MADEIRA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XV, Issue 80, 3 January 1857, Page 4

MADEIRA.

The cholera broke out here lately with great violence. There is reason, however, to believe that a change has taken place for the better in the condition of the Avretched sufferers ; but they are a prey to other ills, and any effort that can be made to help them will be a beneficent work. Some idea of the nature of the visitation may be gained from a few facts contained in a private letter which has fallen in our way. The population of Funchal has been nearly decimated ; there were no doctors, and a scarcity of medicine. Even the poor creatures who had passed through the cold blue stage, so generally fatal, were, at the date of our advices, "sinking from absolutely having no food to keep them alive." The British Residents did what could be done, and neither spared themselves nor the means at their disposal ; the Governor did what he could ; but in the worst stages of the visitation he was not supported, and the brunt of the work fell upon private individuals. In the first panic all the shops were closed ; for a few days it was difficult for any one to get food ; " but the Governor ordered the shops to be opened, and, for a wonder, got his orders obeyed." On the 11th of August, the latest date, there were no new cases. A Portuguese man-of-war arrived "with five doctors, plenty of rice and medicines, and bedding for 300 sick." ' The want of a convalescent infirmary was greatly felt. The pestilence was travelling westward. "There the people are almost savages, and they were dying absolutely without help ; they were so frightened that they would not bury their dead until compelled by the police to do so."