Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-03-31

ciety, washington, ID. CD
Madeira, the islatid to which the
former emperor Of Austria Hungary
! and his wife have been bsnished. might
be said to lie in the. Atlantic, Ocean,
and the Middle Ages. And most inter-,
esting to Americans, perhaps, it was
once tbs. home Of Christopher Column
Ous,.awod,,ooe ATS =" rn~b taoh ~ 30 s'po'
Once lone has penetrated into the
country back ofs'Fuhchnl' the only
town of the island that rfiay be called
a city, the simplest and most primitive
OK Civilized conditions are found, ,Ploys
are merely, the. wooden beams tipped
with a. point of, iron. that Roman peas,
ants Used - draft animals are .oxen,,
grain. thrashed, by being troddent out
on old-fashioned threshingo floors: and
even in Funchai the most common
means of conveyance Is the sledge
dragged over cobbied streets 10y SLOW
/ moving, ,oxens Z 'ea,w ., est'l h.,lsas' ,oH
I ButswitK alf"tts aprimitiveness Ma
! deira is ao'iand Of great beauty and
} charm. 1t Is considered BY many in
deed, " the modern version Of, the
{ islands OF the Blessed, 1t Is situated
and the Bermudas. and is about as far
southwest of the Strait of'G.braitar as
che Bermudasl are southeast, of, New
York, :, Madeira, though, Is not. a. low
lying. islet. but was once a. huge, vol.
canic peak, land has, rugged mountain
scenery, comparable to that of,theevOl-
canie' Islands of the Pacific! In it's rich
Volcanic soil ON the Slopes Of it's peaks,
and III" The hot hotise-like air Of some
ofits deep Valleys, almost every known
type Of plant Gan be grown. The Island
has. become a great. .hotapical garden,
1t Is only necessary to- climb its slopes
to pass from the growth, OF, the semi.
tropics to that of the temperate zones
Bananas and apples, streeaferns@" 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 aerestsf 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 fred
the forests to- clear the land and the
later growth was for the most part
of. smaller. trees, and shEubs.,p -. 4,op.
= %'' ofasceneryls Magnificent ' ,.' q - =,
The SCENERY. Of. Madeira Is i on mag
nifcent scale out of proportion to the
thirty fs1ands',r',go IT. - sn,ase :,
One'ridges rises to- more than 6,OO0
feet and one. valley ,espeGia1fy, Curral
das. Freiras,s has the luxuriance and
charm more, to be, $peGted Of the, trop-
ical islands of the Eastio Steep rugged
Gins mark the Greater part ,Sf.. the
COAST !; aud on theAlowo ground about
the. oscasianAla BAYS and h#idsHsd can
yonst that open to thessea huddle tiny
| towns. 'egetl"t %
| Possibly MADEIRA and 'ths few small
Islands which make up. the group we're
known to the Phoenicians and Later to
the Moors and the,qG enoese; but all
records Of their exisrenee,-Aunless
vague legends be consideredal-had been
lost by the beginning of the Fifteenth
century Iii 141S or l419 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
w. enough itowas little, Porto Santo.
not the relatively large Madeiray that
was found A. colony was founded on
the islet' and remained many months
BEFORE MADEIRA. 'onIy' '2S miles away,
was discovered. ~ " ~ = f , ,,a', :,
Unlike the nearby, Canary Islands
| where the native Guanchesp had at
tanned a considerable civilization, the
Madeirss apparently had never been
Inhabited before their discovery IN
I 1A19. The Islands WERE in fact, given
over almost solely To- 'Sv'egetaticih. NO
mammals or Quadrupeds were found
except few bats and species Of rat.
The only other living creatures that