Calhau

The people of Madeira call a rocky beach 'calhau', thus using the part for the whole. Dr. Alvaro de Azevedo states in the Illustrated Universal Portuguese Dictionary: '... beaches to which he gives the name Calhao, because they are not sandy, but made of loose stones or pebbles, which, black, round, many of them thick, with a inhospitable and gloomy appearance, produce, when the backwash churns them, a dreadful roar, never muffled by the horrendous howls of the gales...'