at the end of which Epitaph they requested that if ever any Christians came to inhabit that solitary place they would over his grave erect a Church and dedicate it to our Saviour Jesus to worship and adore his holy name and pray for the Souls of our unhappy Lovers Lionel and Arabella dead the other gentlemen resolved not to stay any longer in that place but imployed themselves some to fit up their Shallop others to prepare water and the rest to kill birds and make provision for their Voyage they thinking it a great deal better to commit themselves to the mercy of the Sea in their small Shallop than spin out a lazy and idle life in that to them unpleasant place They soon had left the Land but by misfortune steering the same course the storm beforementioned obliged their freinds in the Ship to take they consequently fell in with the Coast of Africa which they looked upon as a Land of comfort But they had only escaped the danger of the deep to be slaves to the Barbarians and passing through divers hands they at length came to be bought by the King of Morrocco where they found their companions whom before they thought ship wrackt and this was their only consolation to find them in the same Captivity with themselves The Prison for Slaves in Morocco was like that which is this day used at Algiers in it were alwayes many Christian Slaves of divers Nations and amongst others there was a Spaniard born at Sevile by name Jean de Morales a man very skilful in Navigation having been for many years a Pilot. His curiosity was mightily pleased with the Narrative our captive English made him of their adventures the many years they were together gave him the larger means to know what he so much desired for he not only learned the marks to find but the situation of this new Land and also all the miraculous passages had happened to the English in their unhappy Voyage of which Relation he hoped to make good use for a discovery so soon as the time of his Slavery should be at an end But the better to apprehend those things which are necessary to be known in our History I must make a small digression and let me not be thought tedious if I spend some time on so profitable a subject The King Dom John the first of happy memory having made an end of his Wars with Castile and not judging it convenient to abandon his Subjects to idleness which peace might very much prompt them unto he resolved to imploy his arms against the avowed enemies of our Religion Pursuing this generous resolution he set a foot a good Army with which he invaded Africa and conquered the Town of Centa situate precisely in the Streight of the Gibralter which he made himself Master of in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and fifteen In which Expedition his Subjects served him as if his Children and his Children as if they had been his meanest Subjects The Prince of Portugal and all his Brethren were in this Expedition amongst whom Dom Henry the youngest Grand Master of the Order of Christ did signalize himself by many glorious undertakings among which none redounded more to his honour than the furtherance of this action we are now about to relate This Infant was alwayes much addicted to the Mathematical Sciences and more particularly to Cosmography which made him when at Centa in the African Expedition often converse with divers Moors and Jews who had Cognizance of remote places by them he understood their Coasts and Seas and upon such information did conceive an extream desire to discover and conquer them not so much out of Ambition to enlarge his own Dominions as to encrease the Kingdom of God With this resolution after the Conquest of Centa he retired to the Algarves and built on a convenient place of Cape Saint Vincent a Town to serve him as an Arsenal for his Shipping which he named Terca Nabal and it was also called The Town of the Infant Hence he began his new discoveries and Conquests setting out his Fleets from thence for the Atlantick and Occidental Oceans which were then held innavigable and had it not been for him might have so continued Albeit the Greeks to elevate their own actions say by Herodote with more Ostentation than truth that the Inhabitants of the Euxine Sea held for certain that the Atlantick had communication with the Red or Arabian Sea and they also affirm that it is writ in the Annals of Egypt that one of their Kings named Necus caused certain Phoenicians to set out upon a coasting Voyage who sailing from the Red Sea ran through the Ocean passing by the Pillars of Hercules and so come back to Egypt which Voyage he saith they made in two years The same Greeks likewise report that in the time of Xerxes a certain Captain named Sataspes doubled the Cape of Good Hope and so returned into Egypt by the Straight of Cadize And Strabo writes upon the Faith of the Grammarian Aristonicus that Menelaus did sail from Cadiz to the Indies Pomponius Mela also affirmes that Eudoxus flying from Jatythius King of Alexandria sailed from the Arabian Gulph till he came to Cadiz This is the same Pliny Solin Makian Artimedore Zenophon Lampsacene and others write But this is certain that at the time of our first Conquest and discoveries there was not any