At ten o'clock we quitted this grateful shade, and arrived at the neck
of the pass, facing the Gran Corral, where we had to make our choice
of ascending a conical hill, on our left, or the Torrinhas Peak, on
our right. The latter was chosen, as promising the better view,
although it was rather farther off, so we were accordingly seized
upon by some of the crowd of peasants who surrounded us, and who at
once proceeded to push and pull us up a steep slippery grass slope,
interspersed with large boulders. The view from the top, looking down
a sheer precipice of some 1,500 feet in depth into the valley below,
was lovely. Quite at the bottom, amid the numerous ravines and small
spurs of rocks by which the valley is intersected, we could
distinguish some small patches of cultivated ground. Above our heads
towered the jagged crests of the highest peaks, Pico Ruivo and others,
which we had already seen from the yacht, when we first sighted the
island.
A pleasant walk over some grassy slopes, and two more hard scrambles,
took us to the summit of the Torrinhas Peak; but the charming and
extensive view towards Camara de Lobos, and the bay and town of
Funchal, was an ample reward for all our trouble. It did not take us
long to get back to the welcome shade of the chestnut trees, for we
were all ravenously hungry, it being now eleven o'clock.
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