Madeira, the largest island of the group, has a length of 30 geographical miles, an extreme breadth of 13 miles, and a coast-line of 80 or 90 miles. Its longer axis lies east and west, in which direction it is traversed by a mountain chain, the backbone of the island, having a mean altitude of 4000 feet, up to which many deep ravines penetrate from both coasts, rendering travelling by land from place to place a very tedious and fatiguing labour. Pico Ruivo, the highest summit, stands in the centre of the island, and has a height of 6100 feet, but some of the adjacent summits are very little lower. The depth and narrowness of the ravines, the loftiness of the rugged peaks that tower above them, the bold precipices of the coast, and the proximity of the sea afford many scenes of picturesque beauty or striking grandeur which are continually changing in character as the traveller advances on his way. The greater part of the interior is uninhabited, for the towns, villages, and scattered huts lie either at the mouths of ravines or upon the lower slopes that extend from the mountains to the coast. The ridges between the ravines usually terminate in lofty headlands, one of which has the height of 1920 feet, and much of the coast is bound by precipices of dark basalt. The north coast, having been more exposed to the erosion of the sea, is on the whole more precipitous than the south coast, and presents everywhere a wilder aspect. On the south there is left very little of the indigenous forest which once clothed the whole island and gave it the name it bears (Madeira, from materia, wood), but on the north some of the valleys still contain native trees of fine growth. A long, narrow, and comparatively low rocky promontory forms the eastern extremity of the island, and here is to be seen a tract of calcareous sand, known as the Fossil Bed, containing land shells and numerous bodies resembling the roots of trees, probably produced by infiltration. Upon an islet off this promontory stands the only lighthouse of the group. It has a flashing light visible at the distance of 25 miles in clear weather.

History.— It has been conjectured, but on insufficient evidence, that the Phoenicians discovered Madeira at a very early period. Pliny mentions certain Purple or Mauretanian Islands, the position of which with reference to the Fortunate Islands or Canaries might seem to indicate the Madeiras. There is a romantic story, of doubtful truth, to the effect that two lovers, Robert Machim and Anna d’Arfet, fleeing from England to France in 1346, were driven out of their course by a violent storm, and cast on the coast of Madeira at the place subsequently named Machico, in memory of one of them. On the evidence of a portulano dated 1351, preserved at Florence, it would appear that Madeira had been discovered long previous to that date by Portuguese vessels under Genoese captains. In 1419 two of the captains of Prince Henry of Portugal were driven by a storm to the island called by them Porto Santo, or Holy Port, in gratitude for their rescue from shipwreck. The next year an expedition was sent out to colonize the island, and, Madeira being descried, they made for it, and took possession on behalf of the Portuguese crown. The islands were then uninhabited. For the sixty years intervening between 1580 and 1640, Madeira, with Portugal itself, was under Spanish rule. In 1801 British troops occupied the island for a few months, commanded by General Beresford, and it was again under the British flag from 1807 to 1814. Madeira is now a province and an integral part of the Portuguese kingdom, entitled to send deputies to the Cortes assembling at Lisbon.

Inhabitants.— The inhabitants are of Portuguese descent, with probably some intermixture of Moorish and Negro blood amongst the lower classes. The dress of the peasantry, without being picturesque, is peculiar. Both men and women in the outlying country districts wear the carapuça, a small cap made of blue cloth, in shape something like a funnel, with the pipe standing upwards. The men have trousers of linen, drawn tight, and terminating at the knees; a coarse shirt enveloping the upper part of their person, covered by a short jacket, completes their attire, with the exception of a pair of .rough yellow boots. The women’s outer garments consist of a gaudily coloured gown, made from island material, with a small cape of coarse scarlet or blue woollen cloth. At the end of 1881 the inhabitants of Madeira numbered 131,906 persons, the females exceeding the males by 7060. Thepopulation increases, notwithstanding the emigration to Demerara and the Hawaiian Islands that occasionally takes place. There is strong reason for thinking that the islands are too densely peopled, considering the small proportion which cultivable ground bears to the whole, and the general want of capital.

