The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-02-13


manufactures of England), covers the
rocks. and a few fishermen come over
from Funchal to gather it for eXporta-
tion. Others more adventurous, scale
the lofty precipices to catch s'shearwa-
tiers, the birds whose plumage is So eN-
tensivcly used in the beautiful feather
work made in Madeira. When a good
many birds have been collected and pluck
ed Of their feathers, beacon fires are
kindled on the peaks to summon boats
from Funchal, 80 miles distant to come
over after the hunters and their prey. 1t
is asserted that smuggling is carried on
with rare success in the Desertas, almost
under the noses of the custom officers
sent over to Madeira from Portugal: and
surely a more favorable place for such
business would be hard to find.
Porto oanto, the remaining island of
the group, stands alone, 10 miles or more
northeast of Point San Lorenzo, and looks
in the distance like a vast, half submerged
cathedral its turrets and pinnacles rising
above the water. 1t is trtle larger than
either of the Desertas, collection of tall,
disj0inted crags and broken cliffs, bathed
in the spray of the breakers upon which
the sunbeams play in brilliant rainbo rs.
The island is valuable because of a lime
stone quarry upon it-a geological phe
nomenOn in the group; and interesting as
having been the temporary abode of Co.
for finding a shorter passage to India. 1t
now forms a parish of the Madeira colony
and has stationary population of 10, 600
OF more. The Lieutenant Governor re-
sides at Its only village, called La Villa.
The island IS unproductive, with almost
no water and an entire absence of wood
A very little barley is grown, but all the
simple requirements of the inhabitants
are brought over from Funehal Many
years ago Portugal, in looking around
for the drearest place to which she could
Danish her criminals for punishment be-
thought herself of this island. misnamed
il Porto Santo, port of Saints, and it re-
manned penal colony until a recent pc
Iiod.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the
approach to Funchal. The port is only a
slight curve between two headlands, with
a sea exposure that reaches probably to
the South Pole; vet ships lie here all the
year around, with no hazard III the sum
mer time and little in the winter Moth
ing SO impresses the traveller with Ma
deira mildness of climate as the security
of this open roadstead. There is a break
water, which terminates at Loo Rock
/ The singularly picturesque eminence,
so familiar to us in the geography
pictures of our childhood, with its
citadel ON top, seems an integral part
of the crag, SO dovetailed is it be
tween the jagged pinnacles. There is no
special landing place. and all ships must
anchor long way out, to be loaded
and discharged by means Of lighters, the
latter drawn up on the beach by immense
capstans called ''crabs.' There are yes
sells of all sorts in the otfing, floating the
flags of many lands, Portuguese, French,
Brazil and the white hawk of the Azores,
even the British Union Jack and the
American Stars and Stripes. Among the
motley collection we noticed brig from
Sierra Leone, laden with peanuts, and
several from the coast of Africa upon
whose decks are strange dark men, crates
of tropical fruits and cages of parrots and
monkeys. Native boats of the smallest
size venture all over the bay, in spite of
the high swells and long rollers. They
are queer little craft, long and narrow,
pointed at both ends, with triple keels
rising higher than mans head above the
gunwale at both PROV and stern, for con-
venience in hauling them up on the Steep
y-shelving shore; and gaily painted green,
! blue, black, orange, with streaks of white,
scarlet or purple around the top. The
beach is crowded with them, and very
Babel there is among the boatmen and the
army of yelling, bare-legged roustabouts
| required to load or launch each lighter, to
say nothing of the vociferous tones of the
drivers Of teams, coming down by
scores to get the cargoes, and the ever
lasting roar of the surf
| Funchal seen from the sea, lies on a
slope of extraordinary abruptness, rent
into three divisions by gorges whose sides
are rugged and nearly vertical. At the
head of these ravnes, Immediately behind
! the city, tower the mountains, from 4, 900
to 5000 feet high, seen through riffs in
their canopy of clouds. A gray old castle,
perched on projecting spur, assists the
eye to realize the suddenness of these pre-
ciptous ranges and greatly adds to the
prospect One end of the beach is hanked
by the Governors residence and noble
avenue of palm trees; the other by a
praca park, and an old red fort with
peaked, pepper box turrets, behind which
rise the cliffs of Barren Head and the