754 



The National Geographic Magazine 



A Steep Grade in Funchal 



A cab stand on a corner on one of the steep thoroughfares of Funchal. 

 hire to coast down to the town 



Running cars for 



are of course more cosmopolitan than 

 this, but you cannot appreciate it as you 

 do when your neighbor at the table, a 

 Russian from Odessa, stopping on her way 

 to Rio, is replaced when she leaves by a 

 Boer from the Transvaal on his way to 

 London, and when in order to keep up a 

 general table talk you must resort to three 

 languages at least. 



I can imagine no spot on the globe 

 more favorably situated by nature than 

 Madeira for the creation of a truly great 

 private garden, and if there should be 

 among those Americans who read these 

 lines one who wants to see the most 

 beautiful private estate in the world, he 

 will find it, I believe, in the historic 

 Palheiro, now the property of Mr. John 

 B. Blandy, who belongs to one of the 

 oldest of the many English families on the 

 island. Twice, at long intervals, I have 



had the privilege of visiting Palheiro, 

 and both times its charm and its re- 

 markable variety of landscape and its 

 incredible profusion of flowers have as- 

 tonished me. 



It does not lose its beauty even by com- 

 parison with the villas of southern and 

 central Italy, or with the far-famed 

 Cintra of Portugal. When you see an 

 English manor-house commanding from 

 an altitude of 2,000 feet a superb view 

 of green mountain-side with the sea at 

 its feet, a great avenue of sycamores, 

 beautifully kept lawn, hedge rows, great 

 masses of climbing roses, beds of violets, 

 strawberry gardens, and English oaks, 

 you are convinced that you are in Eng- 

 land in June : but double rows of im- 

 mense camellias covered with blossoms, 

 giant acacias with their masses of pure 

 gold flowers, groves of oranges and 



