Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/197

Rh MADEIRA 179 of Portugal, has tlie benefit of the regulations of the International Postal Union. Consuls from Great Britain and other European states, as well as from the United States and Brazil, reside at Funchal. Lines of steamers from Liverpool to the British colonies on the west coast of Africa, and from London and Plymouth to the Cape of Good Hope, touch at Madeira, both on their outward and homeward voyages. There is steam communication with Lisbon, and also with Brazil, the Cape Verds, the Canaries, and the Azores (St Michael s), as well as with Antwerp. A large coal depot for supplying the steamers has been established at Funchal by a firm of British merchants. Funchal, the capital of the archipelago, lies on the south coast of Madeira, and has a population of about 18,000 persons, the immediate neighbourhood being inhabited by nearly as many more. It is seen to great advantage from the bay, lying on its curving shore, and backed by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, some of them 4000 feet in height. Numerous country houses (quintas} with terraced gardens, and surrounded by vineyards and patches of sugar cane, adorn the slopes and give an air of cheerfulness to the landscape. A small fort on an insulated rock close to the shore commands the bay with its cannon, and there is a much larger fortress on an eminence behind the city. There are no facilities for landing either passengers or goods, nor is there any dock for vessels, which are obliged to remain in the open roadstead, where, however, the anchorage is good. Vessels are protected from all winds except that from the south, which, when blowing with violence, occasionally drives those on shore that do not slip their cables in good time, and take to the open sea. The principal edifices in the city are the cathedral and the churches, none of which deserve much notice, the governor s residence, a semi-castellated building, and the substantial custom-house. The streets are for the most part narrow, but fairly clean, paved with small stones, without side walks, and lighted at night by petroleum lamps. There are two public walks planted with trees, and a garden of small extent, but rendered gay with flower ing plants which would need protection in England. There are also fountains of good water, a large hospital, a poor- house, and an unsightly ill-managed jail. The late empress of Brazil built a spacious and handsome hospital close to the town for the reception of twenty-four consumptive patients of Portuguese or Brazilian birth. The entrances of some of the larger houses are through great gates into a paved vestibule, from which a double flight of stairs ascends to the principal rooms. The shops are poor and without dis play. The windows on the ground floor of the dwelling houses are filled with stout iron bars, which give a prison- like air to the streets. Three streams come down from the hills and run across the town at the bottom of deep channels, which in summer are dry, because the water is diverted higher up for irrigation purposes. Convenient market places have been constructed for the sale of meat, vegetables, and fish. Vegetables and fruit are abundant, but not of the first quality. Fish is plentiful and cheap when fishing is possible, and fresh fish forms with salted cod and herrings an important item in the food of the islanders. Butcher meat is fairly good, with the exception of the mutton, which is very inferior. The affairs of the city are managed by a municipal chamber of seven persons with a president. Their revenue is derived from imposts on grain and salt imported, and from duties on fresh meat and fish sold in the open market, on wine exported, on houses, and on persons carrying on trade or business. It is expended principally on the lighting and repairing of the streets, and the maintenance of markets and public gardens. Wheel carriages are not in use ; and all heavy articles s are transported either on the backs of mules or upon rude wooden sledges drawn by bullocks. When horses are not employed, locomotion is effected either by means of ham mocks, or by bullock cars. The hammock is a piece of stout canvas gathered up and secured at each end to a long pole carried by a couple of bearers. In place of cabs, curtained cars on sledges, made to hold four persons, and drawn by a pair of bullocks, are employed. They are convenient enough, but the rate of progress is very slow. The common people carry heavy burdens on the head and shoulders. Such aids as wheelbarrows and trucks are entirely rejected. A few daily and weekly newspapers are published at Funchal, but they are small sheets, and their circulation is very limited. In a room of the building occupied by the municipal chamber there is a collection of books, numbering about 2SOO volumes, accessible to the public. The Portuguese have a club, which has a large house con taining a ball room, card rooms, and a billiard room, but no library. The wine trade attracted several British merchants in the last century to take up their residence at Funchal, where, notwithstanding the decrease of that trade, there was in 1881 a resident British population of 208 persons. A church has been built where a resident chaplain con ducts the services of the English Established Church, and the Presbyterians of the Free Church of Scotland have also erected a place of worship. The British community have formed a cemetery, which is kept in admirable order. The English Club, to which strangers can subscribe, has a library of 5000 volumes and a billiard table. Climate and Meteorology. The following results have been derived from observations made for a series of eight years at the Government observatory, Funchal, which has a height of 80 feet above the sea. The mean annual barometrical pressure was 30 11 inches. The mean annual temperature was 65 84 Fahr., the high est point during the eight years having been 90 3 Fahr. and the lowest 46 22 Fahr. The two hottest months are August and Sep tember, when the mean temperature was 72 &quot;58 Fahr. The thue coldest months are January, February, and March, their mean temperature being 60 - 6 Fahr. The mean temperature of the six months November to April was 61 8 Fahr. The mean temperature of winter (December to February) was 61; of spring (March to May) 62 64 ; of summer (June to August) 70 8 ; of autumn (Sep tember to November) 68 9. The mean number of days in the year on which r.dn fell was 80J. The distribution of rain through the months from October to May varies a good deal, but the wettest months are usually November, December, January, and March. Taking a series of twelve years observations, the mean annual rain fall was 30 inches, the extremes being 16 and 49 15 inches. Tl.e mean daily range of the thermometer from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. during the six months November to April is about 6 l Fahr., but taking the twenty-four hours the mean daily range is about 10. The remarkable mildness both in summer and winter of the climate of Madeira, though it lies only 10 north of the Tropic of Cancer, is owing to its being surrounded by a great ocean, fnin which the atmosphere obtains a large supply of watery vapour. The mean humidity of the air is about 75 (saturation = 100). The prevalent winds are those that blow from the north or from a few points east or west of north, but these winds are much mitigated on the south coast by the central range of mountains. The west wind usually brings rain. That from the east is a dry wind. A hot and dry wind, the leste of the natives, occasionally blows from the easl- south-east, the direction of the Great Sahara, and causes the hill region to be hotter than below, but even on the coast the thermo meter under its influence sometimes indicates 93. As the ther mometer has never been known to fall as low as 46 at Funchal, frost and snow are there wholly unknown, but snow falls on the mountains once or twice during the winter, very seldom, however, below the altitude of 2000 feet. Thunderstorms are rare, and scarcely ever violent. Madeira has long had a high reputation as a sanatory resort for persons suffering from diseases of the chest. &quot; When we take into consideration,&quot; said Sir James Clark in his work on Climate, &quot; the mildness of the winter and the coolness of the summer, together with the remarkable equality of the temperature during the day and night, as well as throughout the year, we may safely conclude that the climate of Madeira is the finest in the northern hemi sphere.&quot; Notwithstanding the ever-increasing competition of other winter resorts, a considerable number of invalids, both English ai.d