MADEIRA. 11 



if nothing is given, one is pained with hearing cries of execration. 

 The occupants are in keeping with the premises, and did not fail to 

 excite both our commiseration and disgust. 



Among the lions of Madeira is a villa once belonging to Senor 

 Jose de Carvalhal, a wealthy nobleman who died about a year before 

 our visit. The gardens are well taken care of, and contain many 

 trees and plants from various quarters of the globe. The grounds 

 embrace extensive deer parks, but I was not much struck with the 

 manner in which they were laid out. The present proprietor is the 

 nephew of the late Count. 



The convent is also a place to which strangers resort, and the 

 fair nuns of twenty years' standing, 1 will not dwell on, lest truth 

 might compel me to destroy some of the reputation of those charms 

 which former visiters have done honour to. Feather-flowers continue 

 to be sold here, and the nuns to jest with, and receive the homage of 

 their guests. Since the overthrow of Don Miguel in 1824, monasteries 

 have been abolished and liberty given to the nuns to return to the 

 world, of which privilege some of them availed themselves. They 

 do not now exceed eighty in number, and as none have since been 

 allowed to take the veil, they will soon decrease. 



The rides in Madeira are beautiful. The roads are well made, 

 easily and safely travelled on a Madeira pony, with a pony-boy or 

 burroquerro. One is at a loss to which to impute the most strength 

 of mind and endurance, the pony or the boy. These boys keep 

 constantly near the rider, at times holding on to the tail of the pony, 

 then bestowing repeated blows with their long sticks, and ever and 

 anon urging him on with their singular tones of voice, so that the rider 

 is compelled to allow himself to be carried along, contented with 

 passing safely over so novel and (to him) apparently so impassable a 

 roadway. 



On proceeding out of Funchal, fruits, flowers, and vegetables 

 seem crowding upon the sight; in the lower portions, groves of orange 

 and lemon trees are mingled with the vineyards, the trees are loaded 

 with fruit; then, as one mounts higher, bananas, figs, pomegranates, 

 &c, are seen, and again, still higher, the fruits of the tropics are 

 interspersed with those of the temperate zone, viz., apples, currants, 

 pears, and peaches, while the ground is covered with melons, 

 tomatoes, egg-plant, &c. Farther beyond, the highest point of culti- 

 vation is reached, where the potato alone flourishes. Then the 

 whole lower portion is spread before the eye. Vineyards, occupying 

 every spot that is susceptible of improvement, and one rides through 

 paths hedged in with geraniums, roses, myrtles, and hydrangeas 



