A RAMBLE IN THE HIGHER ALTITUDES 95 



he was about in making a bargain, for it was 

 stipulated that he should receive one-third of all 

 the sugar produced. Another stipulation was that 

 the mill was to be placed where it would not be an 

 annoyance to others, a regulation which, it is to be 

 regretted, is not enforced at the present day. It is 

 not known where this first mill was built, but it is 

 more likely to have been in Funchal than anywhere 

 else." By 1498 the production of sugar is said to 

 have increased to a very large extent, and then 

 came troubles in the trade. The introduction of 

 the cane to the West Indies and its extensive 

 cultivation there caused increasing competition in 

 European markets, and led to a heavy fall in price ; 

 but notwithstanding this, the cane continued to 

 increase in Madeira, and by the end of the fifteenth 

 century a large number of slaves were employed, 

 both as labourers on the land and in the mills, 

 which by now had increased in number to 120, on 

 the southern side of the island. 



Early in the sixteenth century disease came, in 

 the form of a grub which eats into the cane, and 

 the plantations suffered severely from its ravages, 

 though many attempts were made to check its 

 depredations. Possibly this, combined with the 

 abundant production in the West Indies, caused 



