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then, having taken off their ftockings and jackets, get into it, and with their feet and elbows, prefs out as much of the juice as they can: the ftalks are afterwards collected, and being tied together with a rope, are put under a square piece of wood, which is preffed down upon them by a lever with a stone tied to the end of it. The inhabitants have made fo little improvement in knowlege or art, that they have but very lately brought all the fruit of a vineyard to be of one fort, by engrafting their vines: there feems to be in mind as there is in matter, a kind of vis inertia, which refifts the first impulfe to change. He who proposes to affift the artificer or the hufbandman by a new application of the principles of philosophy, or the powers of mechanifm, will find, that his having hitherto done without them, will be a ftronger motive for continuing to do without them ftill, than any advantage, however manifeft and confiderable, for adopting the improvement. Wherever there is ignorance there is prejudice; and the common people of all nations are, with respect to improvements, like the parish poor of England with respect to a maintenance, for whom the law must not only make a provision, but compel them to accept it, or else they will be still found begging in the streets. It was therefore with great difficulty that the people of Madeira were perfuaded to engraft their vines, and fome of them ftill obftinately refuse to adopt the practice, though a whole vintage is very often spoiled by the number of bad grapes which are mixed in the vat, and which they will not throw out, because they increase the quantity of the wine: an inftance of the force of habit, which is the more extraordinary, as they have adopted the practice of engrafting with respect to their chefnut-trees an object of much less importance, which, however, are thus brought to bear fooner than they would otherwife have done.

We

We faw no wheel-carriages of any fort in the place, which perhaps is not more owing to the want of ingenuity to invent them, than to the want of industry to mend the roads, which, at present, it is impoffible that any wheel-carriage should pass the inhabitants have horses and mules indeed, excellently adapted to fuch ways; but their wine is, notwithftanding, brought to town from the vineyards where it is made, in veffels of goat-fkins, which are carried by men upon their heads. The only imitation of a carriage among these people is a board, made fomewhat hollow in the middle, to one end of which a pole is tied, by a ftrap of whitleather this wretched fledge approaches about as near to an English cart, as an Indian canoe to a fhip's long-boat; and even this would probably never have been thought of, if the English had not introduced wine veffels which are too big to be carried by hand, and which, therefore, are dragged about the town upon these machines.

One reafon, perhaps, why art and industry have done fo little for Madeira is, Nature's having done fo much. The foil is very rich, and there is fuch a difference of climate between the plains and the hills, that there is scarcely a fingle object of luxury that grows either in Europe or the Indies, that might not be produced here. When we went to visit Dr. Heberden, who lives upon a confiderable ascent, about two miles from town, we left the thermometer at 74, and when we arrived at his houfe, we found it at 66. The hills produce, almost spontaneously, walnuts, chefnuts, and apples in great abundance; and in the town there are many plants which are the natives both of the Eaft and Weft Indies, particularly the banana, the guava, the pine-apple or anana, and the mango, which flourish almoft without culThe corn of this country is of a moft excellent quality, large grained and very fine, and the island would produce

ture.

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it in great plenty; yet most of what is confumed by the inhabitants is imported. The mutton, pork, and beef are also very good; the beef in particular, which we took on board here, was univerfally allowed to be fcarcely inferior to our own.; the lean part was very like it, both in colour and grain, though the beafts are much smaller, but the fat is as white as the fat of mutton.

The town of Funchiale derives its name from Funcho, the Portuguese name for fennel, which grows in great plenty upon the neighbouring rocks, and by the observation of Dr. Heberden, lies in the latitude of 32° 33′ 33′′ N. and longitude 16° 49′ W. It is fituated in the bottom of a bay, and though larger than the extent of the island seems to deserve, is very ill built; the houses of the principal inhabitants are large, thofe of the common people are small, the streets are narrow, and worfe paved than any I ever faw. The churches are loaded with ornaments, among which are many pictures, and images of favourite faints, but the pictures are in general wretchedly painted, and the faints are dressed in laced clothes. Some of the convents are in a better taste, efpecially that of the Francifcans, which is plain, fimple, and neat in the highest degree. The infirmary in particular drew our attention as a model which might be adopted in other countries with great advantage. It consists of a long room, on one fide of which are the windows, and an altar for the convenience of administering the facrament to the fick the other fide is divided into wards, each of which is juft big enough to contain a bed, and neatly lined with gally-tiles; behind these wards, and parallel to the room in which they ftand, there runs a long gallery, with which each ward communicates by a door, fo that the fick may be feparately supplied with whatever they want without difturbing their neighbours. In this convent there is alfo a fingular

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fingular curiosity of another kind; a small chapel, the whole lining of which, both fides and cieling, is composed of hu ́man fculls and thigh bones; the thigh bones are laid acrofs each other, and a scull is placed in each of the four angles. Among the fculls one is very remarkable; the upper and the lower jaw, on one fide, perfectly and firmly cohere; how the offification which, unites them was formed, it is not perhaps very easy to conceive, but it is certain that the patient must have lived fome time without opening his mouth: what nourishment he received was conveyed through a holewhich we difcovered to have been made on the other fide,. by forcing out fome of the teeth, in doing which the jaw alfo feems to have been injured.

We vifited the good Fathers of this convent on a Thurfday evening, just before fupper-time, and they received us with great politeness; "We will not ask you, said they, to fup "with us, because we are not prepared, but if you will "come to-morrow, though it is a fast with us, we will have

a turkey roafted for you." This invitation, which fhewed a liberality of fentiment not to have been expected in a convent of Portuguese Friars at this place, gratified us much, though it was not in our power to accept it.

We visited also a convent of nuns, dedicated to Santa Clara, and the Ladies did us the honour to express a particular pleasure in seeing us there: they had heard that there were great philofophers among us, and not at all knowing what were the objects of philosophical knowlege, they asked us feveral questions that were abfurd and extravagant in the highest degree; one was, when it would thunder; and another, whether a spring of fresh water was to be found any where within the walls of their convent, of which it feems they were in great want. It will naturally be fuppofed that. our answers to fuch questions were neither fatisfactory to

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the Ladies, nor in their estimation, honourable to us; yet their disappointment did not in the leaft leffen their civility, and they talked, without ceafing, during the whole of our vifit, which lafted about half an hour.

The hills of this country are very high; the highest, Pico Ruivo, rifes 5,068 feet, near an English mile, perpendicularly from its base, which is much higher than any land that has been measured in Great Britain. The fides of these hills are covered with vines to a certain height, above which there are woods of chefnut and pine of immense extent, and above them forests of wild timber of various kinds not known in Europe; particularly two, called by the Portuguese Mirmulano and Paobranco, the leaves of both which, particularly the Paobranco, are fo beautiful, that these trees would be a great ornament to the gardens of Europe.

The number of inhabitants in this island is supposed to be about 80,000, and the custom-house duties produce a revenue to the King of Portugal of 20,000 pounds a-year, clear of all expences, which might easily be doubled by the product of the island, exclusive of the vines, if advantage was taken of the excellence of the climate, and the amazing fertility of the foil; but this object is utterly neglected by the Portuguese. In the trade of the inhabitants of Madeira with Lisbon the balance is against them, fo that all the Portuguese money naturally going thither, the currency of the ifland is Spanish; there are indeed a few Portuguese pieces of copper, but they are so scarce that we did not fee one of them: the Spanish coin is of three denominations; Pistereens, worth about a fhilling; Bitts, worth about fix pence; and Half-bitts, three pence.

The tides at this place flow at the full and change of the moon, north and fouth; the fpring tides rife feven feet perpendicular,

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