30 AZORES. 



N - Vo v-^«^ / Woodwardia radicans, a splendid bright green fern, with large 

 . ^ . .. fronds, the tips of which bend over to meet the soil, and then 

 v'^ *«9v» |. i2ik.e. root, whence the name ; Aspleniuin inonanthetman, hardly 



to be distinguished in appearance from our home A. triclwmanes ; 

 AspleniiDii »iari?iin/i, Adiantiuin ?iigri{m, — the lady fern, the 

 hart's tongue, the male fern, and the common polypody. With 

 these was Osumnda regalis, and abundance of the Maiden 

 hair. 



We crossed the lower central ridge of the island, and looked 

 down upon the bright blue sea on the other side. W^e passed 

 a threshing floor where threshing was going on in the old 

 biblical style, as all over the Azores, where primitive customs 

 are maintained to an extraordinary degree. The threshing 

 floor is a circular flat space, usually near a house in the home 

 corn-field, about 40 feet in diameter, and with a bottom of 

 cement or some hard mortar. On this the corn is laid and 

 pairs of oxen are driven round and round over it, yoked to a 

 heavy wooden sledge-like machine, like that used for dragging 

 casks on in England. A man often sits or stands on the drag, 

 and the girls ride on it for fun. Usually two yoke of oxen are 

 employed. At the floor we halted at, the oxen were not 

 muzzled, and were feeding freely, but they often are so, as we 

 saw at other floors. 



A little further on we came upon two women grinding at the 

 mill. A pair of circular stones, one placed on the top of the 

 other, is used ; the upper fitted with a straight upright handle, 

 the thing being in fact a simple quern. Two women standing 

 facing one another catch hold of the handle, one at the top, 

 the other lower down, and they send the upper stone round at 

 a good pace, each exerting her strength when the handle is 

 furthest off from her, and thus pulling to the best advantage. 



We next passed a small town, Ribeira Grande, where there 

 were numerous churches and a monastery, and a pretty patch 

 of public garden laid out by Mr. Brown, and planted principally 

 with Australian shrubs, Banksias and Melaleucas. At a road- 

 side inn, at which we pulled up to water the mules and refresh 

 the drivers, the church choir was singing remarkably well, 

 practising an ancient chant in a room overhead, with a piano 

 as an accompaniment. None of the poorer houses in the town, 

 or indeed all over the island, have any glass in the windows, 

 but only shutters. Glazed windows are scarce ; only the priests, 

 shojikeepers, and merchants have them. 



We turned up inland from the sea, and mounted the high 

 land, making across the island again in a zigzag direction. At 

 last we gained the summit and came out upon a moor covered 

 with bog myrtle {Myricafaya), brake fern, Wood7vardia radicans, 