cognizance either in Europe or Africa of any such dangerous navigations and the Portugals affirm that the People of Asia whom they have likewise lately discovered know no more thereof than the other which doth not at all strengthen the Relations of the abovesaid Authors but rather diminish them if we believe the credit of what we have now alledged Jean Gonsalve Zaxoe Gentleman of the Bed-chamber to Don Henry was the principal Person served the Infant in his discoveries about which he did employ the Revenues of the Order of Christ This Gentleman was the first that King John made Knight at the taking of Centa he served the Infant with very good success in all his African expeditions and 't is held he was the first man which introduced the use of Artillery aboard Ships Having the command of the Princes navy he passed the straights in search of some parts of Africa in the Year One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty he had before in the Year One Thousand Four Hundred and eighteen discovered the Island of Porto Santo upon which he was cast as he went in search of Cape Bajador The fifteenth of March in the Year One Thousand Four Hundred and Sixteen Don Sancho the youngest Son of Don Fredinando King of Arragon and great Master of the Order of Calatrava died in Castile and left by his Testament considerable sums of Money to redeem Christian Spanish slaves in Morocco with which Money a Foist was sent to Africa and and was returning thence for Tariff with some number of redeemed Christians
extream rapid the current carried the Vessels contrary to their Course to prevent which Gonsalve fitted out two Shallops to tow them committing one to the Care of Anthony Gago and the other to Gonsalve Lovis Men of Known Valour and Experience they rowed directly towards the cloud which they approached nearer and nearer as the Current permitted them The Voyage continuing for some time in this manner the Cloud into which they where now entred seemed to lessen and decrease towards the East but the waters made a terrible noise notwithstanding they passed the obscurity and having so done a Cloud which hung on the Earth hindring their clearer prospect they thought they discovered land and saw many armed men of a prodigeous bigness thereon But they after found that the Shore being full of high Rocks was the occasion of their mistake The Air presently clearing and the Sun shining out they plainly made the Land This happiness they received with the greater joy because not by them expected The first place presented it self to their view was a high point of Land to which Gonsalve gave the name of Cape St. Laurence Which point having doubled they saw a brave and fertile Country full of fair and high Trees which in Woods and Groves extended themselves from the Mountains through the Valleys to the very Sea-side The Cloud was now so far retired as it seemed only to crown the heads of the Mountains This pleasant sight gave the minds of our Voyagers a great deal of content the dangers and hazards they had formerly mutined about being now forgot they imbraced one another with joy rendring thanks first to God and then to their Commander by whose encouragement and perswasion they were now come to so glorious an end of their labours highly praising their Pilot who had so successefully conducted them Sailing on they saw a large Bay which Jean de Morales judging to be the place where the English had formerly resided came there to an Anchor Some were instantly preparing to go a shore but the Sun being then set 't was thought fit to defer it till the morning Gonsalve commanded a good Watch to be kept that night because sleep is a Rock and the more dangerous because no Pilot finds it in his Sea charts The day following Ruy Paes by order of Gonsalve made himself ready to go a shore which he did in one of the rowing shallops beforementioned with a well armed company of souldiers he landed on the the very same place Lionel before had done and by certain tokens Jean de Morales had given him found with much satisfaction the footsteps of the English and divers trees notched with a hatchet which he knew to be infallible signs of men having been there passing thence into the Forrest he saw the great Tree and coming nearer perceived the Cross and read the Epitaph of out Lovers which absolutely confirmed the Pilots relations This spectacle caused a great deal of compassion in Ruy Paes and his Companions making them shed some tears thereby confirming what long since Seneca wrote that Pity is the first degree of Kindness among men After these recognizances the same day they returned to Jean Gonsalve and assured him that they had met with all things as Jean de Morales had before related upon which knowledge he disposed himself to disembarque which he did with all the precaution and solemnity imaginable taking possession of the place for and in the Name of Don John King of Portugal and of the Infant Don Henry Master of the Order and Knight of Christ the water was blessed by two religious and with it the Air and Earth cleansed by calling on the name of God An Altar was also erected and Mass said where Lionel and Arabella lay buried This Ceremony was performed on the