oth of the East and West Indies,
particularly the banana, the guava, the pineapple or anana, and the
mango, which flourish almost without culture. The corn of this country
is of a most excellent quality, large-grained and very fine, and the
island would produce it in great plenty, yet most of what is consumed by
the inhabitants is imported. The mutton, pork, and beef are also very
good; the beef in particular, which we took on board here, was
universally allowed to be scarcely inferior to our own; the lean part
was very like it, both in colour and grain, though the beasts are much
smaller, but the fat is as white as the fat of mutton. The town of
Frunchiale derives its name from _Funcho_, the Portuguese name for
fennel, which grows in great plenty upon the neighbouring rocks; by the
observation of Dr Heberden, it lies in the latitude of 32 deg. 35' 33" N.
and longitude 16 deg. 49' W. It is situated in the bottom of a bay, and
though larger than the extent of the island seems to deserve, is very
ill built; the houses of the principal inhabitants are large, those of
the common people are small, the streets are narrow, and worse paved
than any I ever saw. The churches are loaded with ornaments, among which
are many pictures, and images of favourite saints, but the pictures are
in general wretchedly painted, and the saints are dressed in laced
clothes. Some of the convents are in a better taste, especially that of
the Franciscans, which is plain, simple and neat in the highest degree.
The infirmary in particular drew our attention as a model which might be
adopted in other countries with great advantage. It consists of a long
room, on one side of which are the windows, and an altar for the
convenience of administering the sacrament to the sick: The other side
is divided into wards, each of which is just big enough to contain a
bed, and neatly lined with gally-tiles; behind these wards, and parallel
to the room in which they stand, there runs a long gallery, with which
each ward communicates by a door, so that the sick may be separately
supplied with whatever they want without disturbing their neighbours. In
this convent there is also a singular curiosity of another kind; a small
chapel, the whole lining of which, both sides and ceiling, is composed
of human sculls and thigh-bones; the thigh-bones are laid across each
other, and a scull is placed in each of the four angles. Among the
sculls one is very remarkable; the upper an