The North Side 



must be of the dullest. Yet it has Interesting 

 historical associations. It was occupied by the 

 Portuguese a year before they colonized 

 Madeira. The first governor was Bartolomeo 

 Perestrello, an Italian sea-captain in the Portu- 

 guese service. His daughter married the great 

 Columbus, who resided here for some time. 

 The story runs that the dying pilot of a 

 Biscayan vessel which was driven into Porto 

 Santo by stress of weather gave to Columbus 

 his chart and papers, and some information 

 which led the great navigator to believe that 

 land lay beyond the ocean to the westward. 



Washington Irving waxes wroth over this 

 " idle tale of a tempest-tossed pilot," which he 

 says was seized and shaped by such as sought 

 to tarnish the glory of his hero. But we may 

 see in it nothing more than one of those vague 

 reports of islands or continents yet undiscovered 

 which in the ferment of the fifteenth century 

 were eagerly received. In that wonderful 

 period human activity was at its highest point ; 

 not only were the scholars and the artists, filled 

 with the spirit of the classical revival, ever 

 seeking fresh means of intellectual and imagi- 

 native enjoyment ; the men of action and of 



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