Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-03-14

Portuguese soldiers, who alp came
aboard The reader shou know
that this island belongs to Ptftugal-
At last they ready t doonvey
US to shore, meanwhile the expected
swarms of boats appearing aud soon
they were as thick as bees by the
side of our vessel The frantic
gestures of some who appeared were
soon understood, and coins were
pitched into the water by some of
our and the occupants
of the boats would dive into the
water and get them, swim back,
climb into the boat, throw the coin
in the floor of his boat and look up
to get another in a similar way. One
would be warranted in believing that
they earned quite good wages Soon
there appeared a boat loaded with
beautiful woven rocking chairs and
baskets, and later other articles of
sale too tedious to mention APP
paared and were brought on board.
1t is already apparent that one can
spend much money, if he has it but
how he can get his purchases all
home in good condition is not soeasy
to tell.
Down the stairways, dashed TO the
side of our boat, we went, and with
some difficulty got into the small
row boats, each carrying from four
to ten passengers, according to the
size. The water was rough and I.
B. Hussey, who has landed several
times at Jaffa, says that that place,
reputed for its rough sea, has never
been worse when he has landed. But
all were carried in safety, though not
all attempted it. And now / have
to speak only for Mr.. Cowgirl and
myself, for the boats necessarily
separated the members of u party,
though we would meet occasionally
while on the island. We were fortu-
nate in getting into the third boat,
and after some difficult rowing were
carried around the fort TO a series of
steps upon which we approached to
the top of the mole, a long semi
| circular wall of rock extending a
mile or two before the city oil
Funchal, and of itself en- item OF
great expense, as | should think.
And here at the very first we were
greeted by a novel sight. There
stood before us a large number oil
vehicles waiting to convey Us. But
such as we had not seen before. They
were sleds with wooden runners
about eight or ten inches wide and
six feet in length, being soled with
iron. Upon them wer placed two
seated beds with tops not unlike our
carriage beds, but with the seats
facing each other. A pair of beauti
tul though small oxen was at
tached to each. A boy walked IN
front of the yoke of oxen with a rope
in his hand, the other end being
fastened to the oxen's horns. Ano
they were not slow as our oxen, bu1
would trot along quite briskly. The
driver walked just by the front enc
OF the vehicle with stick in hand,
and thus really two drivers were re
auired. We did not ride in them, as
a fortunate co-incident rendered an
other course more desirable for us tt
pursue. Some of our party did, how
ever, and report a most pleaSan'
ride, the motion being agreeable
They say bags Of oil or grease were
thrown under the runners when as
cepding hills to make ascent easy.
The first thing did was to whisl
out the kodak to catch a picture o
these unique conveyances. This at
tracted the attention of a stranger
with whom conversation began, anc
in a short time l learned that he /:
Claude de Melville of Waking, Eng
land (only twenty miles from Lon
dom, a business man, spending two
months in this island for recupera
| ton. He had with him a camera
was quite Prcpared TO conduct Us 70
places of greatest interest and kindly
offered to serve us as guide, and we
gladly accepted his services, but we
were also accompanied by a good
natured Portuguese who could speak
English quite readily. As to what
We saw, on account of the extended
length of this letter, l am compelled
to leave to my next 20 tell.
ELLwooD Q. ELLIS.