860 
to forget the making of a duc allow. 
ance for the prejudices of others, 
It does not require, however, any 
very long stay at. Madcira to per- 
ceive that the great bulk of the peo- 
ple of Funchal, as in most other 
cities, is doomed to encounter the 
ills of poverty :—ills that, in this 
country, however, on which Na. 
ture has bestowed 50 fine a climate, 
would seem to be rather owing to 
some mismanagement on their own 
part, than to any system of op- 
pression in the government, defi- 
ciency in the means of  subsis- 
tence, or other moral or physical 
causes.* The steady and moderate 
temperature which this island en- 
joys is scarcely excelled in any part 
of the world. In the winter 
months, the mercury in Fahren- 
heit’s thermometer seldom desceads 
below 55°, or rises higher than 
65°: aud the usual range in sum- 
mer is from 66° to 76°. It is visit- 
ed, however,’ occasionally, but 
very rarely, by a kind of Sir-. 
ecco wind from the eastward, that 
scorches vegetation, and renders 
the air suffocating and insupport- 
able ; at such time, the thermome- 
ter rises to 90° or 95°. It cannot 
be the climate, therefore, that oc- 
casions the meagre, sallow, and 
sickly appearance which the in- 
habitants of Funchal generally wear, 
but may rather be attributed to the 
poverty of their food, which chiefly 
consists of fish, pumpkins, and 
sour wine, or pernicious spirits ; to 
a life of drudgery and exposure to 
great vicissitude of climate, by daily 
ascending the steep and lofty moun- 
tains in search of fuel; and, above 
all, to a total disregard of cleanli. 
ness. As a corroborative proof of 
this being the case it may be menti- 
oned, that almost all the natives are 
9 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
infected with what they consider an 
incurable cutaneous disease, a spe. 
cies of itch, which jis attended with 
an extraordinary degree of viru- 
lence and inflammation. Ido not re. 
member to have seen or heard of any 
remarkable instance of longevity ; 
and the chances are, that Dr. 
Price, in speaking of the mortality 
of this island as one in fifty only of 
the population, while that of Lon- 
dou he considers as one in twenty, 
is not less inaccurate in these in- 
stances than in many other of his 
calculations. 
Productions, and Exports of Madei- 
ra. From the same.° 
The cultivated plants are vines, 
oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, ba- 
nanas, guavas, apricots, peaches, 
and European fruits, besides good 
walnuts and chesnuts. ‘lhe island 
poduces wheat, barley, and rye ; 
but more than two-thirds of the 
grain consumed is imported from 
the Azores or Western Islands, 
and from America. For more than 
a century Madeira was considered 
as valuable chiefly for the quantity 
of sugar it produced ; but since this 
aromatic reed has been spread over 
the continent and islands of the new 
world, little is now in cultivation 
here ; and the sugar extracted from 
it is of a coarse quality, used only 
among the lower class of inhabi- 
tants, commonly as an inspissated 
brown jnice, not unlike molasses, 
The arid soil seems much _ better 
suited for the growth of the vine 
than the sugar.cane. Wine, in- 
decd, may be considered as the prip- 
cipal product of the island, of which 
the quantity made varies, in differ. 
ent years, from fifteen to twenty- 
five 
