1823.] 



washed, painted, and gjarnished with 

 branches of myrlle and bouquets of 

 flowers. The people passed the rest 

 «f the day, and most of the niglit, in 

 singing, dancing, and firing rockets : 

 these rejoicings were continued on the 

 other Sundays before the cottage. Ail 

 this time the peasant-king kept the 

 crown and sceptre in the best chamber 

 of his dwelling, on a silver plate, and 

 lighted wax-tapers before them, as 

 sacred objects. On the seventh Sun- 

 day he repaired, early iu the morning, 

 to a building called a theatre, one 

 similar to which is in every parish of 

 the island. Tliere bread and vine 

 v.as placed before him, and he remain- 

 ed there till night, daring which time 

 the peasants were bringing bread, 

 wine, eggs, poultry, &c. for his bene- 

 diction: some were distributed at 

 night among the poor. On the same 

 day, the people elected the emperor 

 for the year following, who till his 

 inauguration has, every week, his 

 friends and acquaintance about him, 

 making mcrrj'. 



These divertiscments, and a crowd 

 of religious fetes, are the only recrea- 

 tions the clergy and ttie morgadoi 

 allow to liie oppressed peasants, who 

 have no chance of bettering the con- 

 dition of their families but by burying 

 Iheir sons and daughters in the nume- 

 rous convents of these islands. 



Agriculture here is in its infancy : 

 the government gave it no cncouiage- 

 ment, and one part of the proprietors 

 draw to Portugal the rent of their 

 lands, which (hey never visit. Hap- 

 pily, the climate of the Azores is so 

 benignant, and the soil so fertile, that 

 ))Ut little exertion is requisite to enjoy 

 the blessings of life. 'I'here are two 

 liarvests in a year, and almost all the 

 vegetables of Ihirope might be advan- 

 tageously introduced. The farina- 

 ceous root of yam forms the main 

 article of sustenance; oranges, lemons, 

 grapes, bananas, melons, figs, pome- 

 granates, goyavas, abound ; in Decem- 

 ber and January the air is perliinicd 

 with the geranium, the niyrtic, and 

 the rose ; the palm-lree and did'erent 

 troj)ical vegetables adorn the gardens 

 of individuals; and some experiments 

 have shown that < ollcc and sugar 

 ini;;ht be cultivated with ssiccess. It 

 would be (liUicull to find anywhere a 

 greater abundance and v:iricly offish, 

 nhell-fish, JVC. than on the coitsls of St. 

 Michael; and no venonjous animal is 

 known in the island. 



Mo.NriiLY Ma(j. No. 380. 



Account of the Island of St. Mkhad. 2 1 7 



Of late, the commercial relations of 

 the Azores with the English and 

 Americans have been extended, and 

 a considerable exi)ortation has taken 

 place of oranges and lemons. In the 

 quintas, or orange-groves 



every tree 

 yields annually 6 or 8,000 oranges or 

 lemons: 26,000 are known to have 

 been gathered from a single tree. The 

 morgados, to whom speculation would 

 be a fatigue, sell the produce to 

 English or American merchants, whose 

 agents travel about the country, pur- 

 chasing all the fruits, even on the 

 trees, before they are ripe ; sometimes 

 this forestalling speculation is upset 

 by blasts of wind. The embarkation 

 of fruit for England and America, 

 commences in November, and lasts 

 till the month of May. In this inter- 

 val, fifty ships have been seen loading 

 at once. Dr. Webster calculates the 

 annual exports of fruit at 50 or 

 60,000 chests : what remain in the 

 island he rates at 40,000. 



The soil ol the island is covered 

 with lavas and volcanic productions 

 of every kind ; and in several places 

 the concussions and dislocations eon- 

 sequent on such eruptions, and on 

 earthfjuakes, may lie distinctly recog- 

 nized. 'J'he Peak of Fire, whose very 

 name announces what the mountain 

 has been, now overlooks a fei tile soil, 

 produced by the dccampo.sition of tlie 

 volcanic matter, covering its quondam 

 lava. 



Dr. Webster \isiled some caverns 

 in the island, that are bristled with 

 stalactites of black lava ; the walls arc 

 hung round with it, like tapestry, but 

 in forms t!ic most curious imnginablc. 

 On the coast of the island there is a 

 volcano which continues its eruptions, 

 but Ihese are only manifested by thick 

 columns of smoke, and occasional 

 lavas, projected from under the w aters 

 of the sea, with which its fires arc on 

 a level. 



The mineralogist may collect in (he 

 island of St. Michael a great variety 

 of minerals, altered by fire; these arr. 

 de(ailed and reduced by Dr. Webster 

 into a method iciil shape. He is con- 

 cise in his des<ri|)(ion of (he other 

 islands, which greatly resemble that 

 of St. Michael, and are less interesting'. 

 He only allots a few lines (o (he island 

 of (Jratiosa, which excites a suspicion 

 (hat M. de Chateaubriand, a liencli 

 wrilcr, has overchargetl his colours; he 

 having made it (he sul)jec( of an en- 

 tertaining pamphlet. 



E 1 To 



