Ilhéu Chão

It is 1,852 meters long by 617 at its widest, and it is called so because it is flat at the top. It is uninhabited, like the other two Desertas, and its highest point is 98 meters above sea level. It is separated from Ponta de S. Lourenço by a channel just over twenty kilometers wide, through which ships of all kinds navigate.

The Lolium Lowei, a grass peculiar to the archipelago, has only been found, until now, on Ilhéu Chão.

The three Desertas 'are all morgado of the Captains of the Jurisdiction of Funchal,' says Frutuoso, from which it can be inferred that the glory of this discovery belongs to them; for, although these islands lie in front of Machico, and very close to it compared to Funchal, the captains of Machico never had jurisdiction, possession, or ownership of them, which all belong to the Captains of Funchal: for this reason, their descendants call themselves lords of them, as I have already said.