The Sun.
London, England, 1808-04-22 00:00:00

Ml 9 D'iUl?.

Ai the removal of the Court of Lisbon' to the Bra-
zils renders this port of the woild dore interesting
andimportant that) it haq ever before been, our Read-
ers will doebttess be gratified by tie following Ac-
coullt t f thel,land of Madeira, which we have rea-
son to i>,:liet'e is the best that-has yet been presented
to tIR Public. Lave es,trated it from the Voy-
age to Cochin-China, written by JOHN BARROW,
Elq:, a Wmk to which we have before been indebted
for much valuable matter.

Welcome as the sight of land must always be
aft ti,a sea-voyage, it will be doubly so to the passen-
ger who, for the.first time, has been buffeted by the
billows .of the Bay of Biscay. Yet the appearance'
of the mountainous Island of Madeira, enveloped, as
it usually is,:in the obscurity of a dense cloud, is far
.from being,inViting. Sa rarely,indeed is its gloomy
mantle drawn aside, that when GonzalezrZarcodis-•
covered the Island of Porto Santo, though at the dis-
tance of only 40 miles, from Madeira, he retrained
at the former for a letigth.of time, without even con-
jecturing that the latter might he habitable land:—.
He and his people had observed with markld atten-
tion the thick- black cloud, hovering constantly over
the same spot of the horizon; an appearance which
inspired them with a superstitious and reverential
awe, being, firmly persuaded, as men were in those
days, that
'Tis not vain or tahttlous
(Though so e,teemed.by shallow ignorance),
%V hat thesage Poets, taught by thst-leivenly Muses
Story'd of old, in highl imMortal verse,.
Of dire chimeras and enchanted Isles,
And rifted Rocks, whose entrance leads to HA."
In fad, it was the popular conjeatire,ithat this set-
tied gloom might be 'suspended. over one of the
Mouths of Hell. .

" The point of elevation at which this cloud rests
on the brow of the mountain is said to be regulated
generally by the course of the sun ;
„floating at his
meridian altitude'as a thin fleece on an aerial summit,
and descending as he sinks into the western horizon
in dense volumes to the skirts of the town,, over
which it remains suspended during the whole night.
As the next rising sun gradually dissipates this vapour,
a succession of objeas, full at least of novelty to the
stranger, and of great, variety is cc folded to the eye.
On the sweeping shore of a spacious bay, whose ex-
treme points are high and rugged volcanic rocks, is
situated the town of Funchal, the white buildings of
which, contrasted with the surrounding rocks of
black lava, and the lively verdure of the plantations
on the brow of the mountain, convey neither an
.unpleasing nor an unpieturesque effect. Interspersed
among these plantations are numerous delightful vil-
las, churches, chapels, and convents, various in point
of form and situation, and mounting one above the
other on the steep declivity, till they are lost in the
obscurity of the banging cloud. The highest visible
objets that particularly catches the eye is the convent
of Nosia Senhora do Monte, our I,ady of the.frlonn-
fain, which, being surrounded by gardens and groves
and avenues of chesnut trees, appears as if buried'in
the midst of a forest.

