Mr. F. Du Cane Godman on the Birds of the Azores. 91 



known " Pico Madeira;" but for the last twelve years, inconse- 

 quence of the vine-disease, they have yielded no fruit, causing 

 a great loss to the poor inhabitants. 



Whilst at Fayal, Mr. Dabney, the United States' Consul, 

 kindly interested himself in assisting us to obtain a passage in 

 a whaling vessel to Flores, an opportunity of which I gladly 

 availed myself, the communication being very irregular and un- 

 certain ; in fact, during the previous winter, Corvo and Flores 

 had been for five months without any communication with other 

 places. 



INIr. Brewer and I went on board the barque ' Henry Tar- 

 bert,^ and, having a favourable breeze, in sixteen hours we 

 sighted the south point of Flores ; but on approaching the shore 

 we found too heavy a surf to allow us to land; so we were 

 obliged to cruise ofi" and on, for three days more, till the swell 

 had in some measure subsided. The sea being calmer, though 

 a heavy surf was still rolling on the rocky shore, the captain or- 

 dered one of the whale-boats to be lowered and manned. We 

 got into it with our baggage, and rowed in as near the rocks 

 as we could, taking care to keep just outside the breakers. 

 Numbers of people on land had been watching us; and as soon 

 as they perceived that we intended to land, they flocked down 

 to the shore, and completely lined the rocks. There were pro- 

 bably not less than three or four hundred persons. They 

 beckoned to us to run our boat in behind a certain rock which 

 they pointed out; but as the sea broke heavily upon it and ap- 

 peared to dash all over it, our captain would not venture with 

 his slight whale-boat, and signalled to them to send us off a 

 boat to show us the way. This after some time they did ; and 

 a nasty landing it was. The boatmen, who certainly managed 

 their craft very well, came out to us, and with some difficulty 

 we got into their boat ; then watching their opportunity, and 

 following as close as possible after a huge breaker, they shot the 

 boat round the corner of a rock into a small creek, which was a 

 little sheltered from the full violence of the surf. We now had 

 ■to jump out, which would have been no easy matter without 

 the assistance of those on the rocks, who, as the swell of the 

 waves raised our boat some eight or ten feet, made a snatch at us. 



