unwilling, or more frequently unable, to pay such a sum, allows
the tenant to remain, and never thinks of disturbing him again.
It is generally thought, that f- of the profits of the estate would
be a fair proportion for the tenant to enjoy, but surely a fixed
rent would be best for both parties.
There being no appearance of a change of weather, we returned
the next day in a small boat to Funchal, and two days after, again
repaired to Machico, to join the cargo, which had been left under
the care of the baker’s brother-in-law, who was to be the acting
partner in the projected commercial establishment at Porto Santo.
We sailed from Machico at four o’clock the next morning, and
were out all that day and the following night. My friend, the
Genoese, diverted the tiresomeness of our tempestuous voyage
with anecdotes of his life; not liking the family trade, that of a
butcher, he quitted Genoa when young, and opened an earthenware
shop at Marseilles, where he made money enough to freight
a small vessel to Gibraltar. In this he was wrecked near Minorca,
where he consoled himself by marriage. In a few years, the world
smiled on him again, and he was growing rich on the profits of a
Cabaret, but his itching to become a merchant, and to adventure
on the seas, ruined him a second time; his schooner was taken by
the French, and he was compelled to enlist in their army, then
in Spain, in order to regain his liberty, by deserting at the first
convenient opportunity. He then visited Morocco with a Swedish
Consul, and told marvellous stories of the outrages and excesses
committed with impunity by the “mad saints,” who rushed into
the houses and bit off the ears, and other delicate morsels of young
children, whenever an over-nicety in their appetite prompted
them. He was afterwards a short time at Janina, which he
insisted was in a country called “ true Barbary,” (nor could I
succeed either in undeceiving or understanding him) adding, that
although Ali Pacha was a “ second Buonaparte,” yet for his part
he never travelled so safely with property in any country. He
then became cook to some officers at Gibraltar, failed in an adventure
to Madeira, and lived in the service of the British Consul,
until the profits of a baker’s shop managed by his wife, and a
manufactory of vermicelli and maccaroni, started by himself, (the
machinery for which he had imported from Genoa) set him on his
legs once more.
The white sandy beach of Porto Santo" seemed to promise me
a different geological field for observation to that of Madeira, and
I was all impatience to get ashore, but it was necessary that I
should have the Governor’s permission to do so, which the captain
of the boat was despatched to. procure; for the economical nature
of the government did not permit any Mercury to be in attendance
for this purpose; and, indeed, during the three days I resided
there, I could never discover that the governor had more than
one king’s servant under his command, for a ll, the purposes
of ordinary state, and he (distinguished by being clothed in
tattered remnants of various uniforms) opened the gates, hoisted
the flag, beat the drum at sunrise and sunset, swept the yard,
helped in the kitchen, and waited at table when the governor had
company. I should'mention, that the governor himself, a major
in the army, has only 600 dollars a year from the government,
depending for any thing more on his own ingenuity. The captain
of the boat tied his better suit of clothes in a handkerchief, which
he held on the top of his head, and plunging into the water, swam
ashore; but although he quitted us at seven o’clock, it was
thought derogatory by the governor’s servant to acknowledge that
his Excellency had risen until nine, and then he must breakfast
* Porto Santo was discovered in 1418, by Joao Gonsalves Zarco and Tristao Vaz,
when driven out to sea by a tempest, in attempting to pass Cape Bojador, and
Madeira by the same persons, but not until three years after, according to Cadamosto.
Collegao de Noticias, p. 8.