" The wide open bay with the shipping at an-
chor, the numerous craft on the beach, the Ilheo or
Loo rock, a .huge insulated mass of black lava,
surmounted with batteries, constitute a foreground
that is well suited to the grandeur of the scenery on
shore. But the. annexed view of that part of the
'staid immediately over the town, reduced from a
drawing taken by Mr Daniell, on heard a ship at ,
anchor in the bay, will recall to the recolleCtion of
those, who may have viewed it from the same Om.
tion,its general features as they appear from 'thence;
better than any description which I van pretend id
give..
" The bay of Funchal, at all tithes indifferent as
a place of' anchorage for shipping, is considered as
extremely dangerous from the autumnal-to the. ver-
nal equinox, when the strong southerly winds cause
a high, and rolling' swell of the sea to be thrown
in upon the shore. Poor Mackintosh, who com-
manded the Hindostan, was in a state of constant
alarm and uneasiness while we remained here, hay:
ing on a former visit to this place lost his ship, when
every soul on board' perished ; he and his- cook.ei-
caped the melancholy fate of their companions by
being on shore.
How deceitful are oft-times the fairest appear-
ances; and how frequently iS the beauty of objects,
when :viewed from a distance, converted into real
deformity on a nearer approach ! After a diffictilt
and disagreeable landing, on account of the surge,.
whiCh breaks with violence on a rough pebbled beach,
the passenger enters dire&ly into the irregular and
meanly built town of Funchal, whose streets are
narrow, , crooked, and dirty', some paved with
small pointed pebbles, that seem to pierce through
the soles of the shoes at every step, mid cttiers-tvith-.
out any pavethent but the ridgesOf schistose lava
breaking through the surface, whose points are not
less sharp than the former. The mountain tills
trickle through some of the streets in their passage
to the bay ; but, instead of contributing.' to .the
cleanliness of the town,. these little streandets are
.produolive of every kind of nuisance. Here the in.'
habitants wash their clothes, clean' their fish, depo-,
Bit the (dais of the butcheW shops, empty the con-
tents of thejy night-machines, and, in short, tiring',
together all the filthy and offensive materials that'
are colleeted or generated in the town. The num-
ber of hogs that are attra&ed by this plentiful supply
of provender, and that are suffered to run loose
about the streets, is another source of annoyance to
the passenger; for these four-legged gentry are so
familiar, that he who happens to walk the length of
a street without being gently brushed by. some of
them may consider himself as being in great luck.
" The few good dwelling-houses that are found
iu the town are those which are occupied by the',
British merchants, who have established themselves
here in the wine trade;. these louses are in general
sufficiently spacious, , but neither commodious nor
comlortuble. These and ti few others excepted, all
the rest have rather a _mean appearance. . Their.
roofs are chiefly covered with tiles, en which large.
loose stones are laid to prevent' their being carried,
away by the blasts- of 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 tocon-
tain two thousand houses, occupied by about twelve

thousand inhabittmts.:ere are beiclos six 0.114.,
•
s'mail townVor Villagei theiOhiid, the whole po_tr
pulation of which, inclUdineFunebal, is estiniatc)i.
to amount to about ninety I hou.iand persons.

"At alittle distance bchindthe GovernMent-hnuie,'
which stands within' the fort Loren r, and overlqpits
the bay, is. the Pasaci Publico, the public mall, a
short but very pretty walk, well-Shaded with-orange
or liale-treel;„WilloWs and toplars: On one silo ,of
the entrance stands". the theatre,' which' is seldotn-
opened,,and on the' other the hospital. Funchal,
like ofitk towns an&Cities of Raman Catholic court,.
tries, has no scarcity of Churches and convents
but we met with little in any ofsthem that could be
considered as-deserving-of particular 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 coveredwith rows of human skulls
and human thigh bones, so arranged that in the ob-
tuse angle made by every pair of the latter, crossing
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 extraor-
dinary' painting•above a kind of altar, but what the
subject is intended-to represent lAm really at a loss
to decide. A figure in the pi&nre, intended proba-
bly for St. Francis the patron saint, seems to be in-
tent on trying in a balance..the comparative
.weight
Of 'a sinner and a saint. A dirty lamp suspended
from-the ceiling, and just glimmering in the socket,
served dimly to light up this dismal den of skulls.
The old monk who attended 'as shewman was very
careful to impress us with the idea that they were
all relics of holy inert who had died omthe island ;
• hut I sniped they must occasionally have robbed the
church-yards of a few lay•brethren, and perhaps now
and then of a heretic (as 'strangers are interred in
• their burying-ground) in order to accumulate such a
prodigious number, which, on a rough computation,
,I should suppose to amount to at least three thou-
sand. The skull of one of the holy brotherhood
Was pointed out as having a lock-jaw, which ocea-
sioned his death ; and. front the garrdlity,of our at-
tendant, I have no doubt we might have heard the
history of ninny more equally important, which,
though thrown away upon us who bad no taste for
craniology, would, in all probability, have been high-
ly interesting to Dr. Gall, the famous !eturer on
'skulls in Vienna. On taking leave, we deposited
our mite on the altar, as charity to the convent,
which' seems to be the principal object in view 'Of
collecting and 'exhibiting this memento mori of the
monastic and mendicant order of St. Francis

