I2 
A Voyage to JAMAICA 
It has hard Fat, Flefh of a fharp Taft, opening the Hemorrhoids either 
by its Acrimony, or becaufe it breeds Melancholy Blood. Road. 
They are taken by the way (to the Weft-Indies) playing about the Ships, 
by Spearsthrown at them. Oviedo Sum. 
They (at Maldives) are taken with White-Line, where they Boil thefe 
with Dolphins and Bonetos in Sea-water, and dry them after by Fire on 
Hurdles, which makes them keep a long time for Traflick. LaVal, p.1 38. 
Dolphins, Boneto’s, and other Fifhes loving very deep Water, are alfo 
found here. This Sea has fo great a Surff, that there is no Landing at the 
Town of Funchal without taking the advantage of coming in witha Waye, | 
and being pull’d on dry Land with it, from whence you are again to 
be lanch’d to go on Board. The Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea is nor 
here confiderable, if I remember right. There are fome few Towns in ir, 
the Principal of which is Funchal or Foncal in the South-Eaft part of the 
Iland. The Townhas about Ten thoufand Inhabitants, whereof One hun- 
dred are forthe Governors Guard, paid by the King. The Governor of this 
Ifland is a Poertuguefe {ent from Lisbon hither, and lives in the Caftle of 
Funchal; he Commands on Shore, and cannot come off, having about 
Twelve hundred Crowns per ann. Salary from the King, befides what he can 
get by Trading. Here is a very fine Cathedral Church, and about Eighr 
hundred Friars. They have here a large Hofpital, and in it a private Cor- 
ner for thofe who are imcegnito to be treated for the Pox, a Diftemper 
very common in this Place. The Town of Funchal is well provided with good 
Water, and commanded by a Citadel, whither they retire in time of Danger. 
Ic has a Cifternhew’d out of the Rock, to receive Rain-water, which maintains 
many People, and is very good. They cannot Hang any here, but only 
Banith to the Cape de Verd Wands. - Confidering that thisIfland had not been 
very antiently Inhabited, being but difcover’d in the Fourteenth Century, 
and that Common Fame relates all the Inhabitants hereof to be Criminals 
banifh’d hither, I expected to have found a great deal of Barbarity and 
Rudenefs here, and nothing almoft elfe; but on going afhore I was very 
much difappointed, for I have not feen any where more accomplifhed Gentle- 
men than here, ‘having all the Civility one could defire; but moft of them 
whether bred to Letters or not, are fent for their Breeding to Portugal. 
The Scholars, whether Phyficians, Divines or Lawyers, are bred up at Sa- 
lamanca, and thence return in fome time for their own Ifland to live. I 
met with a very Ingenious Phyfician here, who {poke good Latin, and 
underftood his Profeffion very well. Their Manners are much the fame 
with thofe of ‘the Portuguefe. ‘Their Women never ftir abroad but to Mafs, 
and appear not in their Houfes to Company. They are very much ferv’d 
by Negroes, and their Women come out of Bed the firft Week after lying 
In. They carry every thing on a Log drawn by Oxen, the Country be- 
ing fo fteep and rocky, and the ways narrow, that no other Carriage can go. 
Every Tradefinan wears his fhort Doublet, and for the moft part black Cloak, 
under it a long big hilted Dagger, with a fharp Knife in his Pocket. No Man 
here dares go in the Street after “tis dark, left-any who has a grudge at him 
fhould fhoot him, or left he fhould be taken in the dark for another Man. [ 
was told half a Piece of Eight to a Negro would purchafe any Man’s Life. 
Their Bread is good, and they Eat much of it, as alfo of Poor Jack. They are 
fo biggotted to their own Cuftoms, that the Soldiers before this Governor’s 
time wore Cloaks, but neither himfelf wears chem, nor will he fuffer his Guards 
to put them on. ‘The King has about the tenth part of all Merchants Goods 
Exported or Imported into this Ifland, befides fomething to be paid the Friars. 
They have here the Inquifition, and are very {trict even on Merchants them- 
felyes: they compell’d the French Proteftants to change their Religion. A 
few 
