The Nome daily nugget., 1936-01-31

Much traditional lore is associated with the discovery of Madeira. Ro. mans, Arabs, Italians, Spaniards, French, English, and Irish have all been credited as the first to glimpse the island. The most romantic of the legends concerns two English lovers of the Fourteenth century, Robert Machin and Anna dArfet, who eloped from Bristol in a small craft and were blown southward to Madeira's eastern shore.
 Early History of Madeira.
 With the coming of the Fifteenth century history is on frmer ground. It Is known that the Portuguese ma riner, Zarco, sent out by Henry the Navigator, reached Porto Santo in 1419. then sailed across to larger island, 23 miles away, braving dark cloud which hung over it, an evil omen to the superstitious sailors of that day. The forbidding cloud proved to be va- DOT hanging over the mountains of beautiful, densely wooded land. Zarco and his followers landed on the shore of sheltered bay about 12 miles northeast of Funchal. Because of its forests the new land was named Ma deira," the Portuguese word for wood.
 Sugar cane, introduced from Sicily, was responsible. for Madeira's pros- perity during the early years of its col onization. Negro and Moorish slaves were imported from Africa to work on the sugar plantations and to build roads and aqueducts. The stone irrigat- ing canals, or "levadas," extending for miles down the steep mountain sides still render efficient service. Without them the lower regions would be wa terless large part of the year.
 Origin of Its Wine. Soon after the colonization of Ma. deira, the Midwest vine was imported by Prince Henry from Crete, and other varieties were introduced at later pe- riod. Today one type of Madeira wine bears the old name. 'Malvasia," or "Malmsey." famous In England when western European wines of that name were well known, and later when Ma deira wines had taken their place.
 Our naval hero, John Paul Jones. was at one time master of the Two Friends a Madeira wire ship. The finest wines of the island were in de- mand in the America Colonies Ships from Boston. New York. Philadelphia, and Savannah. laden with pipe slaves, timber. train oil. dried fish, and rice, brought back pipes of Madeira to the wealthy American merchants and planters
 Madeira is small island, little more than 3O miles in length and less than half this in width: but 1t Is so moun- tainous. SO gashed by deep gorges and guarded by gigantic headlands. that access is difficult to certain of Its sun kissed coastal villages. cool. mist-en- veloped uplands, and deep. fern-hung canyons. Motor busses. which connect the villages on the paved highways. have made a marked change in the manner of life and outlook of the conn, try people.
 The mountain village of Camacha, above Funcha. Is the home of the i'm portant wickerwOrk industry. for the bushy willow grows in the beds of nearby streams. At nearly every door men and women weave chairs, tables and baskets.
 Madeira hand embroidery has be- come as well known in recent years as Madeira wine. All through the country one sees women. sitting in the open, industriously plying their needles at odd moments between household tasks, and girls as young as seven oi eight stitching away like veterans | The island of Porto Santo is much | lower and drier than Madeira It has stretches of sandy beach which the | larger island lacks. and in summer l residents of Funchal brave the rough
 four-hour passage to Villa Baleira tt enjoy the sea bathing