Feast day of Saint Elizabeth Now because Gonsalve would not omit any thing whereby he might attain the perfect knowledge of the place he commanded his people to make the Tower of the whole and strictly search Hills Dales and Woods to see if they could discover either man or beast commanding them if they found any they should bring them a live or dead But they who were sent on this errand found no living creature but divers Birds of differing sorts shapes and colours who suffered themselves to be taken by the hand without any pain or trouble Jean Gonsalve esteeming himself rich in so easie a purchase returned aboard where calling the chiefest of his Men to counsel it was resolved they should not part from thence without a more particular examining the place which they had then leasure enough to do Now because the shore was full of Rocks which did not in many places shew themselves above the water 't was thought convenient to make further discovery in their Shallops as they had already begun than in their grearer Vessels for fear some of the Currents might force them on the Rocks So Gonsalve taking the Shallop of his own Vessel and committing the charge of the other to Captain Alvare Alfons they passed the point which was towards the West seeing four fair Rivulets run into the Sea the water of which being extream clear and good Gonsalve caused some bottles to be filled to carry to the Infant Passing still on they saw another Valley which was likewise watered with a dainty Rivulet here they they landed some Souldiers who found nothing but a great many Fountains and a huge grove of Trees which grew together in form of an Arbor on of the biggest whereof Gonsalve took and made a great Cross of since which this place is called Holy Cross sailing on they weathered a point of Land extending it self farther than ordinary into the Sea memorable for the many large Birds the multitude of whom was so great that the men in the Shallop was fearful of being devoured by them they therefore called this place Punt a dos Gralhos a little further was another Valley full of Cedar Trees which made a goodly shew On an adjacent Hill there grew one much higher than the rest which Nature seemed to have set there for a Beacon From this Valley of Cedars they came to another where was a spatious Lake which forming it self by the Sea-side into a large Bason or Pond promised something extraordinary Gonsalve Ayvez was therefore with a good number of Souldiers ordered to go a shore who having by the Valley ascended the Mountain returned without any further knowledge then that by the Valley they could discover the place from whence they first set out and thereby knew it to be an Island and no part of Africa as many of them had before conjectured Gonslave however not yet content but still imagining there might be yet some Inhabitants ordered his people daily to go from place to place to see if they could make any further discoveries by this means they found a very fair and large plain free from Trees which covered in a manner all other places and
thought they kenned Land which in a little time they plainly discovered it shewing it self to be an Island High craggy and covered with trees this gave all the Company a great deal of Joy though Arabella received the most consolation for she now hoped after so dangerous and wearisome a Navigation to find that repose which was necessary for her an end of all her pains and a new manner of living Lionel was very much troubled to find a safe Port in this unknown Land fearing to be split against some Rock he therefore sounded and not without a great deal of circumspection came safely to an Anchor They could not perceive any humane Creature on Shore and those which were best skilled in Navigation thoughtit not inhabited which they were the more induced to believe because a great number of Birds differing in bigness sort and colour came and perched themselves upon the Yards Masts and Shrouds of the Ship without being any thing afraid of the Men or endeavouring to avoid their being taken To be more fully informed both Curiosity and necessity made the most hardy to get out the boat and go a Shoar Lionel would fain have been one of them but neither Arabella or his Companions would suffer it not thinking it convenient he should stir out of the Vessel till the return of his other Friends which they soon did filled with very good news reporting though the Island was uninhabited yet the Air was good and the Earth fertile Upon these tidings Lionel and Arabella with most of the Men leaving the rest aboard to look after the Ship went into the Boatand landed on the banks of that Land where never before any man had set his Foot It being very fair weather a clear season the Sun as it rose higher discovered to our Voyagers a most dainty and delicious Country the Mountains and Hills all covered with shady Trees the Valleys filled with small Currants many bubling Springs of pure and clear Water The Island was also filled with sundry Beasts who unacquainted with the sight of man the presence of our adventurers did not affright finding all things thus accord to their wishes it incouraged them to proceed to a further discovery with a