It was during the merry days of the reign of King Edward III. of
England, that a little ship left the port of Bristol, sailing suddenly
and secretly, so that none knew to what port she was bound.
She was no trading vessel laden with English goods for Calais, for her
crew was not composed of sailors; there were on board only a few men,
and these wore the dress of English gentlemen. The strange crew, the
secret departure, all told the tale of some danger from which they were
seeking to escape, and had we been on board we should have seen by the
anxious faces of the crew, by the quick, eager glances with which they
watched the shores as they sailed out of the Bristol Channel, that they
feared pursuit, either for themselves or for some one whom they had in
charge. Though not really sailors, they were doing their best to guide
the little vessel, and they had chosen for captain a young Englishman
called Lionel Machin, whose directions they obeyed, and in whom they
appeared to have full confidence.
It was for Lionel's sake that the party of friends were now making their
escape from England. He had married a girl whom he had long loved, but
he had not gained the consent of her father and mother. They were
powerful and rich, and he had reason to fear that his young wife would
be taken from him through their influence with the king, and therefore
he had determined to seek a French port, and to hide himself and wife in
some French city which did not own Edward as its king.
But, ignorant as they were of navigation, it was no easy matter for them
to direct their course aright, and, high winds springing up, they were
beaten about for five days without catching sight of the coast of
France. They did not know in what direction they were being carried, and
all on board, especially the new-made wife, were full of uneasiness and
dismay. Lionel encouraged Arabella with loving and hopeful words, even
when his own heart was sinking low, but his friends, who had come only
for his sake, and without well considering the dangers and risks which
they might encounter, were fast losing spirit and hope. Their merry
adventure seemed to be turning into sad earnest, and these light-hearted
lads, having nothing to sustain their courage when pleasure was gone,
now vented their disappointment in continual murmurs and regrets.
Arabella herself tried to seem indifferent to their danger, and secure
in Lionel's care; she hid her tears, lest they might grieve her husband;
but when she thought that no one saw her, she gave herself up to sorrow
and despair. She thought of her father and mother whom she had left
secretly, lest they should forbid her marriage with Lionel, and she
longed with an aching heart for one word of love and forgiveness. For
hours she would sit, her eyes turned toward that part of the horizon
where she had last seen the coast of England, her thoughts busied about
her old home: her father, taking his pleasures with a sad heart; her
little sister, weeping for her lost playmate; and, most of all, her
mother, upright and dry-eyed, after the stern fashion of the day, but
yet, as Arabella well knew, ever thinking of her absent and disobedient
child, ever missing the light step, the loving smile, the tender touch
of the daughter she had loved so well.
But Lionel still kept up heart and hope, still spoke gaily of the new
home they would soon make in sunny France--yes, even when day after day
passed by, and the watchers saw no land, and knew that they must be
drifting far out of their course, away into the wide unknown ocean. They
had been at sea more than a month when one morning early, Lionel, who
was pacing the deck, heard behind him a sudden shout of joy.
He did not turn, for there were tears in his eyes which he must hide
from his companions, for he had now, for the first time, learned from
his wife of her repentance and her grief, and he too was sad at heart
and well-nigh hopeless. But the shout was repeated and taken up by other
voices.
"Land, land at last!" they cried, and Lionel turned to see, far in the
distance, the tall sharp outline either of a rock or of the cliffs which
guarded some unknown shore. Wind and wave were steadily sweeping the
vessel onward towards this haven of refuge, and there was nothing to do
but to watch the sharpening outlines, and to see, as fog and mist
cleared before the sun, the sheer dark rocks and deep valleys of their
new home.
Nearer still and nearer, till the land was full in sight, and the
famished and wearied crew could see the green valleys and tree-covered
heights of this lovely island, could almost hear the fall of the clear
waters which they saw glancing down the face of the rocks.
What land it was they knew not. No houses were to be seen, no ships or
canoes flew out from under the shelter of the shore, no natives gathered
in fear or wonder on the silent silver beach, only a number of
bright-winged birds came as if to greet the new-comers, and settled
fearless on the sails and ropes.
Quickly the ship's one boat was lowered, and some of Lionel's
companions, well armed, put off for the unknown shore. Lionel would fain
have been of the number, but neither Arabella nor his friends would
permit him to run this risk. Ere long the boat returned, and the
adventurers climbed on board as eager to speak as were their companions
to hear.
"A dainty and delicious country, truly, Captain Lionel, but men we saw
none," said the first speaker.
"The beasts thereon are tame, and have no fear of man," continued
another.
"Yea, and the land is a garden of flowers, and the air soft, that it
would give back health to the dying; there will your fair wife recover
her bloom, and we all shall rest after our grievous toil."
"Fruits are there in plenty, they dropped on us from the trees as we
walked," added the first.
"Here at last we have found a haven," answered Lionel; "here, my kinsmen
and faithful friends, may you regain the strength you have lost in my
cause, yea, and win your pardon in England by this fair news. Arabella,
you will soon be strong again," and Lionel, though he spoke confidently,
looked with evident anxiety toward the pale face which bore the traces
of sorrow as well as of sickness.
Soon the whole party, save some few who remained in charge of the ship,
were on land, wandering with the glee of schoolboys over the green
plains and wooded hills on which they seemed to be the first to set
foot. Choosing a sheltered spot among the laurels and near to the bend
of the river, the new lords of the island soon built a shelter for
themselves, and brought thither stores from the ship.
