Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



the most glorious of all its valleys. The 

 church is dedicated to Santa Quiteria, a Portu- 

 guese virgin and martyr, whose aid may be 

 invoked against the bite of mad dogs, an inter- 

 vention of no great value here, as hydrophobia 

 is unknown in the island ; although from 

 another point of view this immunity may be 

 held to be the result of her beneficent influence. 

 It stands with its surrounding group of closely 

 packed cottages a few hundred yards from the 

 extreme point of the ridge, which is occupied 

 by the churchyard. A pleasant and level path 

 connects the two. 



The Portuguese seem to have, consciously or 

 unconsciously, a happy knack of selecting a fine 

 and romantic position for the last resting-place 

 of their dead. Does not the chief cemetery of 

 Funchal fill the finest site of the town ? And 

 the rude forefathers of Boa Ventura sleep amid 

 a scene of beauty not easily matched. To sit 

 in the evening hour by the churchyard wall 

 and watch the shadows creeping upwards from 

 the already dark valleys towards the reddening 

 peaks, while far below the Atlantic rollers break 

 and spirt in spume through the honeycombed 

 reefs ; to note how the last lingering rays of 



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