boat has landed her passengers in perfect safety.

Away bounded Solon the moment he saw me fairly landed, scampering along
the sand, throwing it up and barking, and then hurrying back to me and
licking my hand, and leaping up over and over again, and then, in the
exuberance of his joy, away he went once more to repeat the same
manoeuvres.

Funchal struck me as a clean, well-paved town, built entirely of brick,
and free from mud and dust; indeed, from the steepness of the streets
and the constant supply of running water, it would be a disgrace if it
were not clean. I fancy that the English residents have contributed
much to effect this object. The streets are narrow, and thus shade is
obtained, a great object in a hot climate. The largest houses are
occupied by the merchants, whose stores of wine and other goods are on
the ground floor, they living in the upper rooms. The dress of the
peasants we met in the town on landing I thought very picturesque. The
cap, worn both by men and women, is like an inverted funnel, made of
blue cloth lined with red, and covers only the crown of the head. The
men have as little clothing as is consistent with decency,--a pair of
full linen drawers reaching to the knees, with a loose linen shirt, and
sometimes a jacket thrown over the shoulder, completes the costume of
most of them, stockings and shoes not being thought of. Some, however,
we saw with trousers and long yellow boots, turned over at the tops.
They were evidently the dandies of the population. The women appeared
in coloured petticoats, with a well-fitting bodice and a red cape. Some
wore handkerchiefs instead of the funnel cap, and others mantillas and
black hoods, by which the whole face and figure can be concealed. In
consequence of the steepness and hardness of the roads, wheeled vehicles
cannot be used, and a sort of sledge, a cart on runners, is employed
instead. In the town people who cannot walk are carried about in
palanquins, slung on a long pole, and borne on the shoulders of two men.
The passenger can sit upright in them; but as they are very heavy,
people travelling to any distance into the country use hammocks, or as
the natives call them _redes_, made of fine network, and also slung on a
single pole and borne by two men. With cushions arranged in them I can
fancy no more luxurious conveyance for an invalid, though for my part,
as I think exertion gives zest to travelling, I should prefer being
bumped o