56 WHALING AND F I S H I N 



CHAPTER IV 



LAND Ho! - -Fayal Anxiety of all hands to get ashore Pa* 

 tuguese Their resignation Fruit We continue the voy 

 age Fitting the vessel for her cruise Drilling the cren 

 in the boats The line Chasing Blackfish Provisiooe- 

 Cooks. 



AT length the summits of the Azores heaved 

 out of the water, in the blue distance. Land ho! 

 was a cry joyful to all, but particularly to those 

 who were now making their first trip. I do not 

 know of a more pleasing sensation than that which 

 animates one on for the first time beholding a 

 strange coast supposing that coast to be invested 

 with some interest in the mind of the beholder, 

 and that it is seen in fine weather. Both these 

 conditions were fulfilled in tLe present case. 



Our Portuguese shipmates had for the past week 

 spoken of scarcely anything else but Fayal, the 

 Peak of Pico, and the various islands which com- 

 pose the group called the Azores ; praising above 

 all, the fruitfulness of the soil, the genial cli- 

 njate, and the quiet innocence of the people. Tho 

 weather was lovely, and as the blue summit of 

 Pico showed itself it the hazy distance, while a 

 light breeze rippled over the smooth sea and 

 urged our vessel landward, all were for a while 



