FAYAL AND THE PORTUGUESE 285 
forty little hamlets lying at irregular distances 
along the shores. There are very few English 
or French residents, and no Americans but the 
different branches of the Consul’s family, — a 
race whose reputation for all generous virtues 
has spread too widely to leave any impropriety 
in mentioning them here. Their energy and 
character have made themselves felt in every 
part of the island ; and in the villages farthest 
from their charming home one has simply to 
speak of a famztha, “the family,” and the intro- 
duction is sufficient. Almost every good insti- 
tution or enterprise on the island is the creation 
of Mr. Charles W. Dabney. He transacts with- 
out charge the trade in vegetables between the 
peasants and the whale-ships, guaranteeing the 
price to the producers, giving them the profits, 
if any, and taking the risk himself; and the 
only provision for pauperism is found in his 
charities. Every Saturday, rain or shine, there 
flocks together from all parts of the island a 
singular collection of aged people, lame, halt, 
and blind, who receive, to the number of two 
hundred, a weekly donation of ten cents each, 
making a thousand dollars annually. This con- 
stitutes but a small part of the benefactions of 
this remarkable man, the true father of the 
island, with twenty-five thousand grown chil- 
dren under his charge. 
