Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



Although Madeira has played no great part 

 in human story, and has no imposing relics of 

 the past to show, it was nevertheless the 

 nursery of two very notable things, which 

 profoundly influenced the history of subse- 

 quently discovered and colonized Western 

 countries. I have mentioned that its colonization 

 was the first step in that world-wide Portuguese 

 over-sea enterprise which blazed up in the 

 succeeding century, and led the Pope to divide 

 the new world between Portugal and Spain. 

 Into Madeira Prince Henry introduced some 

 shoots of sugar-cane from Sicily, and here he 

 organized the first cultivation and manufacture 

 of sugar on a large scale, and from Madeira 

 the cultivation spread to the West Indies when 

 they were discovered and settled. The de- 

 ficiency of white labour for the working of 

 this crop led to the importation into Madeira 

 of large numbers of negroes from Africa, their 

 first employment by Europeans in the develop- 

 ment of a new country, and a step which later 

 led to very momentous consequences in North 

 and South America. For hence arose " that 

 execrable sum of all villanies," the slave 

 trade. 



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