Quebradas

It is mainly due to the action of the rains that the frequent collapse of land, commonly known as quebradas, occurs on this island. It seems to us that this term retains a special meaning among us, which is completely unknown in other regions of our country. The remarkable ruggedness of our terrain, where deep valleys meet towering mountains, favored by various atmospheric agents, explains this collapse of rocks and lands, which sometimes covers a large area and in some circumstances causes loss of life and great material damage. The roads opened on the mountain slopes with overhanging rocks are occasionally destroyed or made impassable by the quebradas that fall from above. The same happens with the irrigation channels.

The so-called fajãs (Volume II, page 7) both inland and on the coastal maritime, have their origin in the fall of large quebradas. These rarely fall nowadays, but in winter, small quebradas that cause considerable damage are frequent. Many of them date back to a time before the discovery, such as the Jardim do Mar, and there are some of more recent formation, such as the Lugar de Baixo (Volume II, page 285) and others.