Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



blood. If the municipality were to take the 

 hint and periodically repeat the experiment, it 

 might have very beneficial results. These 

 rivers are separated by ridges with more or less 

 precipitous sides, the buttresses of the great 

 mountain mass to the north and east of the 

 town, a range which culminates in peaks six 

 thousand feet high. Up these ridges lie very 

 steep roads, some of which lead across the 

 mountains to the north side of the island. 

 Houses line these roads continuously to the 

 height of about a thousand feet. Save in the 

 town itself there is scarcely a bridge, and unless 

 one is prepared to venture into the ravines by 

 tortuous paths, and to cross the river by step- 

 ping-stones, it is necessary in passing from one 

 ridge to another to descend into the town and 

 to ascend on the other side. This makes the 

 distances by road between houses which face 

 each other across a ravine often considerable. 

 It is almost incredible that under these circum- 

 stances, in the third city of Portugal, with a 

 population, including the suburbs, of over forty 

 thousand, there is no telephone system. If 

 you want to send a message you send your 

 servant to run with it, and if he happens to 



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