great deal of confidence some distance from their first Landing they found a place surrounded with Lawrels other shady Trees though they knew not how to call them whose branches filled with large leaves were so conjoyned as they made a perfect Arbor pleasant and shady from the Mountain Adjacent descended a fine River which formed a most curious Pond close by the Arbor This our Voyagers thought a convenient place for their refreshments and so with Boughs and the like Materials they made it fit to receive them resolving for some time after such hardships as they had indured to take the pleasures so sweet a Country did afford them Now therefore every one betook himself to what his Fancy prompted him some imploying themselves more exactly to search into the Woods Others to run over the Hills and Dales to find what might be further worth their discovery Whilst the rest betook themselves to carry Necessaries aboard and bring others a Shore from their Ship But the misfortune which attended our fugitives was too great to let this tranquility last long for the Night which succeeded the Thirteenth Day after their arrival there hapned so horrible a storm which came from the North-East that all the force and industry of those who found themselvs on board the Ship which was then at an Anchor could not withstand the fury of the Wind and Sea But they were forced to abandon her to their rage and for two Dayes they were in the same Jeopardy they so lately were delivered out of at the end of which they once more discovered Land the Vessel being leaky and they unskilful Marriners they were forced to run her a shore which was but the beginning of new Miseries for they no sooner were Landed but they found themselves on the Coast of Africa in the Kingdome of Morocco The Mores who from the Mountains beheld this pitiful shipwrack descended and seized upon the poor Christians haling them into slavery and imprisoning them in the Jayl of their Capital City Thereby making it appear that these Monsters of Men were more cruel then the Elements for the latter intended to spare their lives when the former were so unmerciful as to make them undergo a perpetual bondage The day light which succeeded this unhappy night was more uncomfortable to those ashore than the darkness had been terrible or the storm frightful to them aboard for there appearing no ship in Port neither when the Tempest was over any returning for they till then had hoped that the extreamity of the weather had only forced her out to Sea notwithstanding their valour all the courage they had could not draw them out of dispair for now they saw themselves destitute of any means ever to return from that unknown part of the World The most understanding of them judging that by reason of the few people on board and their unexperience in Maritime affairs the Vessel must of necessity be swallowed up of the waters After this deplorable accident those amongst them who had been the chief Instruments of bringing themselves and friends into this miserable estate began seriously to repent of their folly though the Lady was the most concerned well knowing this sad Voyage was chiefly made on her account so that she fell into a deep melancholly but dangers being infinite more horrible in themselves than we can paint them it is impossible for us to describe the grief which possessed her breast for so deeply was she afflicted that from that moment to the time of her death she uttered not one word Excess of sorrow is alwayes mute rejecting the common way of easing it self by sighs and lamentations Three dayes was death in killing so amiable an infortunate she expiring with all manner of contrition and repentance Lionel had some further time granted him by God that his sorrows might be increased and he afflicted for it was but just that he who was the most criminal should undergo the greatest sufferings After the death of his beloved Mistress with many groans and deep complaints he lay at her feet refusing either sustenance or comfort from his Friends though they pitying his sad disasters endeavoured with their best rhetorick to succour him notwithstanding which all their charitable Offices could not prolong his life more than five Days at the end of which he dyed in their embraces after he had desired them to bury his body in the same grave with Arabella which they did at the Foot of the fair Tree we before spoke of The branches serving for the Pall and the Trunk for his monument They adorned this poor and Rustique monument with a great Cross made of Wood as a mark of his Religion and on the Tree made an inscriptionrelating his Love and Adventures
