at both the Presidencies and in the army, the former of which
is freely used during dinner.
This wine is known to possess many extraordinary qualities.
I have heard it asserted, that if pure genuine Madeira be exposed
to frost until it is congealed into a solid mass of ice,
and again thawed by the fire | if heated to the boiling point*
and then left to pool; if exposed to the sun for weeks together
in open casks, or placed in damp cellars ; it will not suffer
the least injury by such great and violent changes. That part,
however, which is consumed on the island is a raw meagre
beverage, which, if compared with London particular, is as
bad as small beer to fine ale.
The usual mode of training the vines is by basket-work
fixed to espaliers, about five feet high; but in some vineyards
they are led up trees, or high poles ; and in others, cut down
to the height of two or three feet, as a t the Cape of Good
Hope. In some places the hills are terraced, in order to retain
the soil, by stone walls. The process of making the
wme 13 very simple. The grapes are picked from the stalk,
thrown into a vat, pressed first with the feet and afterwards’
by a weighted wooden lever. The proprietor of the land and
the collector of the taxes for the Crown both attend at the
press; the latter takes out of the tub his tenth of the whole
must, after which the remainder is equally divided between
the land-owner and the tenant. Each takes with him a sufficient
number of porters to carry away their respective shares,
Sometimes m barrels, and sometimes in goat-skin borrachas,
7
M A D E I R A . 23
to the cellars in Funchal. The English merchants usually
supply the farmers beforehand with money, to enable them
to make a more extensive tillage.
In the course of our journey we did not observe a single
wild quadruped, and very few birds of any kind appeared.
Hogs are said to be turned loose among the thickets to fatten
on roots, and especially on those of fern, by which they acquire
a flavour of game. Goats are pretty numerous, and
rabbits are not scarce in the mountains. The island affords but
a scanty supply of food for a few cows, and milk and fresh
butter are consequently accounted among the luxuries in
diet. A few oxen are used in the town for drawing sledges';
small saddle horses are kept by some, but the common animal
of burden is the mule. Among the birds are hawks, kites,
partridges, pigeons, quails, woodcocks, swallows, sparrows,
grey canaries, finches, and linnets.
There are few insects of any kind to annoy the stranger,
as usually happens in warm weather countries; and not a
venomous reptile has ever been known to exist on the island.
The honey bee, however, is not uncommon; and in certain
sheltered valleys, where the surrounding hills abound in
heathy plants, the honey is said to be unusually fine, and is
frequently sent as a valuable present to Portugal. Such
myriads of lizards I never beheld in any country. On a warm
sunny day, every rock and stone-wall are literally covered
with them. They are perfectly harmless, except that, creeping
along the branches of the vine, they pierce the ripe
grapes, and suck out their juice. In doing this they fre