Government.— The administration of affairs is in the hands of a civil governor appointed by the crown, under whom is a military officer in command of the troops, which consist of a battalion of infantry, a detachment of artillery, and some militia. The law of Portugal is administered by four chief judges, each of whom has a separate division (comarca) of the island in his jurisdiction, within which he tries both civil and criminal cases with the assistance of a jury. Magistrates elected by the people decide minor cases. For municipal purposes the island is divided into nine districts, called concelhos (Porto Santo forming a tenth), each of which has its popularly elected municipal chamber, whose duty it is to repair the roads, light and cleanse the towns and villages, &c. The chief police magistrate of each district is the admiηistrador, who is appointed by the central Government. A bishop is at the head of the clergy, his cathedral being at Funchal. There are forty-eight parishes, each with its church and resident priest. Roman Catholicism is the established form of religion, but others are now tolerated.

Education.— By law all children of a certain age should be sent to school, but this regulation is not strictly enforced, and only a small fraction of the total number actually receive instruction. The chief educational establishment is the Lyceo at Funchal, where there are seven professors paid by Government. In 1881 the pupils at this establishment were two hundred and fifty in number. There is a seminary for young priests, and a number of public primary schools are scattered over the island.

Agriculture.— Until recently a considerable portion of the land was strictly entailed in the families of the landlords (morgados), but entails have been abolished by the legislature, and the land is now absolutely free. Owing to the irremediable difficulties of the surface, the roads are bad, except in the neighbourhood of the capital. A deficient supply of water is another great obstacle to the proper cultivation of the land, and the rocky nature or steep inclination of the upper parts of the islands is an effectual bar to all tillage. An incredible amount of labour has been expended upon the soil, partly in the erection of walls intended to prevent its being washed away by the rains, and to build up the plots of ground in the form of terraces, so as to lessen their slope. Water-courses, too, have been constructed for purposes of irrigation, without which at regular intervals the island would not produce a hundredth part of its present yield. These water-courses originate high up in the ravines, are built of masonry or driven through the rock, and wind about for miles until they reach the cultivated land. Some of them are brought by tunnels from the north side of the island through the central crest of hill. The water thus conveyed is carefully dealt out according to the rights of each occupier, who takes his turn at the running stream for so many hours in the day or night at a time notified to him beforehand. In this climate flowing water has a saleable value as well as land, for the latter is useless without a supply of the former. The agricultural implements employed are of the rudest kind, and the system of cultivation is extremely primitive. Very few of the occupiers are the owners of the land they cultivate; but they are almost invariably the owners of the walls, cottages, and trees standing thereon, the bare land alone belonging to the landlord. The tenant can sell his share of the property without the consent of the landlord, and if he does not so dispose of it that share passes to his heirs. In this way the tenant practically enjoys fixity of tenure, for the landlord is seldom in a position to pay the price at which the tenant’s share is valued. Money rents are rare, the métayer system regulating almost universally the relations between landlord and tenant; that is, the tenant pays to the owner a certain portion of the produce, usually one half or one third. The holdings are usually very small, rarely larger than one man can cultivate with a little occasional assistance. Meadows and pastures are seldom to be met with, the cattle being stall-fed when not feeding on the mountains. Horses are never employed for draught, all labour of that kind being done by oxen, of which there is an ample supply.