he had made them steer that the Island he saught after was not far from thence and told Gonsalve that the rayes of the Sun lying very hot on the Earth and drawing thence the humidity of which there was a great quantity by reason of the multiplicity of Trees made a gross vapour to ascend which filling the Skie with its foggyness was the reason of the obscurity they saw and that he was confident by these tokens the Land they so much coveted to discover was not far from that place All of them were of a contrary opinion to Morales and tumultuously cryed how that he being a Castilian and by consequence an Enemy was very well pleased to see their Nation exposed to evident dangers that it was enough for men to encounter men without commencing a war against the Elements that it became only Heathens and Infidels to penetrate into the secrets of God that they were to expect nothing but death from that cloud and that to proceed further was only to dare the Almighty that the Infant was ill served to have his Servants exposed to such unprofitable dangers but the King was worse used in regard they were his most faithful Subjects who might serve him in more feisible undertakings than to search after a supposed Land on no other ground than the Pilots vain imaginations They farther argued that Gonsalve was a Nobleman of great merit he might expect large recompences from his own deserts without precipitating himself and them into such certainty of peril that valour was never shewn in pushing forward despair that it was no charity under pretence of Religion to find out people and seize on their Countries whereby they shewed themselves rather covetous of their own than God's glory but that they ought to be content with those Lands they already possessed and finally affirmed they were but men and therefore would not undergo what seemed to be above Mortals strength All these clamours did not stagger their Commanders resolution he therefore for the present gave them good words resolving because he was of greater courage than all of them to surmount the difficulties which now seemed greater by reason of the averseness of these men and communicating his thoughts only to Jean de Morales he hoisted his sails and weighed anchor steering his course directly towards the Bug-bear shadow making all the sail his Vessels could bear by that means the sooner to obtain the Land he hoped to find The nearness of the obscurity did augment their fears it appearing higher and bigger as they nearer approached to it About mid day the Sea seemed altogether darkned an unusual blackness filling the whole horizon neither was there any sign of Land for the gross cloud into which they where now entered covered both Sea and Skie This was the cause of a strange confusion and the vicinity of their supposed danger made them all cry out and earnestly entreat Gonsalve that he would not proceed which if he did they looked upon themselves as dead men beseeching him not to be the destruction of so many innocents Their outcryes did not at all startle their Captain but calling together the Officers Mariners and Souldiers and placing himself to be heard by them all more to justifie his constancy than satisfie their desires he made them this Oration Do you think my Friends and Comrades that I esteem my life less than you do yours if not none certainly ever went about to perswade you that if you miscarry I have any means to save my self that indeed would be the greatest injustice in the World that I should reap the Glory and you the Hazards of this enterprise but equally we are to participate in both if therefore I at present appear more hardy then suits with your content It is because I highly esteem you for I am insinitely glad you understand what perils you expose your selves unto that it may hereafter be famed you deliberately and of purpose not by chance did confront these more than humane dangers I do not therefore at all wonder at your fears but I do not by any means approve of the way you would put in execution to remove them with what justice can you pretend to more glory than other Nations if you do not thus expose your lives if you follow but the footsteps of your noble Ancestors you may trace them in such adventures as we are now a making For what reason did we come from our Countrey for what reason did our Master send us hither wherefore among thousands which tendred themselves for this employment did he make choice of us wherefore doth he shew himself a father to our Families wherefore doth he take so kindly our Devoir 't is not surely that we should do our business by halfs or leave off our adventures before finished Consider that as there is but one life so there is but one death and it is neither without reason that you should fear the Elements more than men for twice by either of them you cannot dy If you do not refuse to hazard your lives against the Enemies of your King what is it that you dread in the wind or water do you think a wave or a gust of wind more cruel then the Sword or Lance of an Enemy is not the peril the same you meet with in any rancounter seeing you cannot but once receive your deaths Think upon that grounds we are entered into the service of our King and Prince is it not to make discovery of unknown Provinces which your courages are to conquer and lay at their feet this ought not to be abandoned by your disobedience and fear especially being commanded on this Voyage by their immediate orders Truely Friends 't is more scandalous to return home and dy with shame at Lisbon then unhappily perish in the Sea if so ill fortune should attend as Let us bravely then undergo this risque for be you certainly assured when once our resolutions are fixed to proceed we shall find all things as easie as we can wish