The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1922-04-07

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington, y @
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 Amcricans perhaps, il was
once the home of Christopher Column
bus.
Once n has penetrated into the
country back of FuHChal. the only
town of the island that may be called
Il city, the simplest and most primitive
of civilized conditions are found. Flows
are merely the wooden beams tipped
with d point OF iron that Roman peas
ants used draft animals are oxen +;
grain is threshed by beiI = trodden out
on Old-fashiOned threshing floors and
ever In Funchal the most common
means Of conveyance is the sledge
dragged Yer cobbled streets by slow
moving oxen.
But with all its pr!mitiyeness Ma
deira is a land OF great beauty and
charm. II is considered by many, In
deed, the modern version OF the
Islands Of the Blessed II Is situated
In the latitude Of Charleston, s. c.,
and the Bermudas, and IS about as far
southwest OF the Strait Of CT raltar as
the Bermudas are southeast of New
York. Madeira. though, is not d low
lying islet, but was once q huge vol
n ~ vAnnt- n~l ha- 100000
scenery comparable to that of the vol
caniC islands of the Pacific. In It's rich
volcanic soil on the slopes Of It's peaks,
and IN the hot hOuSe-like air of some
Of It's deep valleys, almost every known
type of plant can be grown. The island
has become q great botanical garden.
1t is only necessary 10 climb It's slopes
TO pass from the growth Of the semi
tropics 10 that Of the temperate zone.
Bananas and apples, t~ree-ferns and
oaks, oranges and pears flourish with
in q stones throw Of zone another.
Above three thousand feet where most
Of the cultivation stops the crests OF
the hills and mountains are covered
with laurel and pine. Once Madeira
supported dense forests Of large trees.
8 fact which Won II It's name, meaning
wood" But the early settlers fred
the forests 10 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
nif1cent scale out of proportion to the
thirty-mile island.
One ridge rises TO more than 5000
feet, and one valley especially, Curral
das F~reiras, has the luxuriance and
charm more TO be expected of the trop-
zeal islands of the East. Steep rugged
cliffs mark the greater part of the
n on the low ground about
occasional bays and widened can
yOns that open to the sea huddle tiny
Possibly Madeira and the few small
which make up the group were
known to the PhOenicians and later to
the MOors and the Genoese; but all
OF their existence-unless
vague legends be considered-had been
ost by the beginning Of the Fifteenth
century. In 141e or 1919 storms drove
mariners to the islands
and they were therefore the first Of
he numerous small Atlantic islands to
,e discovered or r~ediscovered. Strange
y enough It was little Porto Santo,
,ot the relatively large Madeira, that
vas found. A colony was founded on
ne islet and remained many months
'efore Madeira, only % miles away,
vas discovered.
Unlike the nearby Canary Islands
where the native Guanches had at
aimed a considerable civilization, the
dadeiras apparently had never been 1
Inhabited before their discovery in
40. The islands were, In fact, given /,
yer almost solely to vegetation. No ,
mammals or Quadrupeds were found {
kept a few bats and a species Of rat.
he only other living creatures that