The ancestors who vanished, somewhere in South America. Most madeirans that I met had no idea that a large body of their ancestors had gone to Guyana (or British Guiana as it was was). They’re aware of the Venezuelan connection but the rest of the continent is rather vague. Several people were sure that Guyana was in Africa …
But they were able to piece out where the Guyanese Madeirans had come from. If they came to Guiana as cane-cutters, that meant they were probably from Ponta do Sol or Ponta do Pargo, or – on the North Coast – Ponta do Cruz. Meanwhile, the Teixera family were mostly to be found around Calheta; Mendoncas from Machica, and Menezes from Funchal or Santana.
So, it’s goodbye from Madeira. The picture shows the new Madeirans, busily servicing a tourist industry. These men will push you down a very steep hill, for 4km, in a basket on skids. It’s a hair-raising ride, controlled only by their boots (made of old tyres). Oddly, this ride is a relatively new phenomenon, devised by an Englishman just over a century ago. The story goes that he needed a way of conveying his very fat wife down to the port … Nowadays these ruffians will recreate the trajectory: a few minutes of high speed terror for about $45. A bargain.
