Timber

The name Madeira (‘wood’, ‘timber’) given to this island by its discoverers derives from the rich, luxuriant vegetation that covered its entire surface. The abundant and gigantic trees, which so amazed the first navigators to land here, stretched in dense forest from the edge of the ocean to the summits of the highest mountains. The settlement and colonisation of the island made it imperative to destroy part of these thick, impenetrable woods, and only a fire could rapidly reduce them to the necessary extent and allow farming to begin at once. (See Forest fires, vol. II, p. 140.)

It seems that the destruction caused by the fire went far beyond what would have been desirable, for the historian João de Barros stated in the mid-16th century that ‘those living now feel this damage keenly through the lack they have of timber and firewood, for that first fire burnt more than the strength of arm and axe has been able to cut down from then until now’. In our view, this assertion of Barros must refer to the first years after the fire, because the timber regulations of this island of 1515 and 1562 contradict it. Madeira was rapidly restocked with forest species, and if the fire cost it the first, native opulence of its trees, there can be no doubt that it was soon covered with extensive and abundant vegetation. Many facts prove this.

The timber trade and export were a logical consequence of the abundance of tree species that densely covered the mountains. The following interesting passage is by Gaspar Frutuoso: ‘And there was such a quantity of timber, so beautiful and hard, that they carried to many places great quantities of planks, beams and masts, all of which were sawn with water-driven mills or saws, of which there are still many today on the north side of the same island; and at this time, because of the great deal of timber they carried from there to the Kingdom, they began to build with it ships with topsails and forecastles, for before there were none in the Kingdom, nor had they anywhere to sail to, nor were there any ships other than the caravels of the Algarve and the barinels in Lisbon and Porto’.

According to the Viscount of Santarém, cited by Pinheiro Chagas, as we have already seen on page 141 of this volume of the Elucidário, this superabundance of timber brought about notable progress in naval architecture and in the construction of buildings.

On the abundance of forest trees, and on some of them in particular, the following passage by the historian of the islands also makes interesting reading: ‘This whole island is exceedingly rugged and covered with tall, cool woodland; it is so dense that some travellers lose their way on the paths, and some who have been lost in it have already died. And not only are there great and lofty uplands in the middle and along the lombo (ridge between valleys) of the land, but also great, deep hollows covered with thickets, stout timber and groves of til (Ocotea foetens, Madeiran laurel), which, when it is sawn, is very black inside the heartwood and smells bad. From this wood much planking is made for sugar chests and for the flooring and beams of houses, and most of the firewood burned in the sugar mills comes from it. There is also another red wood, called vinhatego, from which chests for household use are made, and these are very good; but those made from it for use at sea are prized far more highly. There are other woods of aderno, from which a great deal of timber is made for casks for wine and honey; but they are better for honey than for wine, not because the quality of the wood spoils the wine, but because it is very hard and dry, and honey does not seep into it as wine does, which moistens it and sometimes runs out through the middle of the wood: this aderno wood is so hard that it is split with a wedge. There are also many folhados, which grow very straight and thick, from which the framing for houses is made, and often from a single trunk they make three or four rafter legs; but it is not as hard as that of this island of São Miguel; it is almost as soft to cut as cedar, and from it are made the plough-beams used in farming. There is another wood, azevinho, very hard, from which axe handles are made: but it is not white, as that of this island is. There are also laurel woods, and on the skirts of the uplands, on the southern side, much broom, which is low scrub like heather bearing a yellow flower, which they use in their ovens; and from it they gather the switches, which they peel like wicker, and from which are made very handsome, fresh white baskets for table service, for christening offerings and other things, because they are very white and clean: and they are sold to many places outside the island and the Kingdom of Portugal, for many ingenious and very fine and costly baskets are made, sometimes ten or twelve different ones built upon one, all together forming a single piece; and to make them whiter than the switches are by nature, although very white, they smoke them with sulphur. And there is also much barbuzano timber, from which they mostly make the stakes for vine trellises, because it is a very hard wood and lasts a long time in the ground. Nor is there any lack of heather, from which charcoal is made for blacksmiths and braziers.’

The name of the parish (freguesia) of Serra de Água, and of the various other localities and places that bear the same name, tell us that many water-driven sawing mills, or simply water-powered sawmills (serra de água), once stood scattered across this island, as recorded in various old documents and even in some legislative enactments.

The abundance of trees, and the abuses committed in exploiting them, led to the enactment of various legislative measures to guard against the destruction of the forest wealth that covered the uplands of this island. The most notable of these enactments is the Timber Regulations (Regimento das Madeiras) of 27 August 1562, which fills eight pages of one of the notes to the Saudades. Of it Dr Álvaro de Azevedo says that it is an important document for the agricultural history of Madeira. It constitutes the island’s own peculiar forestry legislation, still largely in force today, and is the source of the municipal bylaws (posturas) in all the municipalities of this island.

The woody flora of Madeira still contains today some species that yield timber of great value in cabinet-making. From the wood of the Madeira mahogany (vinhático, Persea indica) and the til (Ocotea foetens, Madeiran laurel), the latter black and the former reddish, fine furniture is made, the former closely resembling mahogany. From cedar, which is pale, light and aromatic, excellent boxes are made that, as a rule, are not attacked by moths. From maçaroco, fustete, seixo, piorno, pau branco, holly, tintureira, etc., inlaid work (embutidos) of various colours is made for tables, boxes, cases and other small pieces. The woods of the faia, barbuzano, laurel, aderno, folhado (Clethra arborea, a native tree), heath, wild cherry, sanguinho, mocano, etc., also have or could have uses in various kinds of work, but their use in cabinet-making is generally very limited, because nearly all of them are now very rare. Valuable information on this subject is given in the articles of this Elucidário entitled Afforestation, Fires, Forest Regime and Forestry Services (Serviços Florestais).