20 
MADEIRA. 
middle height, strongly built, and capable of enduring great fatigue. 
We all agreed that the women were particularly ugly, which is to be 
imputed in part to the hard labour required of them. The two sexes 
do not appear to belong to the same race. 
The men of the lower order are dressed in a kind of loose trousers 
(cuecas) descending as far as the knee, with a shirt or jacket of a 
gaudy colour. Both sexes wear a kind of cap (carapuca) of very 
small dimensions, tied under the chin. Its use is not readily 
conceived, as it is only a few inches in diameter at its base, and 
terminates in a conical top, like an inverted funnel. 
The women wear bodices with short petticoats of a variety of 
colours, generally in stripes. They have usually shoes and stockings, 
but they generally go barefooted, with these articles tied in a small 
bundle to be put on when they wish to appear fine. The children 
are poorly clad, have ;but one garment, and that dirty. 
The habitations of the lower order would be called huts in our 
country. They are composed of walls of stone about five or six 
feet high, with a roof rising on all sides to a central pole, are 
thatched with straw or broom, and contain only one room. The 
only aperture for light and smoke is the door. There is but little 
necessity for chimneys, as fire is seldom required. It is said that 
in the northern part of the island, some of the peasants make their 
habitation in caves or excavations on the hill side. 
peasant's cottage. 
In the town of Funchal, there are many elegant establishments, 
and much luxury among the higher classes, but the poorer classes 
are lodged miserably. The houses are generally of one story, of 
which the exterior is well kept, being neatly whitewashed. But 
