t, only with
land around instead of water. Even quite close to it the illusion was
perfect. This wonderful natural structure of dark red rock was in
perfectly horizontal strata, each 10 ft. thick, separated and clearly
defined by whitish lines, which aided to give the illusion of a wonderful
work of masonry.

"Church-rock," as I called it--or "Spray-rock" (_Plumao_), as my men
named it--stood majestically in solitary grandeur in the middle of a
great subsidence of the soil. That great subsidence was in turn bordered
by immense vertical cliffs of the same rock of which "Church-rock" was
formed. Indeed, it was clear that the soil had given way, leaving only
that great rock standing. Even my men--for the first time since they had
been with me--were deeply impressed by that wonderful spectacle; so much
so that they all took off their hats, as Brazilians always do in passing
churches.

We traversed the great depression, which gave us irrefutable evidence of
what had taken place in that zone. The great rocky, plateau-like mountain
to our left had split and fallen over on the north side, describing an
arc of a circle of 90 deg.. In fact, as we went along, in places where the
rock under foot was exposed, we were treading over laminated rock, the
stratification of which was vertical, and corresponded exactly to that of
the upstanding wall where the stratification was horizontal.

Behind "Church-rock" to the north-west was a massive plateau, beyond
which stretched an immense undulating depression with two outstretching
spurs from south-west to north-east upon it. "Church-rock" was 26 kil.
from our last camp.

On the north side of "Church-rock," close to the conical hill upon which
the giant quadrangle of rock rested, was a hump formed by huge blocks,
the top one--a colossal one--just balanced, as if it might tumble over at
any moment. Then on the side could be seen a lava-flow and huge masses of
lava which had been shot up with great force and curled over, retaining
the frothy appearance of its former state of ebullition.

Strangely enough, even when seen from the side and from behind (N.N.W.
view), "Church-rock" retained all the semblance of a castle and church
perched up on that high pinnacle. From the N.N.W., besides the
castellated towers which surmounted all, there appeared a perfect
representation of a gabled roof over the body of the church, as well as
the flying buttresses of the walls. Behind was a great cylindrical