The two staple productions of the soil are wine and sugar. The vine was introduced from Cyprus or Crete soon after the discovery of the island by the Portuguese, but it was not actively cultivated until the early part of the 16th century. The vines, after having been totally destroyed by the oidium disease, which made its first appearance in the island in 1852, were replanted, and in a few years wine was again made. The disease is now kept in check by the application Of sulphur, which has the effect of increasing the quantity of fruit, whilst it shortens the life of the plant. The phylloxera has also made its way to the island, and every vineyard in Madeira is more or less affected by it. The wine usually termed Madeira, and known in the trade as “London particular,” is made from a mixture of black and white grapes, which are also made separately into wines called Tinta and Verdelho, after the names of the grapes. Other high-class wines, known as Bual, Sercial, and Malmsey, are made from varieties of grapes bearing the same names. The exported Madeira is a strong-bodied wine of fine bouquet and excellent quality, but of late years it has gone out of fashion in England, the lighter wines of France and Germany having to a certain extent supplanted it. Taking the four years 1878-1881, the average quantity annually exported was 3045 pipes, each of 92 imperial gallons. It is not usual for the merchant to possess vineyards of his own. The vines are cultivated by the peasants in their small patches of land, and the general rule is for the merchant·or wine manufacturer to buy the must from them, and to have it conveyed as it comes from the press direct to his store, where the process of fermentation and the subsequent treatment are carried on from first to last under his own eye.

The sugar cane is said to have been brought from Sicily about 1452, and in course of time its produce became the sole staple of the island. The cultivation languished, however, as the more abundant produce of tropical countries came into the European market, and sugar had long ceased to be made when the destruction of the vines compelled the peasants to turn their attention to other things. Its cultivation was resumed, and sugar machinery imported. In 1881 about 6515 cwts. of sugar, valued at £14,452, were exported. A considerable quantity of spirit is made by the distillation of the juice, or of the molasses left after extracting the sugar, and this is consumed on the island,—not an unmixed benefit to the people, for intemperate habits have greatly increased since they have been subjected to the temptation of cheap spirits. The cane does not flourish here as luxuriantly as within the tropics; still in localities below 1000 feet, where there is a good supply of water, it pays the cultivator well.

The grain produced on the island (principally wheat, barley, and Indian corn) is not sufficient for the consumption of the people. The common potato, sweet potato, and gourds of various kinds are extensively grown, as well as the Colocasia esculenta, the kalo of the Pacific islanders, the root of which yields an insipid food. Most of the common table vegetables of Europe—cabbages, carrots, onions, beans, pease, &c.—are plentiful. Besides apples, pears, and peaches, all of poor quality, oranges, lemons, guavas, mangos, loquats, custard-apples, figs, bananas, and pine-apples are produced, the last two forming articles of export to the London market. The date palm is occasionally seen, but its fruit is scarcely edible. On the hills large quantities of the Spanish chestnut afford an item in the food of the common people. A little tobacco is grown, and is made up into cigars of inferior quality.

Trade and Commerce. —Excepting sugar and tobacco, the manufactures are insignifieant. Coarse linen and woollen articles and boots and shoes are made for island use. A good deal of needlework embroidery is made by the women in and about Funchal for exportation. Baskets, chairs, <fcc., of wicker work are also exported. According to official returns the total value of exports in 1881 was £134,000, whilst the imports from foreign countries amounted to £175,000 (including £128,500 from the United Kingdom), and the imports from Portugal and the Azores to £112,800. The principal imports were textile fabrics, hardware, grain, salt fish, salt, tea and coffee, tobacco, cask staves, timber, and petroleum (the last three articles coming from America). The duties levied at the custom-house amounted in the same year to about £41,000. In the course of the year 710 merchant vessels entered the port, but more than half of these were English steamers calling on their passage to and from the west coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, or Brazil. The number of Portuguese vessels was only 113.

There is a local bank at Funchal, and also a branch of the Bank of Portugal. The English merchants act as bankers for visitors, and bills or cheques can be negotiated through them. Accounts are made out in reis, an imaginary coin, 4500 of which are equal to the pound sterling, and 1000 form the mil-rei or dollar, equal to 4s. 5 jd. The coins in circulation are of British gold and Portuguese silver, the latter in pieces of 50, 100, 200, and 500 reis, the coinage being decimal. The French decimal system has been established here as in Portugal. Madeira, as a province of Portugal, has the benefit of the regulations of the International Postal Union. Consuls from Great Britain and other European states, as well as from the United States and Brazil, reside at Funchal. Lines of steamers from Liverpool to the British colonies on the west coast of Africa, and from London and Plymouth to the Cape of Good Hope, touch at Madeira, both on their outward and homeward voyages. There is steam communication with Lisbon, and also with Brazil, the Cape Verds, the Canaries, and the Azores (St Michael’s), as well as with Antwerp. A large coal depot for supplying the steamers has been established at Funchal by a firm of British merchants.

