FAYAL AND THE PORTUGUESE 311 
the party as long as you have patience, — if till 
four in the morning, so much the better for 
your popularity ; for though the gathering may 
consist of but thirty people, they like to make 
the most of it. 
Perhaps the next day one of these new friends 
kindly sends in a present for the ladies of the 
party: a bouquet of natural flowers with the 
petals carefully gilded ; a folar, or Easter cake, 
being a large loaf of sweetened bread, baked in 
a ring, and having whole eggs, shell and all, 
in the midst of it. One lady of our acquaint- 
ance received a pretty basket, which being 
opened revealed two little Portuguese pigs, 
about eight inches long, snow-white, scented 
with cologne, and wearing blue ribbons round 
their necks. 
Beyond these occasional parties, there seems 
very little society during the winter, the native 
ladies seldom either walking or riding, and 
there being no places of secular amusement. 
In summer, it is said, when the principal fami- 
lies resort to their vineyards at Pico, formalities 
are laid aside, and a simpler intercourse takes 
place. But I never saw any existence more 
thoroughly pitiable than that of the young men 
of the higher classes ; they had literally nothing 
to do, except to dress themselves elegantly and 
lounge all day in an apothecary’s shop. A very 
