The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-06-03
The Famous Gibraltar.

DR.. Rays party visit tropical Islands.
Funchal Madeira, Special to The
News We anchored In Funchal bay
at 4 a. M. and the weather was beaut-
iful. These tropical islands are call
ed the Madeiras and there are nine
of them, and they are the African pro.
vince OF Portugal. They are 1880
miles south of London, and ISIS miles
south of New York city, and LAO
miles from Hamburg.
They were discovered by a Portu
guese named Fargo in 1913, and were
soon colonized and settled, but in 1880
these islands belonged to Spain but
were retaken by Portugal In 1910.
Christopher Columbus lived here for
a few years and married the daugh-
ter of the governor, Perestrello. He
also stopped at Madeira when on his
voyage in which he discovered Ameri-
ca. Napoleon was brought to Mad
EZRA when taken on the way as an
exile to st. Helena.
The climate is tropical, the lowest
that the thermometer registers Is AZ
degrees f. in the winter and the hot
test is &c degrees +. in the summer,
thus this is a great health resort. The
yearly rainfall is thirty inches. Thus
all the land, which is very fertile
must be irrigated The mountain
range which runs through the center
of the islands Is at the highest 5000
feet The largest of these islands,
Madeira, is thirty-five miles long and
fourteen miles wide and Funchal, the
capital, is the largest city, 1t has so
900 inhabitants. There are 100000
people on this island. We landed from
our steamer in launches or canoes
a distance of mile.
on entering the city we found it
somewhat clean, taken with a grain of
salt.
The streets are generally narrow.
from three to five feet, but are all
paved with cobble stones, and reach
three and four miles up the mountain
sides.
The people are mostly Portuguese.
The Roman Catholics have two fine
churches, the Saint Marie and the
fine building and beautiful park
in the center of the city and near the
public gardens. There are three min
listers in charge. Rev. w. G. Swart,
Rev. G. B. Mind, and Rev. b. r.
Duarte. They are doing great work
especially for the children, for they
have four free schools where boys and
~ -, hn cd, cd wit N,,t
expense and this is a wonderful thing
because the most of the people are
very poor. and hundreds of beggars
live in the streets by almost extract
ing money from American tourists
(they are the greatest travelers).
The Beggars Curse You.
When you do not contribute to the
beggars, they curse you bitterly.
1t costs the Methodist church yearly
$4,000 to support the fourteen teach
ers and ministers.
In 1908 the church bought the beaut-
iful building and grounds for $4,000,
but the Portuguese government re-
Quires the Methodist, Presbyterian and
all Protestant churches to pay high
taxes.
Living expenses are very high, such
as butter forty cents per pound, sugar
forty cents per pound, tea $3.50 per
pound, petroleum forty cents per gal
lon.
One of the Methodist mission work
vate banana garden and we saw car
loads of bananas growing on the trees.
The whole island is one vast mass
of gardens, parks and quintas.
They raise potatoes, rye, peas,
beans, sugar cane, grapes, oranges,
pears, apples and many other pro-
ducts, and manufacture wicker bas-
kets, chairs, trunks, also inlaid wood
work. embroidery, gold and silver
work.
One of the charming oriental fea-
lures is ride up or down the noun
tain in bullock cart drawn by two
oxen.
The whole landscape is a mass of
flowers, plants and trees. Thousands
of peddlers follow you with flower
bouquets begging you to buy, and for
five cents you can get an arm load
This is fast becoming health re-
sort. The death rate here is low
twenty to the 1000.
The housekeepers' chief energy is
a very small ant which does great
damage. There are no noXious rep
tiles in the islands. Wages are low
as for example, a good cook receives
Sll per month; a house servant S.
per month, and day laborers twenty
cents per day. Such a condition II
America is not conceivable, for a
such wages people could not live
How do these people live you ask
They drink water, eat cabbage, pota
toes, beans, peas and fish which are
plentiful and cheap. They go bare
footed wear few clothes and sleeI
out,ofdoors. Intemperance is one o.
the greatest curses, horrors, and out
RACES of these islands for almost ever!
other door in the business part of the
city is a saloon or wineroom.
have never been in the Azore o.
Madeira islands before, but | mus
t,I,,