The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-10
HILL CLIMBING IN
 BEAUTIFUL MADEIRA
Quaint Transportation Experiences of Howard Gouds Party American Millionaire Tells Of His Jaunt over an Island
 Where Paths and Mountain Trails are the Highways

ward by a pivotlike motion of the hips. When necessary the bearers break into a dog trot, keeping 1t up for miles with ap- parently little fatigue-singing imprJvised songs in Portuguese, describing the weight and peculiarities of the travellers they are carrying in the hammocks.
 United States ConsulT. c. Jones says ex- cepting few omnibuses and dozen car riages owned and imported by wealthy English residents, there are no wheeled vehicles on the island. and the universal native conveyance (besides the hammock) is the carro. or sledge, invented early in the century by an Englishman. Prior to that time transportation was accomplish ed on the backs of men and beasts.
 Travelling Triumph.
 The bullock car is mounted on runners. shod with steel and hung wkh bright col- ored curtains to protect passengers from sun and wind. The driver starts his oxen with an iron-tipped prod, which he jabs into them as he sings, while a boy runs ahead guiding the patient beasts with leather thongs fastened to the oxen's horns. Approaching town, the teams ter shouts loud and long until triumphal entry has been made.
 A most curious feature of this mode of travelling Is that the driver greases the pavement with mop Or cloth attached to a long stick, which he applies to the pavement when the sledge runs heavily.
 The streets are wonderfully paved with clearly packed cobblestones, in size and shape from a cricket ball to eggs. highly polished and kept well fabricated by the frequent passage of the sledges, making merry music as they glide along. The bull locks of private parties wear strings of kt,a1 AN songs of the charioteers, often to the strains of guitars and mandolins of way side idlers. As Mir. Riddle says in his pie turesque narrative of Madeira life. all these sounds are in harmony with the scenes.
 Besides these two modes of travelling, the third is confined to the mountainside, the vehicle moving by self-propulsion. Two persons take places in the sledge word is given and away the vehicle goes at great speed, sliding over the enameled and well-greased stones into flowery wales below.
 Thousands of acres of terraced vine yards. vast vaulted sea caves, the water seething, hissing and booming in thunder ous melody. It Is a curious and inspir- ing sight to see miles of tremendous surf beating against cliffs that lose themselves III tle dDoNe
 Now and then come great storms of tropical character, but nothing is so strange as the African sand winds rolling in from the Desert of Sahara in terrify- ing whirlpools. high in the heavens, sift- ing down hot sand that burns holes in flowers and foliage.
 A Land of Delight.
 However, the big storms are few and far between.
 Madeira is a lond of ever-changing de- light-a land of perpetual summer-and the moonlight nights are beyond descrip- tion. One may think of 1t as the home of Paul and Virginia, or where Prospero worked his magic spells It is now claim ed that Madeira was discovered by two knightly lovers who fled from England to escape cruel parents and a cruel law. Here they lived and died, and a chapel was built on their tomb. When after ward Madeira was rediscovered, the is- lands Portuguese Governor had q beauai- full daughter who was wooed and married by Christopher Columbus
 One day great storm arose, a foreign ship was wrecked and Columbus rescued the famishing crew, but they were too much exhausted and died. It was the charts they left that gave Columbus his knowledge regarding the unknown DOT tons of the globe and inspired him to discover the New World.