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,