BY WILLIAM CHRISTY, JUN. 309 



\9tk. — After the storm of yesterday, the bay is quite coffee- 

 coloured, from the immense quantities of mud discharged into 

 it by the ravines. We had a dehghtful ride this morning to 

 the westward of Funchal, towards the httle town of Camera 

 de Lobos. We ascended one of the four singular round hills, 

 so conspicuous on that side the town ; and established to our 

 own satisfaction the opinion we had previously formed, that 

 they were a series of small craters which had opened at the 

 base of the mountain, to which the immense chasm of the 

 Curral dos Freiros formed the main vent. The temperature 

 was extremely pleasant, although the sirocco (here called 

 L'Este) was blowing. 



2ist. — Shortest day. I was up before sun-rise this morn- 

 ing at the open window, enjoying L'Este ; for, odd enough, to 

 invalids and strangers it is most agreeable, while the natives 

 and residents shrink from it with dismay. It is not now feared 

 so much as in summer, when it resembles the blast from the 

 mouth of a furnace, and the higher you ascend into the moun- 

 tains, the more insupportable it becomes ; at that season it fre- 

 quently brings with it particles of sand from the African coast, 

 a distance of 400 miles. Now (4 p. m.) the thermometer at my 

 window stands at 73° ; at noon it was 76", and yesterday 77°. 



24'tk. — Christmas eve, 4| p. m. ; thermometer 64°. What 

 a different climate from England ! Great preparations are 

 making for the celebration of this festival. I see nothing but 

 baskets of most lovely flowers — roses, jonquils, hibiscus, sal- 

 vias, branches of evergreens, &c. passing my window for the 

 decorations of the churches. The grand national Christmas 

 dish here (equivalent to our roast beef) is pork, dressed with 

 garlick ! All classes make a point of eating this precious 

 compound. For a week past, pig-killing has been the chief 

 business transacted; all night have we been serenaded with 

 that most touching of all music, elicited from the " unclean 

 beast," by the threatened application of the knife to his jugular. 

 The very streets run with blood, and the whole city stinks of 

 garlick from one end to the other. 



25th. — A most lovely morning. Thermometer, at 9 a. m. 

 66". We attended the midnight mass last night in the cathe- 

 dral. It was an imposing sight. The gorgeously ornamented 

 altar and shrines glittering with the glare of innumerable ta- 

 pers, and the thousands of worshippers, formed a magnificent 



