Our Two Toboggan Men Were Possibly Vigilant And Reassuring Beyond The
Common, But One Was Quite Silently So; The Other,
Who spoke a little
English, encouraged us from time to time to believe that they were
"strong mans," afterward correcting
Himself in conformity to the rules
of Portuguese grammar, which make the adjective agree in number with the
noun, and declaring that they were "strongs mans." We met many toboggan
men who needed to be "strongs mans" in their ascent of our track, with
their heavy toboggans on their heads; but some of them did not look
strong, and our own arrived spent and panting at the bottom. Something
like that is what always spoils pleasure in this world. Even when you
have paid for it with your money, some one else has paid with his person
twice as much, and you have not equalled his outlay when you have tipped
him your handsomest.
A shilling apiece seemed handsome for those "strongs mans," but
afterward there were watches of the nights when the spirit grieved that
the shilling had not been made two apiece or even half a crown, and I
wish now that the first reader of mine who toboggans down Madeira would
make up the difference for me in his tip to those poor fellows. I do not
mind if he adds a few pennies for the children who ran before our
toboggan and tossed camellias into it, and then followed in the hopes of
a reward, which we tried not to disappoint.
The future traveller need not add to the fee of the authorized and
numbered guide who took possession of us as soon as we got out of our
basket and led us unresisting to a waiting bullock sled. He invited
himself into it, and gave himself the best of characters in the
autobiography into which he wove his scanty instruction concerning the
objects we passed. A bullock sled is not of such blithe progress as a
toboggan, but it is very comfortable, and it is of an Oriental and
litter-like dignity, with its calico cushions and curtains. One could
not well use it in New York, but it serves every purpose of a cab in
Funchal, where we noted a peculiar feature of local commerce which I
hesitate to specify, since it cast apparent discredit upon woman. It
was, as I have noted, Sunday; but every shop where things pleasing or
even useful to women were sold was wide open, and somewhat flaringly
invited the custom of our fellow-passengers of that sex; but there was
not a shop where such things as men's collars were for sale, or anything
pleasing or useful to man, but was closed and locked fast. I must except
from this sweeping statement the cafes, but these should not count, for
women as well as men frequented them, as we ascertained by going to a
very bowery one on the quay and ordering a bottle of the best and dryest
Madeira. We wished perhaps to prove that it was really not bad for gout,
or perhaps that it was no better than the Madeira you get in New York
for the same price. Even with the help of friends, of the sex which
could have been freely buying native laces, hats, fans, photographs,
parasols, and tailor-made dresses, we could not finish that bottle.
Glass after glass we bestowed on our smiling guide, with no final effect
upon the bottle and none upon him, except to make him follow us to the
tender and take an after-fee for showing us a way which we could not
have missed blindfold. It was rather strange, but not stranger than the
behavior of the captain of the tender, who, when he had collected our
tickets, invited a free-will offering for collecting them, and mostly
got it.
When we were safely and gladly on board our steamer again, we had
nothing to do, until the deck-steward came round with tea, but watch the
islanders swarming around us in their cockles and diving for sixpences
and shillings, which they caught impartially with their fingers and
toes. With so many all shouting and gesticulating, one could not venture
one's silver indiscriminately; one must employ some particular diver,
and I selected for my investments a poor young fellow who had lost an
arm. With his one hand and his two feet he never failed of the coin I
risked, and I wish they had been many enough to enable him to retire
from the trade, which even in that mild air kept him visibly shivering
when out of the water. I do not know his name, but I commend him to
future travellers by the token of his pathetic mutilation.
By-and-by we felt the gentle stir of the steamer under us; the last
tender went ashore, and the divers retired in their cockles from our
side. Funchal began to rearrange the lines of her streets, while keeping
those of her roofs and house-walls and terraced gardens. We passed out
of the roadstead, we rounded the mighty headland by which we had
entered, and were once more in face of that magnificent drop-curtain,
which had now fallen upon one of the most vivid and novel passages of
our lives.
II
TWO UP-TOWN BLOCKS INTO SPAIN
There is nothing strikes the traveller in his approach to the rock of
Gibraltar so much as its resemblance to the trade-mark of the Prudential
Insurance Company. He cannot help feeling that the famous stronghold is
pictorially a plagiarism from the advertisements of that institution. As
the lines change with the ship's course, the resemblance is less
remarkable; but it is always remarkable, and I suppose it detracts
somewhat from the majesty of the fortress, which we could wish to be
more entirely original. This was my feeling when I first saw Gibraltar
four years ago, and it remains my feeling after having last seen it four
weeks ago.
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