down the river, and on the 13th of August anchored in Plymouth Sound.
The wind becoming fair on the 26th of that month, our navigators got
under sail, and on the 13th of September anchored in Funchiale Road,
in the island of Madeira.

While Lieutenant Cook and his company were in this island, they were
treated with the utmost kindness and liberality by Mr. Cheap, the
English consul there, and one of the most considerable merchants in
the town of Funchiale. He insisted upon their taking possession of his
house, and furnished them with every possible accommodation during
their stay at Madeira. They received, likewise, great marks of
attention and civility from Dr. Thomas Heberden, the principal
physician of the island, and brother to the excellent and learned Dr.
William Heberden of London. Dr. Thomas Heberden afforded all the
assistance in his power to Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander in their
botanical inquiries.

It was not solely from the English that the lieutenant and his friends
experienced a kind reception. The fathers of the Franciscan convent
displayed a liberality of sentiment towards them, which might not have
been expected from Portuguese friars; and, in a visit which they paid
to a convent of nuns, the ladies expressed a particular pleasure at
seeing them. At this visit the good nuns gave an amusing proof of the
progress they had made to the cultivation of their understandings.
Having heard that there were great philosophers among the English
gentlemen, they asked them a variety of questions; one of which was,
when it would thunder; and another, whether a spring of fresh water,
which was much wanted, was any where to be found within the walls of
the convent. Eminent as our philosophers were, they were puzzled by
these questions.