42 TUE ATLANTIC. [chap. i. 



unpleasant odor of sulphur. ISTo human habitation except Mr. 

 Brown's was visible ; but though the scene seemed singularly 

 quiet and remote, its richness and infinite variety in light and 

 shade and coloring prevented any oppressive effect of extreme 

 loneliness. 



Mr. Brown met us at the door. We told him that there 

 were about a dozen of us who wanted rooms and food, and he 

 naturally answered that he had nothing to give us, and put it 

 to our common sense how it could be possible that he, in his 

 primeval solitude, should be ready at any moment to entertain 

 a dozen hungry strangers, to say nothing of their servants and 

 their asses. Notwithstanding, there was a re-assuring twinkle 

 in Mr. Brown's shrewd, pleasant eyes. We wrung an admis- 

 sion from liim that there was plenty of room in the house, that 

 fowls might be got, and eggs and tea. Mrs. Brown joined us, 

 and her appearance was also re-assuring ; so we shouted for the 

 urgent tub, and left the rest to fate. Shortly we saw the long 

 string of asses winding, with our changes of raiment, round the 

 end of the lake, and it was not to our surprise that about eight 

 o'clock we found ourselves sitting before an admirable dinner, 

 with all our arrangements for the next couple of days settled 

 in the most satisfactory way. We sent the carriages back to 

 Ponta Delgada, with orders to meet us at midday on Monday 

 at Yilla Franca, a town on the southern coast of the island ; and 

 we engaged some fifteen or twenty donkeys for Monday morn- 

 ing to take us and our effects over the ridge and down the 

 steep passes to the shore road. 



Next morning some of our party walked to the Roman 

 Catholic chapel in the village, and afterward went to see the 

 hot springs; others wandered about on the slopes and terraces 

 overlooking the lake, enjoying the quietude and beauty of the 

 place. 



But for the birds, which were numerous, and the distant 

 murmur of the boiling springs, the silence was absolute. Kow 



