A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
21
1772.
August.
ochreous particles, and that the Val was formerly its crater. At first sight of Madeira I was of a different opinion; but the black Loo-rock, the cliff on which St. John's castle lands, the nature of the soil and stones, and the situation of the Val, convinced me, that the whole had formerly undergone a violent change by fire.
Many brooks and small rivulets descend from the summits in deep chasms or glens, which separate the various parts of the isle. We could not however perceive any plains mentioned by others[1], through which the waters would probably have taken their course, if any such had existed. The beds of the brooks are in some places covered with stones of all sizes, carried down from the higher parts by the violence of winter rains or floods of melted snow. The water is conducted by wears and channels into the vineyards, where each proprietor has the use of it for a certain time; some being allowed to keep a constant supply of it, some to use it thrice, others twice, and others only once a week. As the heat of the climate renders this supply of water to the vineyards absolutely necessary, it is not without great expence that a new vineyard can be planted; for the maintenance of which, the owners must purchase water at a high price, from those- ↑ See an Account of the Voyages undertaken by the order of his Majesty, and successively performed by the Captains Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook.—Compiled by Dr. Hawkesworth, Vol. II. p. 7.
who,
