Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1922-04-06

(Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, D. CO
Madeira, the island to which the
former, emperor of Austria Hungary
and his wife have been banished, might
he 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 Colum-
bus.
Once one has penetrated into the
country back of Funchal, the only
town of the island that may be called
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
on Old-fashioned threshing floors; and
even in Funcha1 the most common
means of conveyance is the sledge
dragged over cobbled streets by slow
moving oxen.
But with all its primitiveness 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
the Bermudas are southeast of New
York. Madeira, though, is not low
lying islet, but was once a huge vol
canic peak, and has rugged mountain
scenery comparable to that of the vol
canic islands of the Pacific. In it's 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
1t 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 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,
a fact which won it its name, meaning
wood" But the early settlers fired
the forests to clear the land and the
of smaller trees and shrubs.
Scenery Is Magnificent.
The scenery of Madeira is on mag.
nificent 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 East. Steep rugged
cliffs mark the greater part of the
coast; and on the low ground about
the occasional bays and widened can
yons that open to the sea huddle tiny
towns.
Possibly Madeira and the few small
islands which make up the group were
known to the Phoenicians and later tt
the Moors and the Genoese; but al
E6COEuS VI IHSIF
vague legends be considered-had beer
lost by the beginning of the Fifteenth
century. In 141S or 1419 storms drove
Portuguese mariners to the islands
ard they were therefore the first OF
the numerous small Atlantic islands tt
be discovered or rediscOvered. Strange
ly enough it was little Porto Santo
not the relatively large Madeira, thai
was found. A colony was founded OF
the islet and remained many month:
before Madeira, only % miles away
was discovered.
Unlike the nearby Canary Island:
where the native Guanches had at
tanned a considerable civilization, tn,
Madeiras apparently had never beer
| inhabited before their discovery il
1919. The islands were, in fact, giver
over almost solely to vegetation. NJ
mammals or quadrupeds were fount
except few bats and species Of rat
| The only other living creatures tha