The general landing place for ships’ boats is at the Loo Rock on the west side of the bay, which is at the extremity of the town on that side, and you have more than a mile to walk over a very badly paved road before you arrive at the centre of the town; you may, however, land on the beach near the custom-house, from whence you immediately enter the best part of the town, but the surf is sometimes so rough that you cannot attempt this point without risking a ducking, or the upsetting of your boat, which you must immediately haul up on the beach or keep outside the surf.

Notwithstanding we had left England in the height of summer we found a great difference in the climate, the weather being exceedingly hot.  On the following day I was invited to dine and take up my residence at Mr. Shortridge’s during our stay at Madeira.  We met a large party at dinner, consisting of Captain Owen, with some of his officers, the Rev. Mr. Deacon, and a number of the most respectable English residents.  Madeira is so frequently visited by ships from different parts of Europe, and has been so fully described, that it may, perhaps, appear superfluous to attempt any further account of a place already so well known; but as all men are supposed to possess a certain portion of vanity, and as travellers are proverbially accused of laying claim to the discovery of some facts which had escaped the observation of their predecessors, I venture to throw together, into as brief a compass as possible, the result of my inquiries, in the hope that I may add something to that which is already known, and, at all events, with a strong confidence in the accuracy of my remarks.

The wine, being of vital importance to the prosperity of the island, presents the first claim to the attention of a stranger.  A sort of controversy, with better reasons on the one side than the other, prevails, respecting the relative qualities of the wines produced at the north and the south sides of the island; in which the vineyards at the north side have suffered what appears to be an indiscriminate and injudicious censure.  The grape chiefly grown there is the Virdelho, which the most experienced planters allow to be productive of the strongest and most esteemed of their wines; and when it is of the growth of the southern vineyards it is held in the highest estimation.  It must, however, be admitted that the northern aspect is unfavourable to the grape, and that the greater proportion of the wines from that side are only fit for the still.  The cause of this may be referred to a variety of circumstances; such as the marked difference in the soil and aspect and the mode of cultivation, the vines being trained upon trees; whilst on the south side the more approved system is practised of training them upon horizontal trellis work, raised two or three feet from the ground, by which the plant is supported and the fruit exposed to the full influence of the sun.  A great superiority of flavour is,