MADEIRA. 7 
.wind that occasionally blow with great violence from the 
mountains behind the town. The extent of Funchal may be 
nearly a mile in a line parallel with the beach, and rather 
more than half a mile in depth. It is said to contain two 
thousand houses, occupied by about twelve thousand inha- 
bitants. There are besides six other small towns or villages 
on the island, the whole population of which, including 
Funchal, is estimated to amount to about ninety thousand 
persons. 
At a little distance behind the government-house, which 
stands within the fort Lorenco, and overlooks the baj", is the 
Passao Publico, the public mall, a short but very pretty walk, 
well shaded with orange or lime trees, willows and poplars. 
On one side of the entrance stands the theatre, which is sel- 
dom opened, and on the other the hospital. Funchal, like 
other towns and cities of Roman Catholic countries, has no 
scarcity of churches and convents ; but we met with little in 
any of them that could be considered as deserving of parti- 
cular notice. The beams and the roof of the cathedral are 
pointed out to strangers as being of cedar, a species of tree 
with which it is said the island was at its discovery nearly 
covered. Another curiosity which is shewn in the town is a 
chamber in one of the wings of the Franciscan convent, the 
walls and ceiling of which are completely covered with rows 
of human skulls and human thigh bones, so arranged that 
in the obtuse angle made by every pair of the latter, cross- 
ing each other obliquely, is placed a skull. The only vacant 
space that appears is in the centre of the side opposite to 
the door, on which there is an extraordinary painting above 
