Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



devices. They have things very much their 

 own way. The landlord is as a rule the owner 

 of the bare soil and of the water-rights apper- 

 taining to it. He cannot turn his tenant out 

 without compensating him in full for his build- 

 ings, walls, pavements, trees, and crops. And 

 the tenant can sell his property in these. 

 Theoretically, the landlord is entitled, as rent, 

 to half the produce of the farm ; but in the 

 case of small holdings, which are the rule, it is 

 practically impossible to check this, and no 

 doubt he habitually gets much less. 



To the genealogist this island must be a 

 happy hunting-ground ; but the difficulties of 

 such investigations in the way of a foreigner 

 are almost insuperable. When it was first 

 settled, in 1420, by Joao Goncalvez, surnamed 

 Zargo, representatives of some of the chief 

 families of Portugal accompanied him, and 

 obtained grants of land ; and four noblemen 

 were sent by John I. to marry his daughters. 

 Their names are common here to-day, and 

 possibly their descendants are numerous. It 

 is quite usual for illegitimate children to be 

 called by their father's surname, and this 

 practice helps to disseminate widely the greater 



no 



