ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 115 



would be fit to return our expected salute^ nud 

 seemed g"lad when told that as a surve^dng' ship 

 we were exempted from saluting* the flags of other 

 nations. A sea wall runs along- the face of the 

 town 5 parallel with this is the principal street^ with 

 others at rig-ht angles extending* lip the hill. The 

 narrow streets are clean and well paved^ — the 

 houses^ generally of one story^ are built of toug*h 

 g-rey trachyte. 



Almost every inch of available g-round upon the 

 island of Fayal has been turned to g*ood account : 

 Indian corn is the chief ag"ricultural product. AVith 

 om* usual bad fortune in this respect we were too late 

 for the g'rapes and the orang-es had not jet come in. 

 The lower g*rounds are divided into small enclosures 

 by stone walls^ and subdivided by rows of a tall 

 stout reed (Arundo donax), resembling* sug*ar cane. 

 Although taxes and other burthens are heavy, and 

 wag*es very low, yet to a mere visitor like myself 

 there appeared none of those occasional sig*ns of 

 destitution which strike one in walking* throuo-h a 

 town at home, nor did I see a sing-le beg-g'ar. 



In Fayal and Pico the most careless observer from 

 the anchor ag*e of Horta can scarcely fail to associate 

 the number of smooth conical hills with former 

 volcanic activity ; and in looking* over Capt. Yidal's 

 beautiful charts of the Azores, nearly all the 

 principal hills throug*hout the g*roup are seen to 

 have their craters or caldeiras. Fayal exhibits a fine 

 specimen of one of these caldeiras in the central and 



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