This Story Is Reported In A Somewhat Different Manner By Galvano Already
Mentioned.
According to him, one Macham, an Englishman, fled from his
country, about the year 1344, with a woman of
Whom he was enamoured,
meaning to retire into Spain; but the vessel in which the lovers were
embarked, was driven by a storm to the island of Madeira, then
altogether unknown and uninhabited. The port in which Macham took
shelter is still called Machico. His mistress being sea-sick, Macham
landed with her and some of the people, and the ship putting to sea,
deserted them. Oppressed with sickness and grief at seeing herself in
this hopeless state of exile, the lady died; and Macham, who was
extremely fond of her, constructed a chapel or hermitage dedicated to
Jesus the Saviour, in which he deposited her remains, and engraved both
their names, and the cause of their arrival, on a rude monument which he
erected to her memory. He afterwards constructed a boat or canoe, which
he hollowed out from the trunk of a large tree, in which he, and those of
his companions who had been left on shore along with him, passed over to
the opposite coast of Africa, without the aid of oars, sails, or rudder.
He was made prisoner by the Moors, who presented him to their king, by
whom he was sent to the king of Castile.
Madeira, in the Portuguese language, or Madera in Spanish, signifies
_wood_; and this island derived its name from the immense quantity of
thick and tall trees with which it was covered when first discovered.
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