In this happy retreat the fugitives spent nearly a fortnight, seeming to
forget, in the peace and rest of the present, their past wrong-doing and
their past disasters.
But on the thirteenth day a sudden and violent storm broke over the
island. The ship was driven from her anchorage by the force of the wind
and waves, and was carried, with those of the company then on board,
toward the north coast of Africa, where she was at last completely
wrecked. The crew escaped with their lives, but only to fall into the
hands of the Moors, who, regarding all Christian nations as their
enemies, immediately seized those poor English gentlemen as slaves.
Lionel and the few companions who were left with him on the island,
grieved deeply for the loss of their companions, though they knew not
the terrible fate which had befallen them. And mingled with their sorrow
was penitence too, for the wrong act which had, as they felt, brought on
them this deserved punishment. But Arabella's grief was deeper; from the
time when this new disaster befell them she never spoke, but sat gazing
ever over the now calm sea which parted her from her home; and thus she
pined and died, deeply oppressed with grief, and not comforted with the
assurance of the pardon which Christ the Saviour gives to all who repent
and turn from sin.
Lionel could not endure without her the life which he had sought for her
sake, and ere long he, too, died in the arms of his weeping friends, and
husband and wife were buried at the foot of the laurels which had been
their shelter.
The remaining adventurers determined at any risk to leave the island in
the little boat which still remained to them, for the place now became
distasteful; but before they sailed they set up over the grave of the
husband and wife a wooden cross, on which were carved their names. Then,
following the wish of Lionel, they added below a request that if any
Christians should hereafter come to dwell in this island, they would
build over the grave a church, in which our Saviour Jesus might be
worshipped and adored.
The little boat being now ready and stored with birds and other food as
provisions for their voyage, they set sail, but were, like their
companions, cast on the coast of Africa, and made slaves with those who
had gone before them. But the poor Englishmen were not the only
captives, for in those times shipwrecked sailors from all parts of
Europe were held in cruel slavery by the Moors.
Side by side with the companions of Lionel worked a young Spanish sailor
named Jean de Morales, and, glad of any relief from the toil and tedium
of their sad life, he listened eagerly to the often-repeated story of
the lovely and beautiful island. Of this unknown land he dreamed and
thought continually, longing for freedom that he might discover and
tread its silent shores, for he was of a nation eager for discovery, and
the highest rewards and honors were not thought too great for him who
should add a new country to the dominions of the crown of Castile.
At length it happened that a sum of money was sent to Barbary, to ransom
some of the Spanish captives, and Jean de Morales was amongst those set
at liberty: but the ship in which, with glad heart and high hopes, he
sailed for Spain, was captured on its way by a Portuguese man-of-war,
under Jean Gonsalie Lascoe. All the captives from Barbary, who had
already suffered so much, were permitted to continue their journey home,
save only Jean de Morales.
This one exception was made because the Portuguese captain was not
willing to give to Spain the glory of the discovery which the Castilian
sailor was longing to attempt. Jean de Morales was, however, kindly
treated, and at last took service with the Portuguese, his attachment to
his native land being doubtless weakened by his long captivity.
Very soon, ships were sent out by Portugal commanded by Gonsalie, with
Jean de Morales on board, to seek this new and unclaimed island. The
vessels first held their course for the Island of Porto Sanco, near
which the new island was supposed to lie, for seen from Porto Sanco
toward the north-east was a heavy cloud, sometimes brighter, sometimes
darker, but never wholly dispersed.
The ignorant and superstitious inhabitants had many wonderful stories to
relate of this cloud; they all believed that no ship could safely
approach it. Some held it to be an island hanging between heaven and
earth, in which some Christians had been hidden by God from the power of
their Moorish foes, some that it led into the land of spirits. Towards
this cloud Gonsalie steered his ships, in spite of the murmurs and
almost the open mutiny of his terrified crew. "The shadow is but a
mist," said he, "a cloud caused by the heat of the sun's rays drawing
the moisture from the land beneath; have no fear, my children, for those
who do their duty will God protect."
Through the mists and heavy clouds they sailed on, and at last emerged
into clear, pure air, to see fair before them the island of their hopes.
The sailors who had before resisted the captain's will, now fell on
their knees begging his forgiveness, and praying to be allowed to land
at once and wander through the valleys of this lovely land. Soon
Gonsalie, Jean de Morales, and some of the sailors pulled through the
surf and set foot on the island, which they called Madeira, because it
was so well wooded. They landed almost on the very spot where Lionel and
Arabella had first come on shore, and before long the new-comers stood
in reverence and in pity by the graves of the first discoverers.
The island was formally taken possession of in the name of the King of
Portugal, and before long a colony was sent thither, Gonsalie being
appointed governor.
Then the dying wish of Lionel was granted, and over his grave was built
a church, in which the new inhabitants might worship God.
This is the story which we have received as the history of the discovery
of the island of Madeira, now so well and so familiarly known to us,
where many of our own countrymen go year by year, seeking to recover
health and strength amongst the sheltered and wooded vales where the
English husband and wife found their last refuge.
[Illustration: Visiting the Graves. (Page 66.)]
The history was written in Portuguese by Don Francesco Alcafarado, a
noble at the court of King John I. of Portugal. He was himself one of
the discoverers. It is considered possible that some of the details
which he has given may have been altered in his memory, or confused by
those from whom he heard the story of Lionel and Arabella, but there
seems no reason to doubt the chief facts which he relates. The cross
erected over the graves of the husband and wife was preserved in Madeira
till at least the early part of this century, and possibly is still to
be seen.