THE AZORES 



539 



world the eye desired to reach but could 

 not. They left one wondering what was 

 beyond. But Sete Cidades is a complete 

 painting, placed in a wonderful frame — 

 the painting of a little village among the 

 pines, resting peacefully on the edge of 

 two beautiful lakes. That is all ! 



A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING 



"We live happily. We have a little of 

 everything on this island," remarked a 

 resident of this city. 



He was right. St. Michaels is a little 

 world in itself, and the Azoreans have a 

 little of everything. They raise their 

 own wine and tea and have their own 

 mineral water and thermal baths ; they 

 have their own tobacco and manufacture 

 their own cigars ; they cultivate large 

 quantities of sugar-beet and manufacture 

 their own sugar. The rich volcanic earth 

 and humid, but healthful, climate lend 

 themselves to the cultivation of great 

 varieties of agricultural products, includ- 

 ing vegetables and fruits of the temper- 

 ate and tropical zones. Twenty-one thou- 

 sand head of cattle graze in the hills and 

 help to form one of the principal indus- 

 tries of the islands, the manufacture of 

 cheese. 



The sea furnishes a livelihood for a 

 large number of its inhabitants. Thou- 

 sands of lobsters are exported to the 

 Continent. 



The island is covered with a network 

 of roads, over which 150 automobiles 

 travel for pleasure and business. 



In the year before the war St. Michaels' 

 exports were valued at $1,839,954. For 

 a small island home, 41 miles long, this 

 is a record worthy of note. 



HORTA A CABLE CENTER»EOR THE WORLD 



Santa Maria, the second island of the 

 eastern district, is much smaller than St. 

 Michaels. On a clear day its outline may 

 be discerned from St. Michaels. Villa 

 do Porto, on the Bay of Santa Tuzia. is 

 the largest town. This island furnishes 

 much of the red volcanic clay that is used 

 in the manufacture of all kinds of pot- 

 tery, such as the porous water bottles 

 that keep the water cool, vases, jars, and 

 other receptacles, some of which are very 

 artistically designed. The mountains of 

 this island range from 1,700 to 1,900 feet. 



Of the central group, Fayal is the most 

 important. The city of Horta is the prin- 

 cipal port. It has a well-protected har- 

 bor and is the great cable station of the 

 Atlantic. Nine cables connect the Azores 

 with all parts of the world- A message 

 has been sent around the world from 

 New York via Horta in 1 1 minutes. 



The lace workers of Fayal are famous 

 for their skill in making a beautiful drawn 

 work called "crivo." 



The patterns of animals used 60 years 

 ago came from Brazil and are of primi- 

 tive, medieval design. One lace expert 

 stated that these designs date back to the 

 fourteenth century. They were probably 

 carried from Portugal to Brazil in the 

 sixteenth century. But the Brazilian 

 meshes were coarser than the present 

 crivo work, which has extremely fine 

 meshes. 



These meshes, forming the groundwork 

 into which the patterns are woven by 

 hand, are always square. They are so 

 fine and the work so delicate that it takes 

 four months to make a live-inch border 

 for a piece one yard square. Today pro- 

 miscuous patterns are used as well as the 

 old animal reproductions. 



SPANISH INFLUENCE SEEN IN TERCEIRA 



The islands of Pico, Terceira, Sao 

 Jorge, and Graciosa lie close to Fayal. 

 Pico is separated from Fayal by a narrow 

 channel, only five miles wide. 



Terceira is the most interesting of this 

 group from an historical point of view. 

 A naturally fortified place, Angra, the 

 picturesque capital, was the central point 

 of battles and political disturbances of by- 

 gone times. The castle of S. Joao Ba- 

 tista, the old Spanish fortification built 

 on the slope of Monte Brazil, is an in- 

 teresting relic of the seventeenth century. 

 The massive walls of this castle extend 

 down to the sea front and to the edge of 

 the city. 



To this day Terceira shows traces of 

 the domination of Spain over Portugal in 

 the latter part of the sixteenth and the 

 first half of the seventeenth centuries. 

 The short jacket, tight trousers, and Span- 

 ish style of hat distinguish the inhab- 

 itants of Angra from those of the other 

 islands. 



