Sept. 1836. 



TERCEIRA. 



595 



the intolerable creaking of an occasional bullock-waggon. 

 The churches are very respectable, and there were formerly 

 a good many convents ; but Dom Pedro destroyed several. 

 He levelled three nunneries to the ground, and gave per- 

 mission to the nuns to marry, which, except by some very 

 old ones, was gladly received. 



Angra was formerly the capital of the whole Archipelago, 

 but it has now only one division of the islands under its 

 government, and its glory has departed. The city is defended 

 by a strong castle on Mount Brazil, and by a line of 

 batteries encircling the base of this extinct volcano, which 

 overlooks the town. Terceira was the first place that re- 

 ceived Dom Pedro, and from this beginning he conquered 

 the other islands, and finally Portugal. A loan was scraped 

 together in this one island of no less than 400,000 dollars, 

 of which sum not one farthing has ever been paid to these 

 first supporters of the present right royal and honourable 

 family. 



The next day the Consul kindly lent me his horse, and 

 furnished me with guides to proceed to a spot in the centre 

 of the island, which was described as an active crater. As- 

 cending in deep lanes, bordered on each side by high stone 

 walls, for the three first miles we passed many houses and 

 gardens. We then entered on a very irregular country, 

 consisting of more recent streams of hummocky basaltic lava. 

 The rocks are covered in some parts by a thick brushwood 

 about three feet high, and in others by heath, fern, and short 

 pasture : a few broken down old stone walls completed the 

 resemblance with the mountains of Wales. I saw, moreover, 

 some old English friends amongst the insects ; and of birds, 

 the starling, water- wagtail, chaffinch, and blackbird. There 

 are no houses in this elevated and central part, and the 

 ground is only used for the pasture of cattle and goats. On 

 every side besides the ridges of more ancient lavas, there 

 were cones of various dimensions, which still partly retained 

 their crater-formed summits ; and where broken down, showed 

 a pile of cinders, such as those from an iron-foundry. 



