Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/823

 MADEIRA 81T found in Bengal, Nepaul, &c. ; it has different foliage from the common madder, and its roots are longer and thinner. The root is sent out in the whole state in bundles about 2 ft. long and the thickness of one's wrist. Its uses are the same as the common madder, but it is but lit- tle employed; the annual supply received in England from all sources is less than 100 tons. MADEIRA (Port., wood), a Portuguese island in the Atlantic ocean, lying between lat. 32 37' and 32 52' K, and Ion. 16 38' and 17 16' W. ; greatest length from E. to W. 34 m., greatest breadth from N. to S. 14 m. ; area, 311 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871 reported at 118,379 (probably including the contiguous island of Porto Santo, the aggregate area and popula- tion of the two islands being set down in the census of 1869 at 317 sq. m. and 115,804). The number of inhabitants rapidly decreased after 1845, owing to the disease of the vine and the consequent decay of agricultural in- terests; in the decade ending with 1855 no fewer than 35,000 persons emigrated, the great- er part of them to Surinam. Funchal is the capital and chief port, and the only town of any note. The coast line is remarkably regu- lar, there being not a single indentation that can be called a bay. The island is almost ex- clusively a mass of basalt, and the surface is extremely irregular, rising abruptly from the north and south toward the interior, in a longitudinal ridge forming as it were the back- bone of the island, with an elevation of from 2,000 to 4,000 ft. above the sea level, and sur- mounted here and there by jagged peaks and pyramids of rock of most picturesque appear- ance. The loftiest summits are for the most part off the line of the ridge ; Pico Ruivo, the culminating point of the island, rises in the central portion and slightly northward; its height is 6,165 ft., and many of the adjacent peaks are little inferior. The mountain slopes on either side are furrowed by deep valleys, watered by limpid streams, covered with gar- dens and vineyards, the latter being formed on the rocky declivities to the height of more than 2,000 ft. ; and the elevations separating the valleys come down abruptly to the coast and terminate in lofty headlands, or in bold precipices of basalt or crumbling tufa, so steep that soundings close along shore are scarcely found under 50 fathoms, save in the road- stead of Funchal, where the depth varies from 30 to 40 fathoms. At the E. extremity the hills taper to a narrow and comparatively low promontory of rock some 6 m. long, called Point Sao Lourenco, where is a calcareous sand with terrestrial shells of an extinct species, and calcareous infiltration resembling the roots and branches of trees. The most remarkable of the gorges or valleys is named the Ourral das Freiras. A road encircles the island, lead- ing now between tall cliffs, now along the brow of bold precipices overhanging the sea. From the mountains descend three small rivers in different directions, which, by means of arti- ficial channels (levadas) and sluices, are so di- rected as to serve for irrigation. The climate is one of the finest in the world, and so equa- ble that for 18 years the mean annual tempera- ture at Funchal, on the S. E. shore, did not vary from 68 F. ; the extremes being 80 on the coast in the hottest months, August and Sep- tember, and 63 in the coldest, December and January. The difference of temperature be- tween day and night is likewise inconsiderable. Frequent rains at regular intervals throughout the year except from June to September, when it seldom rains, and light dews, add to the freshness and salubrity of the air, and produce a rich vegetation. Madeira is a favorite resort of consumptives, especially from England, the number of invalid visitors from that country being estimated at 300 annually, and their ex- penditure at $100,000, affording the exclusive means of subsistence to many of the inhabitants. Of the benefit to be derived from a timely so- journ in Madeira by persons afflicted with pul- monary disorders and other affections of the respiratory organs, there is no doubt whatever ; but the efficacy of the climate in cases of con- firmed disease has been greatly exaggerated. The soil is extremely fertile ; but an unwise division of the land proved inimical to agri- cultural prosperity. Small holdings of from 10 to 50 acres, on the metayer plan, were let at a rent of half the produce, according to a yearly valuation of the crops ; but at present the actual cultivators of the ground raise crops of sugar, vegetables, &c., on their own account, and are consequently more prosperous. Every spot of the island not encumbered by rocks is turned to account. The agriculture, however, is conducted in the primitive Portuguese man- ner, and with the rudest implements. Immense labor was expended in the erection of terrace walls to prevent the earth of the mountain slopes from being washed into the sea by the rains, and in the construction of the levadas already mentioned to conduct the water of the mountain streams to the cultivated lands. The water thus supplied is subject to a tax, and the supply regulated with great strictness.^ From the introduction of vines into Madeira in 1421, wine was until the middle of the present cen- tury the staple production and chief source of wealth of the island. The richest vine district was the valley of the Oama de Lobos, on the S. side, where grew the famous grape which gave the choice and rare Malmsey wine. This wine, the dry Madeira, the Sercial, and the tinto, constituted the four principal kinds; be- sides which there were several others of in- ferior quality. (See PORTUGAL, WINES OF.) The grapes, almost all white, ripen in the shade of trellises, where they are allowed to become half dry before being gathered. They all come, it is said, from stocks brought from Candia in 1445, and have in turn contribu- ted to the vineyards of Constance at the Cape of Good Hope. Most of the wine growers are English ; and the chief commerce is with