The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-16
REYNOLDS WRITES
 OF MADEIRA TRIP
NOVEL CONFERENCES USED IN TAKING VISITORS UP AND DOWN STEEP MOUNTAINS-A LAND OF ETERNAL SPRING.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald;
 A day on the Madeira islands Is day not often experienced and one never 10 be forgotten. All of us remember 1t Tn our geography studies in the days gone by but few of us can locate it now
 On January 21 we sailed from New York and for eight days nothing but the vast expanse of the ocean appeared to our view. When land was finally sighted the 907 passengers were all eX- citement We learned that we had sailed 2S00 miles in southeasterly course from New York and were GOO miles west of the coast of Africa and about the same distance southwest of Spain.
 The Madeira islands were settled by the Portuguese and still belong to Portu- gal. The climate is said to be the hnest in the world. It is a land of eternal spring As we approached it's capital Funchal, we could see the city was built on and up the side of a erescent-shaped mountain. It commenced to slope upward from the water and the country seemed gashed with deep gorges and ravines.
 The extreme peaks reached an ele- vation of 5000 feet and were covered with
 
 perpetual snow.
 The white and yellow stone buildings covered with red tiling peeped out from the mountain sides among the flower gardens of roses, japonicas orange ana lemon blossoms, heliotropes and wealth of other flowers l cannot remember The terraced patches of sugar cane were Dor dered with palms and cacti-all of these growing in the greatest profusion in the month of January l cannot imagine any picture ever opening to mortal eyes more beautiful.
 These were the impressions we got from the deck of our ship. Landing in the town we were greeted with strange and unusual sights. A city of @,O0O people with not an automobile or carriage offer ing to us for hire-instead we were sa- luted with these words: Have bull cart, sir; only four shillings an hour. These carts were low sleds with com fortable carriage seats and canopy tops and placed on iron runners. The pave ments were made of round smooth peD- bles about the size of lemons and laid in cement. Two strong oxen drew each outfit and a boy went in front carry ing a bushy COW tail and yelling at every step. Another boy followed at the side of the car with sharp stick, which he used to keep the oxen in a trot. The driver carried punches of vile smelling greasy rags which they occasionally threw under the iron runners of the sleds to diminish the friction. There were hundreds of such rigs all over the city and an automobile, or carriage. drawn by horses, would have looked as much out of place there as the bull cart would have looked on First avenue in Birming ham.
 Still another means of climbing the mountain was shown us when we changed from the bull carts at the foot of the steepest ascent of the mountain to cog wheel railway which carried us to- ward the snow. On the way up we saw more minutely the profusion of flow CTS that grew on this enchanted island We saw geraniums growing five and six feet high, heliotropes on great bushes, violets, japonicas, nasturtiums. fuschias, roses. orange and lemon blossoms. royal poincianas and others. Many bouquets of these flowers were thrown in our as- cending car by the children on the way who expected us to throw them pennies in return.
 We ascended the steep mountain side for distance of about two miles when we reached a hotel for lunch. At this lote the far-famed Madeira wine was g iE evidence and so were the headaches on board ship that night and next morning. l found that very little of this wine is produced now as the vines were nearly all destroyed by an insect 20 years ago.
 Getting ready to descend the mountain side we found still another novel mode of conveyance-smalls sleds with cushioned seats placed on iron runners, carrying two persons ana guided by two of the na- tives were the means of going down. One fba ctaa pf mountain made many hesitate. Being as sured there was no danger we took seats one by one with the sleds at safe dis tance apart and started. To say it was wildly. exciting is putting 1t mildly. The two attendants for each car hung on be- hind and when more level stretches would be reached would run ahead and pull the sled along. There was, however, . not much pulling to be done as we were soon landed at the foot of the moantain thanking stars that the wild two mile ride was over
 Returning to the shops and bazars of the city the ladies indulged in the pur- chase of drawn work and embroidered dresses for which the Madeira island is famous. Back on deck of vessel we had the novel sight of the half naked natives diving for coins the passengers threw over. Not a piece did they lose often going down to the bottom 25 feet. for six pence. Several climbed the top deck and dived 50 feet to the water md 30 feet to the bottom for a shilling The novelty and exquisite beauty of the island and its oerfect climate will always stay in the memory of those who were so fortunate as to stop there. To every one going to the Mediterranean I would rec omme1d their taking a vessel that m" ke3 this stop. We visit next Gibraltar, then Genoa. Naples, Messna and on to Cairo for d three weeks trip up the Nile.
 W. B. REYNOLDS.
 Madeira Island, January %, 1909.