1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

154

The Vineyards and Wines of Madeira.

Chief Engineer Jones occasionally joined them in their interest ing search; and although,curious to say,none ofthe passengers discovered anything, yet Jones one morning made a valuable find in the shape of a smallthough really handsome stone,which he readily sold on board for ^£40 cash down. The excitement now reached its height,and many ofthe passengers spent every hour ofthe day groping among the coals. But suddenly there •came a startling revelation,which these searchers after diamonds received either with incredulity or iU-concealed vexation. It was asserted that the whole affair was nothing less than a well- organised practical joke. The diamonds were real, but they were never found among the coals. They had been handed to Jones by a diamond-digger on board, who was returning to the Cape with a few rough stones still in his possession,and who had planned the pretended discovery with the view ofamusing himself ■at the expense of the more gullible among his fellow-passengers. At daybreak, on our fifth day out, we sighted the island of Porto Santo, rising phantom-like out of the sea—Porto Santo, " the holy Haven," whence the early Portuguese settlers saw the cloud which seemingly hung for ever in the west, and which subsequently proved to be the rocky " island of wood"—the ancients' mystic "Island of the Blessed," and the Madeira of to-day. Both at Porto Santo and at Madeira Columbus for some time resided—marrying the daughter of a Poi-tuguese governor of the former place—prior to setting out on his adventure in search of a new world. Before noon we were ■steaming past the group of small islands known as the Desertas, and in full view of Madeira itself, the barren rocky cliffs and pine-capped motmtains of which, as the island first came into view, took us somewhat by surprise. All became changed, however, as we approached nearer to Prmchal, and little hamlets formed of whitewashed casas, standing among treUisedvineyards or patches of sugar-canes, were discernednestledby the shore or in the valleys and ravines, and the fertility of the island became obvious enough. At length the Brazen Head was turned, and Punchal appeared, stretched out at the foot of theloftyhills, and