my way through the crowd of servants which are in attendance in
the halls and door-ways on these ocsasions, I was much entertained
with the anxious gestures of small parties of the palanquin bearers,
who had squatted themselves in different corners, playing with
dirty packs of cards, for the. very hire they were not to receive’
until the next morning. But I have as much kindness as pleasure
to acknowledge, when speaking of the elegant entertainments of
the Portuguese of the first class, the liberal hospitality of my
own countrymen settled in Madeira, has I6ng been proverbially
well known.
CHAPTER IV.
Sketch of a Flora.—Geographical distribution of Plants.—Wines.
Cultivation of the Vine.—Soils.—African Imports.—Vegetables.—
Dyes.—Timber.
H ad any thing like a Flora of the island of Madeira ever been
published, I should not submit the observations I have been able
to make, during a short stay there, under the most unfavourable
circumstances. The chief obstacle I have encountered has been
the season; a great number of plants axe underground, others
neither presenting^ flowers or fruit, and a considerable portion,
such as the graminete, entirely burnt up: the rains have been
Unusually, tardy, and consequently, the renewal of vegetation
delayed. Other difl&culties I look upon as common to all who.
would undertake a botanical report of Madeira, and only to be
overcome by a residence of years, which would allow of a patient
' investigation. The enchanting landscape which presents itself,
flatters the botanist at his first view withra rich harvest, and not
until he begins to. work in earnest, does he foresee the labours of
his task. What can bp more delightful than to see the banana
and the violet on the samq bank, and the melia azedarach, with its
dark shining leaves, raising its summit as high as that of its neighbour,
the populus alba ? It is this very gratification which occasions
the perplexity, at the same time that it confirms the »opinion, that
Madeira might be made the finest experimental garden in the