" There are other convents to which young wo-
men are sometimes sent for the purpose t,f com-
pleting their education ; but not a single instance of
he veil having been taken occurs for many years
past: Married women also, who are particularly
tenacious of their character, •and who wish to be
considered as Models of chastity and virtue, some-
times retire into a convent during the absence of
their IMsbands. In those which were visited by our
party, we saw only a few antiquated virgins, who
affeEted. h considerable degree of shyness ; and
though their air and general appearance were not ill
calculated to inspire feelings of pity, it was not,
however, of that kind which " melts the soul to
love," but whose, less powerful influence pleads ra-
ther to'the piirsti than to the heart; end according-
ly we gave them, what was • conceived to be' the
Jnost acceptable, a few. dollars in exchange ftir.
pieces.of paper entinto represeMationi of the virgin,
and saints,, and crucifixes.: A general langour, enc.-
casioned by confinement and the utiVaried insipidity
of. a .monastic life, frequently passes in the nun as
the token .of patient resignation ; and we. are apt to
attach a lively interest to young females, who are
thus cruelly, as we suppose, separated for everfrom
all. society. except that of each other : but it, is by
no means clear that we do not often'aseribe to per-
sons under such circumstances notions of,yurity and
delicacy which are more romantic than just. It h
extremely, doubtful if they possess those exalted
sentiments, nice feelings, and sound understudings,
Which prevail. anion; females of those countries
where they are allowed to enjoy unrestrained free-
dom. The education of the former is,suited to pre-
pare them for their future condition : they are held
in such little consideration in their own family,' that
they are fully aware they cannot be less esteemed in
a convent; and they make the sacrifice of their li-
berty under the consoling refleilion that, by so do-
ing, they shall secure everlasting happiness in the
world to come. ,

" The residence of a few days -among a foreign
people cannot be supesed to furnish much informa-
tion of their in:inners,. charac er and condition. It
reqUires no little time to get, rid of our own preju,
dices;. and, while labouring under the influence of,
those, we are apt to forget the making of a due allow-
ance for the prejudices 'of others. It does not Ts-
quire, however, any very long 'sthy at Madeira to"
perceive that the great bulk of the people of Fon-
,
ehal; as in most other cities; are doomed to eneonnter
the ills of poverty in this country,:how-
' ever; on which nature hai bestowed so fine a climate,
would seem to be rather owing to some roismaiuge,
mitt on their own. part, than to any systern,olop-
presSion in the GaernMent, deficiency in the uieaps'
of. subsistence,, or other moral and phy4cal eaus.eu;
The steady .and moderate temperature which. this,
Island enjoys- is scarcely excelled in any part of the,,
world. In the winter mooths, the mercury iii
Fahrenheit's thermometer seldom descends below
55 deg. or rises higher than 65. deg. ;* and the usual
range in summer is from 66 t 0,76 deg. It iavisited,
hOweV'er, occasionally, but very rarely, by a kind.
of Sirocco wind fiorn the eastward,W t hat.. scerches,
vegetation, and renders the air suffocating and in-
supportable; at 'such time, the thermometer rises
to 90 or 95 deg. It cannot be the climate, there-
fore, that occasions Wei meagre, sallow, and sickly
appearance which the inhabitants of Funchal gene-
rally wear, but may rather be attributed La the po-
vertr of their food, which -chiefly consists o:
pumpkins, and sour wine, or pernicious spick, ; to
a life of druLfgery add exposure 'to great 'vicissitude
ofclimate, by daily aSeendtrig" the steep and lofty.
mountains in search of foci'; and, above all,' to
total disregard pt di. As a corraborat,ive..l
Foul this'heiny the case it may t'e mentioned,- that