who are conftantly fupplied, and are thus enabled to
fpare fome of it.
Wherever a level piece o f ground can be contrived in
the higher hills, the natives make plantations of eddoes
(arum efculentnm, Linn.) enclofed by a kind of dyke to caufe
a ftagnation, as that plant fucceeds heft in fwampy ground.
Its leaves ferve as food for hogs, and the country people
ufe the roots for their own nourifhment.
The fweet potatoe (convoluulus -batatas) is planted for
the fame purpofe, and makes a principal article of diet;
together with chefnuts, which grow in extenfive woods,
on the higher parts of the ifland, where the vine will not
thrive. Wheat and barley are iikewife fown, efpecially in
fpots where the vines are decaying through age, or where
they are newly planted. But the crops do not produce
above three months provifions, and the inhabitants are
therefore obliged to have recourfe to other food, befides
importing confiderable quantities of corn from North-
America in exchange for wine. The want of manure,
and the inactivity of the people, are in fome meafure the
caufes of this difadvantage; but fuppofing hufbandry to
be carried to its perfection here, I believe they could not
raife corn fufficient for their confumption. They make
their threfhing-floars of a circular form, in a corner of the
field, which is cleared and beaten fblid for the purpofe.
The flieaves are laid round about it, and a fquare board
ftuck
ftuck full of {harp flints below, is dragged over them by
a pair of oxen, the driver getting on it to encreafe its
weight. This machine cuts the ftraw as if it had been
chopped, and frees the grain from the hulk, from which
it is afterwards feparated.
The great produce of Madeira is the wine, from which
it has acquired fame and fupport. Where the foil, ex-
pofure, and fupply of water will admit of it, the vine is
cultivated. One or more walks, about a yard or two
wide, interfeft each vineyard, and are included by ftone-
walls two feet high. Along thefe walks, which are arched;
over with laths about feven feet high, they ereCt wooden
pillars at regular diftances, to fupport a lattice-work of
bamboos, which Hopes down from both fides of the walk,
till it is only a foot and a half or two feet high, in which
elevation it extends over the whole vineyard. The vines
are in this manner fupported from the ground,, and the
people have room to root out the weeds which fpring up'
between them. In the feafon of the vintage they creep
under this lattice-work, cut off the grapes, and lay them;
into bafkets : fome bunches of thefe grapes I faw, which
weighed fix pounds and upwards. This method of keeping
the ground clean and moift, and ripening the grapes
in the {hade, contributes to give the Madeira wines that
excellent flavour and body for which they are remarkable.
The owners of vineyards are however obliged to allot a
177Z.
AUGÜST,.
certain»