Hammocks

In the article Palanquins we have already referred to a kind of litter (maca) used in Madeira to carry people. We must now add that it is known as the hammock (rede, slung from a pole and carried by two bearers). It is made of a very thick, strong cloth woven on the island, tied at both ends to a pole or pala, usually of folhado (Clethra arborea, a native tree). The hammock perhaps appeared on the island after the palanquin, but it has continued to serve for carrying people, although it is less used today than in earlier times.

The luxury hammock is fitted with an awning and curtains, and inside with a cushion and a blanket. The hammock used in the countryside, by contrast, has no awning; this is often replaced by a piece of chintz thrown over the pole to shelter the passenger from both the wind and the rays of the sun. When carried by experienced men, the hammock is an excellent means of transport for invalids.

Every hammock always has two bearers, but if the person being carried is heavy, three or even four may be needed. The pole of the hammock rests on one shoulder of each man. He also carries a staff in his hand, which is often laid across the other shoulder so as to spread the weight better. Some men rest the pole of the hammock on their bare shoulder, using the staff only now and then during long marches, to avoid the effects of prolonged friction on that part of the body.

Foreigners who use the hammock on their journeys through the interior of the island marvel at the prodigious ease with which its bearers climb or descend the steepest slopes, even during the hottest hours of the day in the hot season. On level ground or going downhill it is very hard to keep up with them, so fast do they walk and leap, and no obstacle makes them slacken their pace.

The hammock is a comfortable way of seeing the island, but today only the wealthy can use it, so exorbitant is the price the bearers ask for their work. On top of the bearers’ pay there is always what is spent on them in wine and spirit (aguardente, distilled from sugar cane or wine). These men drink prodigious quantities of both during the marches without seeming to suffer noticeably from such excesses. These are justified to some extent by their need to find a stimulant for the arduous and gruelling work to which they frequently devote themselves.