"Bojador's rocks Arise at distance, frowning o'er the surf, That boils for many a league without. Its course The ship holds on, till, lo! the beauteous isle That shielded late the sufferers from the storm Springs o'er the wave again. Then they refresh Their wasted strength, and lift their vows to Heaven. But Heaven denies their further search; for ah! What fearful apparition, pall'd in clouds, Forever sits upon the western wave, Like night, and, in its strange portentous gloom Wrapping the lonely waters, seems the bounds Of nature? Still it sits, day after day, The same mysterious vision. Holy saints! Is it the dread abyss where all things cease? The favoring gales invite: the bowsprit bears Right onward to the fearful shade: more black The cloudy spectre towers: already fear Shrinks at the view, aghast and breathless. Hark! 'Twas more than the deep murmur of the surge That struck the ear; whilst through the lurid gloom Gigantic phantoms seem to lift in air Their misty arms. Yet, yet--bear boldly on: The mist dissolves: seen through the parting haze, Romantic rocks, like the depicted clouds, Shine out: beneath, a blooming wilderness Of varied wood is spread, that scents the air; Where fruits of golden rind, thick interspersed And pendent, through the mantling umbrage gleam Inviting." Gonzalez and Vax returned at once to Lisbon, where a public day of audience was appointed by the king to give every celebrity to this successful voyage. Madeira was at once colonized and cultivated; and it is said that Gonzalez, in order to clear a space for his intended city of Funchal, set the shrubs and bushes on fire, and that the flames, being communicated to the forests, burned for seven years. The sugarcane was planted, and its cultivation yielded immense sums until sugar-plantations were established in Brazil and thus interfered with the monopoly. The attention of the islanders was then transferred to the grape, and from that time to this Madeira has supplied the world with a favorite--nay, almost indispensable--brand of wine.