chap. iv.J RE-DISCOVERY OF MADEIRA. 61 



RE-DISCOVERT OF MADEIRA. 



Under the Roman rule, after the fall of Carthage, all com- 

 munication with the Atlantic Islands ceased, and it was re- 

 served for the great Dom Henry* to re-establish the com- 

 munication of Europe with the Madeiras. Cordeyro, in his 

 Historia Tnsulana f , says that some attribute the discovery of 

 Porto Santo to certain Frenchmen and Spaniards, but he 

 gives no credit to the tale. 



Prince Henry, fourth \ son of King John (of Portugal), in 

 trying his fortune against the Moors, having made ac- 

 quaintance with Morocco, was led to push his enterprises 

 still further. In the year 1419 § he sent an expedition to 

 attempt the doubling of Cape Bojador||. Joao Goncalves 

 Zarco andTristao Vaz Teixeira, who were in command of the 

 expedition, were driven so far off shore that all reckoning 

 was lost, when at daybreak they saw an island before them, 

 which they called Porto Santo, to commemorate their deliver- 

 ance. On their return Prince Henry sent out Zarco, Vaz, 

 and Pestrello to plant a colony on the new island. It was 

 not long before a dark spot was observed on the western 

 horizon of Porto Santo. This was regarded by some with 

 superstitious awe ; but Zarco concluded it to be clouds at- 

 tracted by high land 11, and shaping his course in that direc- 

 tion, in spite of the endeavours of his crew, by menaces 

 and supplications, to prevent him, he discovered, in the year 



* Faria y Sousa, torn. i. c. 1. 



f Lib. iii., Das Ilhas de Porto Santo & Madeyra, p. 62. Lisb. 1717. 



$ Mariana (edit. 1592), Hist, de reb. Hisp., b. 18, chap. ix. 



§ Barros, Dec. I., 1. i. cap. 2. 



|| So called from the Spanish, bojar, to compass or go about. 



U Alcaforado. 



