1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

180

Tlie Yineyards and Wines of Madeira.

exorbitant prices. As for articles de luxe, one never sees tbem displayed; and tbe only stops boasting of embellisbment are tbose of tbe cbemists. Tbe Puncbal streets are invariably narrow and paved witb small round stones, most difficult to walk upon: bow Engbsb and Portuguese ladies in tbe fashion able bigb-beeled sboes manage to accomplish it is a mystery. Flagstones, excepting at tbe corner of one little street, are entirely unknown to Funcbal. Viewed from tbe bay,Puncbal presents a more attractive aspect. It seems to nestle cosily by tbe seashore, under tbe shade of lofty cloud-capped,mountains,whose slopes andravines, cultivated in every available spot, are dotted witb cool surnmer residences sequestered in charming pleasure-grounds. Eight and left of tbetown aresomeold forts,which a single shotfrom an ironclad would shiver intofragments. Close to arefreshing patch of green formed by the trees on the Pra9a da Constituicao is the palacio abready mentioned, while, behind, the dwarfed cathedral spire peers timidly above the surrounding houses. The antique and massive-looking custom-house faces the beach, from the centre of which there rises—with the seeming arrogance of a Cleopatra's Needle or a Trajan's Column—a solitary, gigantic, dingy-looking piUar, erected many years ago by an Englishman of an enterprising turn, but utterly ignorant of engineering, who thought he had invented a new method of unloading ships, of which this singular construction is to-day the sole memorial. In the Pra9a da Constituicao and the thoroughfares leading to the beach there is no dearth of animation during early morning. On the beach itself crowds await the arrival of returning fisher- boats,whileinthestreets—whatwith the traffic ofbullock carsand sledges; the noisy injunctions of the drivers to their imper turbable cattle ; the quaintly-attired peasants arriving from the outlying districts; parties of boracheiros with skins of newly- made mosto slung over their backs, and kept steady with a strap across their foreheads; hammock-bearers starting moun- tainwards with casual tourists; babbling gossips debating over the local news at every corner, and hawkers lolling against the