Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-01-01
CARRIAGES ON
land of Madeira Is the Awkward
Mode Of Conveyance.

An unfortunate episode a few days
ago brought to the ~attentiomof Amer
leans the island of Madeira, and at the
same time afforded a glimpse of one
of its most peculiar customs. A
wealthy resident of Funchal, the chief
town and seaport OF the island, accord
ing to an English dispatch, was riding
through its streets in a vehicle called
by the Portuguese 4 ''carro," when he
was set upon, so it was reported, by a
number of American sailors, says a
writer in the New York Tribune. The
United States training ship Hartford
had anchored in the harbor, and it is
charged that these members of her
crew, who had gone ashore for a few
hours leave, had drunk too deeply of
the wine for which Madeira is f famous.
II. II. Byrne was on board the United
States gunboat Castine when she visit
ed Madeira last year. From, his, ac-
count of what he saw there, the reason
why tipsy sailors might take it into
their heads to attack a ~'carro" is easy
to explain. In all MADEIRA, which con
tains little that is American, there is
nothing more grotesquely un-Ameri-
can than a "carro." This vehicle con-
sists of a huge numbering sled, some
times with a canopy, sometimes with
no protection whatever against the
sun. 1t is drawn by a team of oXen or
n pair Of p,uso,lor man
A sled in st. Petersburg or Sitka in
the winter time would seem a practical
proposition, but in a part of the world,
which is within a few degrees of the
tropics, and in the same latitude as
Jerusalem or Jacksonville, Fla, one
would think such a vehicle an utter
absurdity. Such, however, is not the
case. The people of Madeira are by
no means insane, and their use of sleds
over cobblestones under hot summer
suns has proved itself, to their way of
thinking, entirely practical.
When a foreigner gets into a ''carro"
he is first inclined to regard it all as a
huge joke. Later he changes his mind.
There are two attendants, who serve
as a sort of driver and footman, only
the driver goes ahead and leads the
oxen, and the footman walks still fur
Their in the van and smears the cobble-
stones with grease to give easier slid
ing to the n AS a result the
streets of the city are slippery and
black; and in the hot sun they are
filthy indeed. AS the occupant of the
~"carro" goes sliding along, with his
nose within a few feet of a century's
accumulation of grease, he is not in
,lined to be in a joking humor.
The people of Madeira say that
wagons are impracticable because
their roads are too billy. Although the
island contains 315 square miles, and
is only seven miles larger than the city
of New York, its highest peak is about
as tall as Mount Washington. Most of
the land is, accordingly, at a steep
angle. 1t is easier to drag a sled up a
creased incline, these Madeirans say,
than to haul the same weight at the
same angle in a wagon. Then, again,
a wagon is more likely to run wild 60
ing downhill, as it cannot be steered
as safely.
In addition to the "carro," the Ma
deirans use for transportation a ham,
mocklike conveyance, called a 'rede."
In this the passenger hangs from a
pole, each end of which is supported
by a husky native, who are able to
carry one up the steepest places, with
a safety that is assured by long and
constant training. The two men swing
together as they walk or trot, so that
the motion given the occupant of the
hammock is not an unpleasant one.