The Cholera-Scourge in i2^6. 87 



In the beginning of October the malady gradually began to 

 decrease, the last case which happened on the island occurring 

 at Funchal, on the iGth December, 185G. It appears, from 

 official reports, that out of a population of 102,837 souls, 7041 

 fell victims to the epidemic ; other statements, that seem 

 not less reliable, even raise the number of fatal cases to a much 

 larger figure. A variety of local circumstances tended to 

 heighten the fearful violence of the epidemic : the great dis- 

 tress among the people, arising from the deficiency of the 

 vintages during several years ; the potato disease, which 

 occurred in the summer of 1856, and deprived the population, 

 whilst sufi^ering from other calamities, of one of their most 

 important means of sustenance ; and finally; to bring mis- 

 fortunes to a climax, even that source of gain was dried up 

 which the people derived from the temporary residence of 

 numerous wealthy families. Terrified by the reports which 

 were in circulation as to the ravages caused bv the cholera 

 at Madeira, hundreds altered their original plan of passing 

 the winter there, and even resident strangers, horror-stricken, 

 left the island, which had been so suddenly converted from a 

 paradise into a burial-ground. The loss arising from the latter 

 cause is estimated at £20,000, an immense sum at a time when 

 pestilence and famine were raging so fiercely. The British 

 Government, as well as English philanthropists in general, 

 deserve the highest praise for the liberality with which they 

 promptly and generously hastened to the assistance of the 

 suff'erers. Soon as intelligence of the great distress arrived 



