THE AZORES 



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greatest the Juniper grows semi-prostrate on the ground. Besides 

 the Juniper, Dicksonia culcita also reaches the very top of the island, 

 being accompanied by dwarfed growths of Myrsine africana and 

 Vaccinium cylindraceum. 



Yet this is but a winter view of the vegetation of the higher levels 

 of the Pico da Vara Range. In summer, when picnicking parties 

 from the Furnas Valley ascend these mountains, herbaceous plants 

 in abundant bloom adorn the slopes; and, if the weather is fine, 

 there would be little in these breezy heights, with a magnificent 

 panorama at one's feet and a clear sky overhead, to suggest that 

 any risks would attend an ascent in winter. But the little stone 

 crosses on the top of the ridge tell another story. Shepherds, over- 

 taken by the blizzard in mid- winter, have lain down and died ; and 

 under conditions that were certainly elemental the writer had an 

 experience on these storm-swept levels of the influences that have 

 oppressed the Junipers and Laurels through the ages. He was 

 overtaken by a succession of squalls from the north-west. For 

 nearly an hour, enveloped in the clouds and without any shelter, 

 he was exposed to a pitiless storm of wind and rain. Subsequently, 

 on reaching the summit of the peak, he found Sibthorpia europcea in 

 foliage in the shelter of a small pit, the sides of which were lined by 

 Liverworts (Hepaticce) ; but with the exception of the narrow-leaved 

 variety of Thymus serpyllum, in leaf only, there was little else in 

 the lesser vegetation of these heights to remind one of the summer 

 dress of the slopes of Pico da Vara. 



Judging from Drouet's reference to his ascent of this range, the 

 general extent of the larger vegetation at the top was much the same 

 in 1857 as it was in 1913. But the tale of the pumice-strewn soil 

 of the upper slopes is fairly clear. The interval that has elapsed 

 since the great eruption of the Furnas Valley in 1630, when, according 

 to Walker, all the vegetation in the eastern part of the island was 

 overwhelmed by ashes and covered to a depth of many feet, has not 

 been long enough for the restoration of the original forests on these 

 mountain slopes. The struggle of the plants to regain their own 

 has been rendered still more difficult by the repressive influence of 

 the winds on these stormy heights. 



Ascent of Santa Barbara, the highest Mountain of Terceira, 

 3500 Feet above the Sea. — My ascent was made from Angra in 

 the middle of April. Although the zone of cultivation extends up 

 to about a thousand feet, that does not represent the limits of man's 

 destruction of the original forests, since on the higher slopes, where 

 doubtless these forests once grew, scrub is now only to be found. 

 The scrub is formed chiefly of Juniper and Calluna vulgaris (Ling), 

 with Myrsine africana in places. The Ling occupies the lower 

 slopes below 2200 feet where the ground is dry and the soil poor and 

 stony, and it is accompanied by Thymus serpyllum in its dense- 

 growing, trailing, narrow-leaved Azorean form. The Juniper 

 predominates on the higher slopes, where the ground is wet and often 

 boggy, and where Sphagnum and Polytrichum thrive. The higher 

 parts of this mountain are much wind-swept and often cloud-invested, 

 and on account of the clouds, rain, and wind I was unable to make 



