GARDENS AND ORANGE GROUNDS OF ST. MICHAEL'S. 2o7 



England ; and, indeed, gardening in the Azores, as in its mother 

 country, Portugal, resjai'dless of its fine climate for such occupa- 

 tions, has been wofully neglected, but latterly the spirit of 

 improvement has commenced among the wealthy inhabitants of 

 the Western Islands, and shortly St. Michael's Mill possess 

 gardens which can only be rivalled by those at home. 



Previous to describing the gardens of St. Michael's, it may be 

 well to state that this island is evidently of comparatively recent 

 sub-marine volcanic formation — symptoms of this are manifested 

 at almost every step by the condition of its surface, which exhibits 

 strong marks of having been formed by the violent agency of 

 fire, by which means, in fact, it is supposed the wliole of the 

 Azores have been at different unknown periods forced up from 

 the sea. St. Mary's Island may perhaps be an exception, yet 

 from its strong resemblance in form and general appearance 

 to the other islands, there can be little doubt tliat it has been 

 forced above the level of the sea by volcanic action — it nowhere, 

 however, bears traces of the effects of fire ; and what is equally 

 singular, St. Mary's is the only island of the Azores that \)vo- 

 duces stiff clay. The effects of these volcanic movements have 

 given rise to appearances on the face of the country of a most 

 picturesque and peculiar nature, which possibly are nowhere 

 better exemplified than in the interesting characteristics of St. 

 Michael's. In the eastern end of the island is a deep, extensive 

 valley, surrounded by liigh mountains, many of them from three 

 to four tliousand feet above the level of the sea : this valley is 

 named by the inhabitants Valle das Furnas.* There dame 

 Nature at the present time still keeps her kettles boiling. Tiie 

 hot springs of the valley are numerous ; the most remarkable is 

 called the " Grand Caldeira," situated in the eastern part, by the 

 side of a rivulet on a small eminence, on which is a basin twenty 

 feet in diameter, where the water boils with prodigious fury, 

 rising at times to the height of three or five feet, and so hot that 

 the inhabitants usually boil their Indian corn in it for food. An 

 egg is boiled hard in the springs in about the same time as it 

 would occupy over a hot fire. A few yards distant from tlie 

 Grand Caldeira is a cave in the side of the bank, in which tlie 

 water boils in a furious manner, throwing out thick, muddy 

 water, and often mud alone, to a distance of five or six feet from 

 its mouth, accompanied by a hideous roaring noise. On throwing 

 a stone into the aperture it redoubles its roaring, as if angry at 

 the insult. In the middle of the rivulet are several places where 

 the water boils up with so intense a heat, that a person cannot dip 

 his finger into it without being scalded. On its banks are .several 



* Valley of Furnaces. 