Funchal, the capital of the archipelago, lies on the south coast of Madeira, and has a population of about 18,000 persons, the immediate neighbourhood being inhabited by nearly as many more. It is seen to great advantage from the bay, lying on its curving shore, and backed by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, some of them 4000 feet in height. Numerous country houses (quintas) with terraced gardens, and surrounded by vineyards and patches of sugar cane, adorn the slopes and give an air of cheerfulness to the landscape. A small fort on an insulated rock close to the shore commands the bay with its cannon, and there is a much larger fortress on an eminence behind the city. There are no facilities for landing either passengers or goods, nor is there any dock for vessels, which are obliged to remain in the open roadstead, where, however, the anchorage is good. Vessels are protected from all winds except that from the south, which, when blowing with violence, occasionally drives those on shore that do not slip their cables in good time, and take to the open sea. The principal edifices in the city are the cathedral and the churches, none of which deserve much notice, the governor’s residence, a semi-castellated building, and the substantial custom-house. The streets are for the most part narrow, but fairly clean, paved with small stones, without side walks, and lighted at night by petroleum lamps. There are two public walks planted with trees, and a garden of small extent, but rendered gay with flowering plants which would need protection in England. There are also fountains of good water, a large hospital, a poorhouse, and an unsightly ill-managed jail. The late empress of Brazil built a spacious and handsome hospital close to the town for the reception of twenty-four consumptive patients of Portuguese or Brazilian birth. The entrances of some of the larger houses are through great gates into a paved vestibule, from which a double flight of stairs ascends to the principal rooms. The shops are poor and without display. The windows on the ground floor of the dwelling houses are filled with stout iron bars, which give a prisonlike air to the streets. Three streams come down from the hills and run across the town at the bottom of deep channels, which in summer are dry, because the water is diverted higher up for irrigation purposes. Convenient market places have been constructed for the sale of meat, vegetables, and fish. Vegetables and fruit are abundant, but not of the first quality. Fish is plentiful and cheap when fishing is possible, and fresh fish forms with salted cod and herrings an important item in the food of the islanders. Butcher meat is fairly good, with the exception of the mutton, which is very inferior.

The affairs of the city are managed by a municipal chamber of seven persons with a president. Their revenue is derived from imposts on grain and salt imported, and from duties on fresh meat and fish sold in the open market, on wine exported, on houses, and on persons carrying on trade or business. It is expended principally on the lighting and repairing of the streets, and the maintenance of markets and public gardens.

Wheel carriages are not in use; and all heavy articles are transported either on the backs of mules or upon rude wooden sledges drawn by bullocks. When horses are not employed, locomotion is effected either by means of hammocks, or by bullock cars. The hammock is a piece of stout canvas gathered up and secured at each end to a long pole carried by a couple of bearers. In place of cabs, curtained cars on sledges, made to hold four persons, and drawn by a pair of bullocks, are employed. They are convenient enough, but the rate of progress is very slow. The common people carry heavy burdens on the head and shoulders. Such aids as wheelbarrows and trucks are entirely rejected.

A few daily and weekly newspapers are published at Funchal, but they are small sheets, and their circulation is very limited. In a room of the building occupied by the municipal chamber there is a collection of books, numbering about 2800 volumes, accessible to the public. The Portuguese have a club, which has a large house containing a ball room, card rooms, and a billiard room, but no library.

The wine trade attracted several British merchants in the last century to take up their residence at Funchal, where, notwithstanding the decrease of that trade, there was in 1881 a resident British population of 208 persons. A church has been built where a resident chaplain...