FAYAL AND THE PORTUGUESE = 297 
head, or ascending them with a basket of farm 
manure, 
This condition of health cannot be attributed 
to any mere advantage of climate. The higher 
classes of Fayal are feeble and sickly; their 
diet is bad, they take no exercise, and suffer 
the consequences; they have all the ills to 
which flesh is heir, including one specially Por- 
tuguese complaint, known by the odd name of 
dér do cotovelo, elbow disease, which corre- 
sponds to that known to Anglo-Saxons, by an 
equally bold symbol, as the green-eyed monster, 
Jealousy. So the physical superiority of the 
peasantry seems to come solely from their 
mode of life, — outdoor labor, simple diet, and 
bare feet. Change these and their health goes ; 
domestic service in foreign families on the is- 
land always makes them ill, and often destroys 
their health and bloom forever ; and, strange to 
say, that which most nauseates and deranges 
their whole physical condition, in such cases, is 
the necessity of wearing shoes and stockings. 
The Pico peasants have also the advantage 
of the Fayalese in picturesqueness of costume. 
The men wear homespun blue jackets and blue 
or white trousers, with a high woollen cap of 
red or blue. The women wear a white waist 
with a gay kerchief crossed above the bosom, 
a full short skirt of blue, red, or white, and a 