The Night is never more dark then when day approaches the strange consternation we are now in is the greater sign our lock'd for good fortune draws near Couragiously Friends examine the cause of your temerity reason will soon inform you the Cloud which is the cause is but a shadow if both nature and fortune did expose us I would be the first should take the care of our lives but seeing we have nothing but our foolish fancies to fear which is misbecoming valiant men to dread let us in the Name of God proceed This discourse worked so powerfully on those to whom it was addressed that it made all their fears vanish and composed their minds so firmly that unanimously they protested Gonsalve should not only govern them as their Chief but command them as absolute Master of their Lives and Liberties they resolving to obey him blindly and without dispute in all things Though the weather was fair yet the Sea being
onely over-grown with most beautiful Fennel called in Portugueze Funchal upon this Place afterwards was founded a Town to which was given the name of Funchal heretofore the Metropolis of the Eastern Islands as to Spiritualities and still so as to temporalities The Portugueze more modest than other Nations who vain-gloriously give great Names to their Plantations and discoveries have alwayes been contented either to continue the old names of their Colonies or if they gave them new appellations to bestow such on them as were most agreeable to the nature of the Place as for instance this famous City is called Funchal from the abundance of Fennel there found growing before ever the Town was built Three large Rivers having their Randevouze in this Valley just at disembouging themselves into the Sea make two small Islands which do in a manner land lock the Haven and secure the Port from the Wind and Sea as if it were a Mole Notwithstanding the great peace and tranquillity Gonsalve found yet would he not permit his people to be idle but alway busied them in some employment or other he himself still coasting the Country came to a large Rock which he called Praya Fermosa or the Fair Rock because of its greatness and the delicate water issuing thence which gently breaking its waves against the stones made a sweet melody Passing still on they found between two points a furious Torrent the waters whereof were so clear that it oblidged the curiosity of them all to look thereon In the company were two souldiers of Lagos for whom the General had a great esteem these being very skilful in swimming resolved to pass the Torrent but they were no sooner in but in spight of all their resistance they found themselves carried down the stream by the strength and swiftness of the current and had undoubtedly there been drowned had not their Companions succoured them This adventure gave the Torrent the name of Soccorides more happily than that of Agravados was given to the Arabian Sea of which our Historians make mention Being now come again to Cape St. Lawrence by which ran a River making the appearance of a Port into it Gonsalve with his Shallop entred imagining he might there find somewhat more of moment than hitherto he had seen because on the sand he thought he saw the traces of certain Animals which searching for of a sudden a great number Sea-wolves came rushing out of a hollow place which they found at the bottom of a great Mountain close by the Sea This concavity served these Creatures as a den to which they retired themselves when they left the Sea This being the most remarkable thing they found in the Island or their Voyage Gonsalve afterwards took the name and Title of Comerados Lobos as Scipio and Germanicus assumed theirs from the Provinces they conquered to the Roman Empire this name and Title Gonsalve's 〈◊〉 own and are called by to this day The Night after they had come into this place the Wind came so strong as it forced the very rivers back again and made so hideous a tempest as they were afraid they should have lost their Vessels and thereby all the good success they had had in their new discovery but it clearing up towards day the General for fear of such an after-clap and having now seen all that he could desire retired with his Vessels close to the aforesaid small Isles or place of safety and there he made provision of wood water birds plants and the Earth it self not only for Sea accommodation but also to present the King and Infant which having done he embarqued all his people and set sail for Portugal where he safely arrived in the end of the month of August in the same year one Thousand four Hundred and Twenty he made no anchorage at Algarues but directly entered the River and Port of Lisbon where he found his Master the Infant expecting him having not lost one man in this Voyage but having added to his Majesties Dominions the best Island in the Oriental Ocean The King and Infant received Gonsalve with a great deal of Joy and made him a welcome proportionable to the service he had rendred them for the which having given publick thanks to God for his mercies in giving them leave to discover new Seas and Lands wherein to glorifie his most holy Name they thought it convenient that the relation of the Voyage of Jean Gonsalve