Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



Those who have seen Etna from the Greek 

 theatre of Taormina, or walked from temple 

 to temple on the heights of GirgentI, or 

 wondered at the mighty columns lying prone 

 on either side of the stream at Selinunto, may 

 realize our loss. And even if our aspirations 

 do not soar so high as such glorious monu- 

 ments of Hellenic art and civilization, if fancy 

 fails us to picture an Acropolis of Funchal with 

 its crown of Ionic columns, we yet may regret 

 that even the ancient earthworks and the 

 Roman villas of our own country, or such 

 mysterious relics of the past as the temples 

 and treasure-houses of tropical South Africa 

 are lacking. And perhaps we may feel some 

 surprise at the strange purposes of Nature in 

 so long hiding from human knowledge an 

 island so eminently fitted for human needs. 



The old chroniclers, notably Fructuoso, who 

 relates with picturesque detail the discovery of 

 Madeira, are not invariably to be trusted. The 

 measure of their historical value may be judged 

 from Cordeyro's account of the early kings of 

 Portugal. His object was to connect them 

 with the heroes, scriptural or mythical, of 

 antiquity. Lisbon was originally built by 



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