68 Voyage of the Novara. 



the proprietor of nearly one-third of the whole island, had 

 upwards of eight thousand tenants. Supposing that this 

 mode of farming existed in the remaining two-thirds, there 

 would be in Madeira 24,000 farmers, caseiros or tenants ; or, 

 taking the population at 100,000 souls, nearly every fourth in- 

 habitant would be a tenant farmer. This state of things is not 

 to be wondered at, considering that almost every day-labourer 

 farms a small patch of ground, the extent of which is not 

 greater than the ordinary size of a large garden bed, on 

 which he grows vegetables, potatoes, figs, peaches, sugar- 

 cane, and sometimes even grain. 



In the north and west of the island, where agriculture 

 has made more progress than in the south, rent is paid 

 in money ; generally, however, the system of paying in kind 

 is still in existence, in which the harvest, (after deducting the 

 tithe, which, at Madeira, belongs to the State and not to 

 the church,) is divided between the landlord and the tenants. 

 According to this principle the landlord i^eceives half 

 of the produce of the ground, be it grain, sugar-cane, wine, 

 fruit or vegetables, which are brought for sale, and not 

 consumed on the farm itself. It sometimes happens, how- 

 ever, that the harvest is sold in a lump, while yet on the ground. 

 Oxen are the only animals employed in agriculture. They 

 are diminutive and singularly unsightly, but of a very power- 

 ful breed, and furnish very good meat for the table. They 

 are generally fed in stalls, but in the mountainous districts 

 they graze in open pastures. There are only a few badly- 



