detached and insulated rocks
of columnar basalt, washed on all sides by the sea, and remarkably
scoriaceous on the upper part. We then arrive at projecting
ridges of basalt, which have preserved the same inclined plane in
which they flowed into the sea; columnar basalt then prevails for
some distance at the edge of the sea, and rises to about sixty feet
above it. The red tufa afterwards becomes evident, beneath the
upper basalt, which is out of the reach of the sea, but columnar 3
those are the remains, however, of ridges of the lower, or cellular
basalt running out into the sea. These are followed by a fine
beach and bay, free from cliffs and elevations, like that in which
Funchal is built, and owing entirely to no streams of basalt having
reached, or flowed towards the sea in that direction. This beach
is terminated on the western side by strata of tufa, dipping rapidly
to the south; and between these and the Ribeiro dos Soccurridos,
the lower and upper basalt are disclosed with the yellow tufa
between them. Before we reach Camera de Lobos, we discover a
third alternation of basalt, divided from the second, which we have
hitherto called the lower, by a deposit of red tufa. Camera de
Lobos lies behind detached rocks and ridges of scoriaceous basalt,
and dose to it we first remark the basaltic dikes descending
through strata of yellow tufa, scorias, and red tufa, all of which are
above the basalt. The stupendous cliff which, follows, Plate 4, A.
presents a grand slip to the eastward, and the whole depth, a pen-
pendicular sheet of 1600 feet, is composed of strata of basalt, alternating
with red tufa and scoriae, and intersected by numerous
basaltic dikes (some of which have been disunited by subsequent
slips), running from the top to the bottom. Looking at these
frequent alternations, can any one hesitate to give up the hypothesis,
that the scoriae have been produced by a series of volcanic
eruptions, which have forced through, covered and scorified the
upper surface of the basalt, after the waters had deposited it ? It is
scarcely possible to conceive such a regular succession of aqueous
deposits and volcanic injections; to admit (which we must also do)
that the sea has been 1600 feet above its present level in this part
is a minor difficulty, compared to the former, especially since the
ingenious hypothesis, founded on the unequal expansibility of land
and water under an alteration of temperature. But we must recollect,
that no change in the level of the ocean, nor even a forcible
elevation of the island from beneath the water,' is required in
admitting that the basalt is of igneous origin, (as its streams and
nature indicate) and has flowed from a crater opened through the
transition limestone found at S. Vicente.
A fall of water, of one shallow, and two deep stages, descends
the whole depth oflthe western end of the cliff, which adjoins the
Fazenda dos Padres, perhaps the finest malmsey plantation in the
island, and created entirely by an avalanche of tufa, which, falling
from a height of upwards of 1200 feet, has lodged and spread at
the bottom of the cliff.
The house and vineyards are only accessible by water, to those
who shudder, as most persons do, at the daring route of the labourers,
who ascend and descend the cliff by a succession of
simple stakes driven into, and projecting from it. These avalanches,
which are not unfrequent, (and which have occurred from
lesser heights without much injuring the property) with one or
two sliding plantations, occasion curious suits in the courts of
Madeira ; the one party insisting that he must follow his grounds
and .habitations, the other, whose less valuable grounds have been
covered or enlarged' by the accident,' pleading, I presume, “ cujus
est solum, ejus est ccelum.”
Ascending the rocks between the Fort and Praya bay, we find,
close on their brink, about 80 feet above the sea, and but a few
yards inland, an elliptical, funnel-shaped depression of 520 feet in
circumference, and about 35 feet deep; The greater axis bears
is