92 Voyage of the Novara. 



causing the prevalence of the malady. The common people are 

 mostly lodged in small low cabins of wood or timber, thatched 

 with straw, the only opening being the door, through which air 

 and light are admitted. Their sleeping-places are wooden 

 benches, covered with straw, raised only one or two feet from 

 a ground which, during nine months of the year, is damp. 



It is scarcely necessary to state that the wealthier classes 

 offer a more pleasing aspect. They are extremely obliging, 

 kind, and attentive towards strangers, and evidently endea- 

 vour to impress the visitor with favourable ideas of themselves 

 and the island. To the hospitality of the Austrian Consul, 

 as well as to Major P. A. de Azevedo and Don Juan Muniz, so 

 deservedly celebrated for his knowledge of the flora of Madeira, 

 the members of the Novara expedition are indebted for many 

 a happy and delightful hour. 



The population is perceptibly on the decrease. The causes 

 are emigration to the British West Indies, and devasta- 

 tion by the cholera. The number of inhabitants in the two 

 islands, in 1836, amounted to 115,446 ; in 1854, to 103,296; 

 and in 1855, to only 102,183. The emigrants during the last 

 twenty-five years (1835 to I860) are said to have amounted to 

 40,000, many of whom depart secretly, in order to avoid the 

 heavy emigration tax. 



Numerous benevolent institutions indicate the charitable 

 disposition of the inhabitants. The hospital, or Santa Casa de 

 Misericordia, standing in a beautiful square, planted with planes 

 and magnolias, can receive 104 patients, and is exceedingly well 



