CORVO AJJD FLOllES ISLANDS. 37 



epicure ashore ; nor would I, I think, partuke of it 

 anywhere but on board ship, when long deprivation 

 from fresh food makes anything, not saturated by 

 salt, a luxury. It is in appearance somewhat like 

 beef, but coarser ; it is minced with pork and fried 

 in balls about the size of the sausage exposed for 

 sale in our markets, and in this state its advent is 

 hailed by all aboard with great gusto. 



Their oil is very little inferior to that of the sperm 

 whale ; indeed, although I have never analyzed it, 

 and speak merely from observation, I think if the 

 same care and attention were paid to trying out the 

 blackfish oil as is accorded to the preparation of 

 sperm oil, it would be found that the oil of the 

 former possesses all the good qualities of the latter. 

 At least the experiment is worthy a trial. 



On the 12th of August, 1855, we novices saw for 

 the first time a foreign shore. Its appearance was 

 detected by an experienced hand long before our 

 eyes could discern it, and when, finally, they were 

 pointed out to us, it was with no little diflSculty that 

 we could be led to believe the two islands other than 

 clouds. They proved to be Corvo and Flores, of the 

 Azore group, or as they are familiarly known, the 

 Western Islands. They belong to Portugal, which rules 

 them with an iron hand, carrying away the flower of 

 the youth born here to support the throne in Europe. 

 The next day we made land, and signaled the barque 

 Henry Taber, that left New Bedford on the same day 

 as ourselves, "We passed her and stood close in to 

 the Island of Flores. When within about ten miles 

 of the land, a boat containing a dozen swarthy, 

 grinning, chattering Portuguese, boarded us, who, 

 4 



