System of weights and measures

The system of weights and measures used in this archipelago was undoubtedly the same as that of mainland Portugal, the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal), until the year in which the metric decimal system began to be adopted here. The almude (old liquid measure, about 17.5 litres), the canada (liquid measure, c. 1.4 litres), the galão (Portuguese gallon, about 3.16 litres), the alqueire (dry measure for grain; as a land measure c. 900 m²), the arrátel (old pound, about 459 g), the côvado (cubit, c. 66 cm), the vara (linear measure, c. 1.10 m), the braça (fathom, about 2.2 m), the foot and the palmo (span, about 22 cm), with their multiples and submultiples, were the types of weights and measures in use among us. They varied somewhat from parish (freguesia) to parish, as no doubt also happened on the mainland, from where they were brought to this island. For both weights and measures, the seats of the municipalities held standards that strictly governed the use of those types, though it is not known whether there was perfect uniformity between the standards of the various municipalities. A list of all these standards was drawn up in 1849 by a commission made up of Drs Manuel Joaquim Moniz, Luís da Costa Pereira and João Perestrelo de Vasconcelos, and published in no. 195 of the Semanario Official; however, it does not show the differences between the various standards, as would have been desirable. The list shows that these standards were very numerous, and some of them are of real interest for their careful workmanship and as documents for an archaeological study of the subject. In 1859 the central government sent the artillery officer Francisco de Paula Campos e Oliveira to Madeira, with the cavalry officer Fernando Seixas de Brito Bettencourt as his assistant, charged with introducing the new legal system of weights and measures into this archipelago. Campos e Oliveira travelled through every municipality and made a detailed study of the subject. On 28 August 1859 he sent an interesting and lengthy report to the Directorate-General of Commerce and Industry, which was published in nos 60 and 61 of the Funchal newspaper A Reforma, and from which we shall give some extracts.

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The weights,’ says the said officer, ‘are some of iron, others of bronze. Some have the shape of a sphere set within circular hoops, also of iron, which cross at right angles and have a ring of the same metal where they meet; others have the shape of truncated cones or of quadrangular pyramids; and others, finally, are cylindrical, with or without a ring.

Among the bronze weights, the standard weights (marcos) of Funchal, Machico, Ponta do Sol and Calheta stand out, above all that of Funchal. This weight is of four arrobas and has the shape of a truncated cone. It is exquisitely worked and decorated with magnificent reliefs and openwork. The lid is adorned with three dragons or fabulous beasts in high relief, and beside them are two busts of knights in ancient armour. These busts support a handle whose ends pass through their backs and turn about them. The handle represents two men standing back to back, their hands raised above their heads, both holding up a small sphere in which the handle ends. On the lid is the following inscription: Conrad Mos Eych Master 1580.

The Machico weight bears this inscription on its outer surface: ‘The most high and most excellent King Dom Manuel, the First of Portugal, ordered me to be made in the year of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1499.’

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The weights of Ponta do Sol and Calheta both bear inscriptions similar to that of Machico. Those of Calheta and Ponta do Sol, because they are better preserved, because they could easily be made complete, and because of the way they are made, deserve to be kept as monuments of our old standards of weights and measures. Far more worthy of archaeological consideration, however, is the four-arroba weight of Funchal; for besides being complete, I consider it an exquisite work of art of its kind.

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In the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal I found a cubic box containing standards of linear measure, capacity and weight, all in brass, corresponding to the nine decimal measures but with a different nomenclature. All these standards bear the inscription: Arsenal do Exército, 1819., and the metre, the kilogram and the litre, which were called vara, libra (Portuguese pound, c. 459 g) and canada respectively, carry a further inscription which reads: King John VI established the uniformity of weights and measures throughout the United Kingdom by the decimal system, 1818: Arsenal do Exército 1819

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Because of old and widespread customs, the adoption of the new legal system of weights and measures met with stubborn resistance everywhere. In this archipelago, too, there were several riots in violent opposition to the system, which profoundly altered what had been practised for centuries in all kinds of commercial transactions. In the municipality (concelho) of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’) the rioters forced the authorities and the most prominent people to throw the weights and measures of the new system into the sea, and the same happened in the parish of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’); in Ponta do Sol the people set fire to the town hall (Paços do Concelho). In Santana (‘St Anne’) the people caused various disturbances, and in the town (vila) of São Vicente many documents of the Municipal Administration (Administração do Concelho, the government’s local civil office) were destroyed.

The new system was gradually introduced and became general here, and today its use presents not the slightest difficulty. Even so, it is still common today to speak of almudes, galões, canadas and quartilhos when measuring liquids; of varas and côvados when measuring cloth; of braças when measuring stone; of moios and alqueires when measuring cereals; and of pés (feet) when measuring timber.

The decimal metric system, decreed in Portugal on 13 December 1852, was ordered into effect by the decree of 20 June 1859: in Lisbon from 1 January 1860, and in the other towns and islands from 1 March, but only as regards the metre, or linear measure. For the other measures it was to be in force throughout the country in 1862.