ing similar orders; but the muleteers, in the first place, did not
understand what they said, and, in the second, knew better than to let
go, as without the usual tail-pulling and goading, the beasts would not
have budged a foot.

"We shall be quit of yer, ye spalpeens, when we get to the lull," cried
Adair, at which the swarthy natives grinned, and would have grinned more
had they comprehended his remark. Quickly passing through the town, up
the steep sides of the mountain, they clattered between high stone
walls, crowned by vines, geraniums, and numberless flowering plants,
while orange groves were seen here and there through various openings,
with pretty quintas nestling amid them; or when they turned their heads
glimpses were caught of the town and bay, and the blue ocean.

They had not gone far when they met an Englishman on horse-back, who,
pulling up, introduced himself as the merchant about to ship the
admiral's wine, and invited them to stop at his quinta, on their way
down from the Corral.

"With all the pleasure in life," answered Adair; "and will you have the
kindness, sir, to tell these noisy fellows, pulling at our horses'
tails, that we can dispense with their company?"

"It would be far from a kindness if I did, for you would find that your
beasts would not move ahead without them," said the merchant, laughing,
and directing the arrieros to stop at his house on their return, he bade
the merry party good morning.

Up and up they went, till Gerald declared that they should reach the
moon if they continued on much longer. At length they found themselves
on the brink of an enormous chasm, some thousand feet in depth, upwards
of two miles in length, and half-a-mile in width, while before them a
precipitous wall of rocks towered up towards the blue heavens, broken
into numberless craggy pinnacles, amid which the clouds careered
rapidly, although far below they lay in thin strata, unmoved by a
breeze.

"Grand! magnificent!" and similar exclamations broke from the party.
They pushed on to the end of the ravine, where it almost closes; a
natural bridge of rocks existing over it to the opposite side; another
much broader ravine opening out beyond. Returning by the way they came,
the party gazed down upon Funchal and their ships in the harbour.

"Faith, they look for all the world like two fleas floating with their
legs in the air," exclaimed Adair; "this is a mighty big mountain, there
is no doubt about