Zarco should be made in a publick Audience and therefore invited all the Embassadors and Ministers of forreign Princes to hear the relation of what he did so highly esteem Which day of audience being come the King Royal Family Grandees of the Kingdome Ambassadors and forreign Ministers being present Gonsalve was introduced into the Hall accompanied with the most considerable persons that were with him in his Voyage when having kissed his Majesties Hand and paid the Infant what respects were due unto him the King commanded Gonsalve to speak he then made an exact accompt of his Navigation and what befel him at Porto Santo of the great fear had possessed his men on sight of the dark Cloud notwithstanding which and their Mutiny how he perswaded them to go on their Voyage by informing them how much it imported the service of his most sacred Majesty and how much detriment it would prove to the whole Nation should they abandon it In what manner afterwards they discovered the Island he informed the King of the bigness fertility and situation thereof he also told the King the History of the English of the solitude and plenty of the place to which the King without any meditation gave the name of MADERA by reason of the great quantity of Wood Gonsalve had told him was growing thereon He then presented the King and Infant the Trunks of the Trees the Birds Water and Earth he had brought from thence It was soon after resolved by his Majesty and Councel that the Spring following Gonsalve should return with a plantation to Madera as Governour of the place which together with Title of Count the Eldest of that Family hitherto enjoy This Voyage was began in the Month of May Anno one thousand four hundred twenty and one the King gave Gonsalve leave to take all the criminals and condemned persons throughout the whole Kingdome but he would not accept of them but took all manner of care to provide necessaries for his Voyage which having done he parted from Lisbon with his Wife Constance Roderiquez de Sa who was descended from the antient Family of Almeyda Jean Gonsalve his Heir and Hellen and Beatrix his two Daughters In few days he arrived at Madera and having moored his Anchors in the place from whence the English first and after he landed in honour of Lionel Machin who was the first discoverer he called that Harbor Porto Machico or Machino which Name to this day it retains Gonsalve immediately began to lay the foundation of a Church resolving that the first Edifice should be Dedicated to our Saviour Jesus Christ as Lionel in his Epitaph had desired of the future Inhabitants of the Isle and to be more just to his memory raised the structure over the grave where he and his Mistriss lay buried and cutting down the great Tree he built there an Altar Our unhappy Lovers bones having at length this honourable repository But the Town he thought more convenient to build in the aforesaid Valley of Funchal because near it were the two small Isles with made so convenient a Harbor for shipping and also allured thereunto by the beauty of the place most proper for situation such a small original had the Town of Funchal which soon after became so illustrious and in which the first Altar was erected in a Church dedicated by Gonsalve to God our Saviour and the second commended to the Patronage of Saint Catherine by Consiance his Lady contrary to what Jean de Borros hath written who supposeth the founding of two other Churches This mistake makes me not credit what h e writes that Gonsalve should set fire to the Woods which lasted for seven years and could not be quenched so long as any trees were left to feed it which hath since made fewel excessive scarce in the Island for it appears plainly a fable since there is Wood and Trees still there in abundance enough to boil Sugars to set awork one hundred and fifty Mills for so many are now in the Isle wherefore his relations seem fabulous and incredible After the death of Don John his Son and Successor Don Duart considering what great expences his Brother the Infant Don Henry had been at to discover and people the Isle of Madera gave him the issues and profits thereof during life This donation was made at Cintra the six and twentieth day of September one thousand four hundred thirty and two And also for the same Reasons the King gave in perpetuity the Spiritual Jurisdiction thereof to the Order of Christ which was afterwards confirmed by King Don Alphonso in the year one thousand four hundred thirty and nine As also to encourage such other of his Subjects as should endeavour to deserve it He gave Jean Gonsalve Zarco and his descendants a Title of honor and new Coat of Arms now let it not seem strange that the Gentleman should alter his blazon since the Kings of Portugal themselves have changed their Royal and ancient Arms which were a Cross Argent in a Field Azure to those which they now bear The Escutcheon therefore his Sacred Majesty bestowed on him was a Castle Argent in a Field Sinople supported with two Sea-Wolves And his Title of Honour Marquess de Camara dos Lobos from the Sea-Wolves we formerly mentioned which Coat of Arms and Title still belong to the Posterity of this our worthy Discoverer FINIS