Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



things have changed the history of the world ! 

 The colonization of Madeira was the first step 

 towards the great over-sea possessions of Por- 

 tugal ; its occupation by Rome might equally 

 have been the first step to a world-wide Roman 

 Empire. 



Although the general aspect of Funchal may 

 be described as " old-world," yet it suggests 

 rather the comfortable and leisurely world of 

 the eighteenth century than anything earlier. 

 An old house or two with a sixteenth-century 

 coat-of-arms and date may be seen ; some of 

 the churches were built not long after the 

 original occupation, but they contain very little 

 of interest. The cathedral, which was finished 

 in 1 5 14, is not an interesting building as a 

 v/hole ; but its ceiling of juniper wood, com- 

 monly said to be Moorish in character, and 

 distantly recalling some Venetian work of the 

 period, is very fine. The sacristy contains a 

 good deal of elaborate carving of the sixteenth 

 century, and a number of pictures which to 

 describe as of no merit is too mild. The 

 Church of the Convent of Sta. Clara, in which 

 Zargo, the first governor, is buried, is lined with 

 very beautiful tiles with an interlaced arabesque 



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