The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-03-30

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington, ID. c.
Madeira, the island to which the
former emperor of Austria Hungary
and his wife have been banished, might
be said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean,
and the Middle Ages. And most inter-
eSting to Americans, perhaps, it was
once the home of Christopher Column
bus.
Once n has penetrated into the
country back of Funchal, the only
town Of the island that may be called
a city, the simplest and most primitive
of civilized conditions are found. Plows
are merely the wooden beams tipped
with a point Of iron that Roman peas
ants used; draft animals are oxen I;
grain is threshed by being trodden out
OH old-fashi0ned threshing floors; and
means of conveyance is the sledge
dragged over cobbled streets by slow
moving oxen.
But with all its primitiyeness Ma
deira is a land of great beauty and
charm. 1t is considered by many, in
deed, the modern version of the
Islands Of the Blessed" 1t is situated
In the latitude Of Charleston, s. c.,
and the Bermudas, and Is about as far
southwest of the Strait of Gibraltar as
York. Madeira, though, is not a low
lying islet, but vas once n huge vol
eanic peak, and has rugged mountain
scenery comparable to that of the vol
canlc islands of the Pacific. In its rich
volcanic soil on the slopes of its peaks,
and in the hot-house-like air of some
Of its deep valleys, almost every known
type of plant can be grown. The island
has become a great botanical garden.
II is only necessary to climb its slopes
TO pass from the growth of the semi
tropics to that OF the temperate zone.
Bananas and apples, tree-ferns and
oaks. oranges and pears flourish with
In a stones throw Of one another.
Above three thousand feer where most
Of the cultivation stops the crests of
ttAt iliiS anu HlOuiitdliLS are CONtIeu
with laurel and pine. Once Madeira
supported dense forests of large trees.
a fact which won It it's name, meaning
wood" But the early settlers fred
the forests to clear the land and the
later growth was for the most part
Of smaller trees and shrubs.
Scenery Is MAGNIFICENT.
The scenery of Madeira is on a mag
niicent scale out of proportion to the
thirty-mile island.
One ridge rises to more than 5000
feet, and one valley especially, Curral
das Freiras, has the luxuriance and
charm more to be expected of the trop-
ical islands OF the Fast. Steep rugged
cliffs mark the greater part Of the
coast; and on the low ground about
the occasional bays and widened can.
towns.
Possibly MADEIRA and the few small
islands which make up the group were
known to the Phoenicians and later TO
Tie NlUbIS anu Tic ptuoCSt Dut uii
records OF their exisrence-unless
vague legends be considered-had been
lost by the beginning of the Fifteenth
century. In I41S or 1910 storms drove
Portuguese mariners to the islands
and they were therefore the first OF
the numerous small Atlantic islands to
be discovered or rediscovered. Strange
~ enough II was little Porto Santo,
not the relatively large Madeira, that
was found. A colony was founded on
the islet and remained many months
before Madeira, only % miles away
was discovered.
Unlike the nearby Canary Islands
where the native Guanches had at
tanned q considerable civilization, the
Madeiras apparently had eve been
Inhabited before their discovery In
1919. The islands were. In fact, given
over almost solely to vegetation. No
mammals or quadrupeds were found
Except q few bats and a species of rat,
The only other living creatures That