THE AZORES 



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Azores were visited by ships plying be- 

 tween Portugal and South America. 

 Vessels returning from the Western 

 Hemisphere and from India, loaded with 

 gold, silver, and spices, sought their way 

 among the islands that became, in ac- 

 cordance with the turbulent spirit of the 

 sixteenth century, the scene of many gal- 

 lant fights for the ownership of these 

 precious cargoes. 



Those interested in the naval exoloits 

 of Drake, Sir Richard Granville, Frob- 

 isher, and other bold spirits of the six- 

 teenth century, will find abundant ro- 

 mance in the early history of the Azores. 

 Here they fought with vessels of the 

 Spanish Armada of Philip II, and it was 

 here that the U. S. privateer, General 

 Armstrong, was sunk in the harbor of 

 Fayal during the war of 1812. 



Today the Azores are important as a 

 coaling station for vessels engaged in 

 peaceful commercial pursuits. 



ORIGIN OF THE: AZORES ISLANDS 



Although much has been written about 

 the origin of the islands, this is still a 

 matter of conjecture. Interesting argu- 

 ments have been advanced to prove they 

 are remnants of the lost continent, At- 

 lantis. One theory is that the islands 

 are the topmost peaks of a subterranean 

 range of mountains extending north and 

 south, and another that they were at one 

 time a part of the continent. English 

 geographers have taken a deep interest 

 in the study of the islands, and it is not 

 improbable that botanical investigations 

 will prove that the latter theory is correct. 



But whatever may have been the origin 

 of the islands, they are certainly the re- 

 sult of tremendous volcanic eruptions 

 that have continued to^change their phys- 

 ical aspect ever since their discovery in 

 the fifteenth century. On every hand 

 are evidences of former upheavals, from 

 the gray lava stones that are used in the 

 construction of houses and the building 

 of roads to the underlying streaks of 

 ashes that are visible in places where the 

 surface soil has washed away, and the 

 many cup-shaped craters and beautiful 

 lakes on the tops of the mountains. 



According to a Moorish account, writ- 

 ten before the thirteenth century, an 

 Arabian caravel started from Portugal 



to discover new lands. Sailing westward 

 for eleven days, the sailors suddenly 

 found themselves in a sea of ''fetid 

 gases" and confronted by dangerous 

 rocks and shoals, which so frightened 

 them that they turned southward. It is 

 quite possible that these daring Arabian 

 sailors reached the Azorean waters dur- 

 ing a volcanic disturbance, which pre- 

 vented their further discoveries. 



It is most interesting to compare with 

 this account a strange phenomenon that 

 is described in the early archives of the 

 Azores Islands in connection with the 

 discovery of St. Michaels. Upon leaving 

 the shore of this newly found land, the 

 discoverer made a sketch of the island 

 and noted especially the presence of two 

 peaks that towered high above the others, 

 one on the eastern and the other on the 

 western extremity. 



Soon afterward, he returned from Por- 

 tugal to establish a settlement, but when 

 .he approached the island he was sur- 

 prised to find that during his absence the 

 western peak had entirely disapppeared. 

 Trees and large quantities of pumice- 

 stones were seen floating in the sea- To- 

 day the town of Sete Cidades, built in the 

 hollow of a crater, marks the site of the 

 old peak. 



The violent earthquakes that disturbed 

 the Azores during the succeeding centu- 

 ries down to the eighteenth are too nu- 

 merous to mention. But the annals of 

 the islands vie with those of Ita-ly in 

 graphic accounts of the ever-interesting 

 and terrible volcanic phenomena. Cities 

 were buried, mountains disappeared and 

 sent their ashes to unbelievable distances ; 

 islands hundreds of feet high suddenly 

 appeared and as suddenly disappeared, 

 and flames of fire illuminated whole 

 islands and their intervening waters. 



Pico, 7,613 feet high, on the island 

 bearing the same name, is interesting as 

 the central and the highest volcano of 

 the islands. It is considered by some as 

 the principal communication of this re- 

 gion with the interior of the earth. Light 

 clouds of vapor occasionally rise from its 

 summit and the ashes at the top are still 

 warm. 



St. Michaels has perhaps suffered more 

 from volcanic disturbances than any of 

 the other islands ; but Santa Maria, only 



