Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/196

Rh 178 MADEIRA are bad, except in the neighbourhood of the capital. A deficient supply of water is another great obstacle to the proper cultivation of the land, and the rocky nature or steep inclination of the upper parts of the islands is an effectual bar to all tillage. An incredible amount of labour has been expended upon the soil, partly iti the erection of walls intended to prevent its being washed away by the raias, and to build up the plots of ground in the form of terraces, so as to lessen their slope. Water-courses, too, have been constructed for purposes of irrigation, without which at regular intervals the island would not produce a hundredth part of its present yield. These water-courses originate high up in the ravines, are built of masonry or driven through the rock, and wind about for miles until they reach the cultivated land. Some of them are brought by tunnels from the north side of the island through the central crest of hill. The water thus conveyed is carefully dealt out according to the rights of each occupier, who takes his turn at the running stream for so many hours in the day or night at a time notified to him beforehand. In this climate flowing water has a saleable value as well as land, for the latter is useless without a supply of the former. The agricultural implements employed are of the rudest kind, and the system of cultivation is extremely primitive. Very few of the occupiers are the owners of tha land they cultivate ; but they are almost invariably the owners of the walls, cottages, and trees standing thereon, the bare land alone belonging to the landlord. The tenant can sell his share of the property without the con sent of the landlord, and if he does not so dispose of it that share passes to his heirs. In this way the tenant practically enjoys fixity of tenure, for the landlord is seldom in a position to pay the price at which the tenant s share is valued. Money rents are rare, the mdtayer system regulating almost universally the relations between landlord and tenant ; that is, the tenant pays to the owner a cer tain portion of the produce, usually one half or one third. The holdings are usually very small, rarely larger than one man can cultivate with a little occasional assistance. Meadows and pastures are seldom to be met with, the cattle being stall-fed when not feeding on the mountains. Horses are never employed for draught, all labour of that kind being done by oxen, of which there is an ample supply. The two staple productions of the soil are wine and sugar. The vine was introduced from Cyprus or Crete soon after the discovery of the island by the Portuguese, but it was not actively cultivated until the early part of the 16th century. The vines, after having been totally destroyed by the oidium disease, which made its first appearance in the island in 1852, were replanted, and in a few years wine was again made. The disease is now kept in check by the application Of sulphur, which has the effect of increasing the quantity of fruit, whilst it shortens the life of the plant. The phylloxera has also made its way to the island, and every vineyard in Madeira is more or less affected by it. The wine usually termed Madeira, and known in the trade as &quot; London particular,&quot; is made from a mixture of black and white grapes, which are also made separately into wines called Tinta and Verdelho, after the names of the grapes. Other high-class wines, known as Bual, Sercial, and Malmsey, are made from varieties of grapes bearing the same names. The exported Madeira is a strong-bodied wine of fine bouquet and excellent quality, but of late years it has gone out of fashion in England, the lighter wines of France and Germany having to a certain extent supplanted it. Taking the four years 1878-1881, the average quantity annually exported was 3045 pipes, each of 92 imperial gallons. It is not usual for the merchant to possess vineyards of his own. The vines are cultivated by the peasants in their small patches of land, and the general rule is for the rnerchant-or wine manufac turer to buy the must from them, and to have it conveyed as it comes from the press direct to his store, where the process of fermentation and the subsequent treatment are carried on from first to last under his own eye. The sugar cane is said to have been brought from Sicily about 1452, and in course of time its produce became the sole staple of the island. The cultivation languished, however, as the more abundant produce of tropical countries came into the European market, and sugar had long ceased to be made when the destruction of the vines com pelled the peasants to turn their attention to other things. Its cultivation was resumed, and sugar machinery im ported, In 1881 about 6515 cwts. of sugar, valued at 14,452, were exported. A considerable quantity of spirit is made by the distillation of the juice, or of the molasses left after extracting the sugar, and this is consumed on the island, not an unmixed benefit to the people, for intem perate habits have greatly increased since they have been subjected to the temptation of cheap spirits. The cane does not flourish here as luxuriantly as within the tropics; still in localities below 1000 feet, where there is a good supply of water, it pays the cultivator well. The grain produced on the island (principally wheat, barley, and Indian corn) is not sufficient for the consump tion of the people. The common potato, sweet potato, and gourds of various kinds are extensively grown, as well as the Colocasia esculenta, the Jcalo of the Pacific islanders, the root of which yields an insipid food. Most of the common table vegetables of Europe cabbages, carrots, onions, beans, pease, &c. are plentiful. Besides apples, pears, and peaches, all of poor quality, oranges, lemons, guavas, mangos, loquats, custard-apples, figs, bananas, and pine-appl&s are produced, the last two forming articles of export to the London market. The date palm is occasion ally seen, but its fruit is scarcely edible. On the hills large quantities of the Spanish chestnut afford an item in the food of the common people. A little tobacco is grown, and is made up into cigars of inferior quality. Trade and Commerce. Excepting sugar and tobacco, the manufactures are insignifieant. Coarse linen and woollen articles and boots and shoes are made for island use. A good deal of needlework embroidery is made by the women in and about Funchal for exportation. Baskets, chairs, &c., of wicker work are also exported. According to official returns the total value of exports in 1881 was 134,000, whilst the imports from foreign countries amounted to 175,000 (including 128,500 from the United Kingdom), and the imports from Portugal and the Azores to 112,800. The principal imports were textile fabrics, hardware, grain, salt fish, salt, tea and coffee, tobacco, cask staves, timber, and petroleum (the last three articles coming from America). The duties levied at the custom-house amounted in the same year to about 41,000. In the course of the year 710 merchant vessels entered the port, but more than half of these were English steamers calling on their passage to and from the west coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, or Brazil. The number of Portuguese vessels was only 113. There is a local bank at Funchal, and also a branch of the Bank of Portugal. The English merchants act as bankers for visitors, and bills or cheques can be negotiated through them. Accounts are made out in reis, an imaginary coin, 4500 of which are equal to the pound sterling, and 1000 form the mil-rei or dollar, equal to 4s. 5-J-d. The coins in circulation are of British gold and Portuguese silver, the latter in pieces of 50, 100, 200, and 500 reis, the coinage being decimal. The French decimal system has been established here as in Portugal. Madeira, as a province