Madeira. g 



haughty pratique officer came alongside. On the present occa- 

 sion this portentous individual was contented with a very super- 

 ficial inquiry into our sanitary condition, and after a few formal 

 questions as to our tonnage, complement of crew, number of guns, 

 and general condition, shoved off with the laconic exclamation, 

 "All right!" We soon availed ourselves of this permission to 

 visit the shore. 



The most conspicuous objects in Funchal, as seen from the 

 anchorage, are the "Loo Rock" (used as a fort and lighthouse), on 

 the west side of the town, and on the centre of the crescent-shaped 

 beach which fronts the town a remarkable and lofty cylindrical 

 tower of dark-brown stone. This tower, we were informed, was 

 built about the year iSoo, and was intended as a support for a 

 huge crane, which was to facilitate the loading and disembarkation 

 of the cargo of merchant ships. The tower as it stands is about 

 eighty feet in height, and as its base is now about forty yards 

 distant from high-water mark on the beach, as an article of utility 

 it is quite effete. Our surveyors have ascertained that the land 

 has not been elevated since the first admiralty surveys. This 

 they arrive at by a comparison of old and recent charts with 

 known marks on the shore, and we are therefore inclined to 

 believe that the beach has been silted up by accumulations ol 

 basaltic rubble brought down by the two adjoining rivers, and 

 here washed inshore by the sea. The tower is now without any 

 appearance of the crane, and raises its plain cylindrical body in 

 gloomy grandeur, reminding one of the old round towers of 

 Ireland ; and, as in their case, its origin will probably some years 

 hence be veiled in obscurity. 



Madeira was considered to be looking unusually dingy, on 

 account of a long season of drought, rain not having fallen for 

 nine months. But some two or three days after our arrival a great 

 religious ceremony took place at the village of Machico, eight miles 

 to the eastward of Funchal. The object was to offer up prajers for 

 rain ; and, sure enough, two days afterwards, rain fell abundantly ! 



