Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



port of Funchal after dark on August 23rd, 

 18 1 5. H.M.S. Northiiynberland^ conveying 

 Napoleon Bonaparte to his last home at St. 

 Helena, called here for provisions. It is related 

 in the Diary of Mr. John R. Glover, secretary 

 to Rear-Admiral Cockburn, that on the follow- 

 ing day Mr. Veitch, His Majesty's Consul, 

 visited the ship, *' of whom Bonaparte asked 

 numerous questions with respect to the island : 

 its produce, the height above the level of the 

 sea, its population, etc." On the 25th Mr. 

 Glover notes : " We had a continuation of the 

 violent and most disagreeable siroc wind, which 

 commenced on our first making the island ; 

 and such was the superstition of the inhabitants 

 that they attributed this destructive siroc to 

 Bonaparte being off the island, and were 

 extremely apprehensive that their crops, which 

 were nearly ripe, would be more than half 

 destroyed." On the same day, after dark, the 

 Northumbei'land set sail. Next day Bonaparte 

 ate little and was out of spirits. Mr. Glover 

 attributes this to the heat and the considerable 

 motion of the vessel. We may suspect a 

 deeper cause for his malaise. In Madeira he 

 had passed the last outlying speck of the world 



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