Quebradas

It is chiefly the action of rain that causes the frequent landslides on this island commonly known as quebradas. It seems to us that this word has a special meaning here that is entirely unknown in other regions of our country. The remarkably rugged terrain, where deep valleys abut towering mountains, aided by various atmospheric agents, explains these falls of rock and earth. They sometimes cover a large area and in some cases cause loss of life and great material damage. Roads cut into mountainsides beneath overhanging rocks are from time to time destroyed or made impassable by quebradas crashing down from above. The same happens to the irrigation levadas (irrigation channel).

The so-called fajãs (Volume II, p. 7), both inland and on the coast, owe their origin to the fall of great quebradas. These now rarely occur, but in winter small quebradas are frequent and cause considerable damage. Many date from before the discovery, such as that of Jardim do Mar (‘garden by the sea’), while some are of more recent formation, such as that of Lugar de Baixo (Volume II, p. 285), and others.