FAYAL AND THE PORTUGUESE 281 
oranges at Fayal in November, but no discrim- 
inating person eats a whole one before March ; 
a few slices are cut from the sunny side, and the 
rest is thrown upon the ground. One learns 
to reverse the ordinary principles of selection 
also, and choose the smaller and darker before 
the large and yellow ; the very finest in appear- 
ance being thrown aside by the packers as 
worthless. Of these packers the Messrs. Dab- 
ney employ two hundred, and five hundred be- 
sides in the transportation. One knows at a 
glance whether the cargo is destined for Amer- 
ica or England, the English boxes having the 
thin wooden top bent into a sort of dome, al- 
most doubling the solid contents of the box. 
This is to evade the duty, the custom-house 
measurement being taken only at the corners. 
It also enables the London dealers to remove 
some two hundred oranges from every box, and 
still send it into the country as full, When 
one thinks what a knowing race we came from, 
it is really wonderful where we Yankees picked 
up our honesty. 
Let us take one more glance from the win- 
dow; for there is a mighty jingling and rattling, 
the children are all running to see something, 
and the carriage is approaching. “The car- 
riage:” it is said advisedly ; for there is but 
one street on the island passable to such an 
