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Accordingly, with the consent of the king of Portugal, the island of Madeira was bestowed in hereditary property upon Zarco and Vaz; one division named Funchal being given to Zarco, and the other moiety, named Machico, to Vaz.
This blew them out of their course and they lost their reckoning, landing at this very island, of which we are speaking instead of at some French port as they expected. The spot they pitched on was called Machico Bay on the eastern side; and there they lived happy ever after, having the additional satisfaction after departing this life of being both buried in one grave.
It would hardly be fair to leave Madeira without a visit to Machico, the scene of Machim's apocryphal death. The realists derive the name from Algarvan Monchique. I have made it on foot, on horseback, and by boat, but never so comfortably as when on board the steam-tug Falcao.
In their hurry and alarm they embarked without the pilot, and the season of the year being the most unfavorable, were soon at the mercy of a dreadful storm. The desired port was missed during the night, and the vessel driven out to sea. After twelve days of suffering they discovered faint traces of land in the horizon, and succeeded in making the spot still called Machico.
Four days later we arrived off Funchal, passing, at the eastern extremity of the island, Machico Bay, where the lovers mentioned by Larkyns landed and lived and died, according to the legend.
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.
"I may suppose, Count Zarco, that as governor of this island you have power to allot and sell estates upon it on behalf of the King of Portugal?" "Why, yes," answered Gonsalvez; "any new settler in Funchal must make his purchase through me: the northern province of Machico I leave to Tristram Vaz."
From Puerto Santo, which was discovered twenty-seven years before, we sailed on the 28th of March, and came the same day to Monchrico or Machico, one of the ports of the island of Madeira, forty miles distant from Puerto Santo. In fair weather these islands may be seen from each other.
One of the two capitanias, or provinces, into which this island is divided, is named Machico, as is likewise the principal town of that district, supposed to have originated from the traditionary story of the misfortunes of Macham; the other capitania, with its principal town, the capital of the island, is named Funchal, from Funcho, the Portuguese term for Fennel, which abounds on the adjoining rocks.
From Machico Bay we see the Fora and other eastern outliers which form the Madeiran hatchet-handle. Some enthusiasts prolong the trip to what is called the 'Fossil-bed, whose mere agglomerations of calcareous matter are not fossils at all. Deserta Grande has midway precipices 2,000 feet high, bisected by a lateral valley, where the chief landing is.
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