7-4 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. [chap. iv. 



orphan establishment maintains six orphans, a superintendent 

 of the house, and a portress. There are eighteen inmates, 

 but twelve of these are paid for by friends or relatives. 



Beyond the limits of the Concelho of Funchal there are 

 scattered over the island ten boys' schools, paid by the trea- 

 sury, with 376 scholars ; sixteen boys' schools, paid by the 

 municipal corporations, with 428 scholars, and two girls' 

 schools, with forty-two scholars ; four private girls' schools, 

 with twenty-two scholars ; and two private boys' schools, with 

 twenty-three scholars. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 



In the capital of the district of Funchal there are the 

 following public establishments : — a civil hospital, a mi- 

 litary hospital, a lazar hospital, and an asylum for the 

 poor. In each of the Concelhos of Sancta Cruz, Machico, 

 Calheta, and Porto Santo, there is a hospital, so called. 



The first hospital in Madeira was founded on the 25th 

 of March, 1454, by Joao Goncalves Zarco. It was erected at 

 S a .° Paulo. Subsequently the establishment was removed to 

 the parish of Santa Maria Maior, and in 1685 it was again 

 moved to its present position in the Praca da Constitucao. 

 This hospital, Santa Caza da Mizericordia, has been at 

 various times liberally endowed by the Government, as well 

 as by individuals. In ancient days the Crown granted 

 it the privilege of a preference over all other creditors 

 in the collection of its debts, a privilege which has, how- 

 ever, been annulled by recent enactment. Tbe old law also 

 obliged the trustees of the hospital to loan out at interest 

 all superfluous funds, on the security of real estates, or 

 pledges of value : the result has proved most unfortunate, 

 as from many of the debtors the interest cannot now be 



