2 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
to discover with how many fictitious attractions the 
imagination has bedecked those scenes which have 
been witnessed in bright and smiling weather : espe- 
cially we perceive this in looking back upon the 
scenes of our past lives, when the accidental shadows 
which may have chequered the scene are almost 
lost in distance, or are made to reflect the bright 
colours and the sun-lit effect of the rest of the pic- 
ture. Whether or not sun and sky have the chief 
merit in conjuring up the brilliant images which 
crowd upon my memory at the bare mention of the 
Azores, I will not enquire ; nor is it of any impor- 
tance to the reader to be informed ; since the same 
delight-inspiring agents are at hand, nearly all the year 
round, to welcome each successive visitor, and to give 
him the benefit of their attendance. Should it be 
otherwise, there is little fear that the eastern voyager 
will be able to denounce me as a flatterer ; since, in 
dull or stormy weather, the cautious skipper will 
prefer the open ocean to the narrow channels between 
the islands. 
I have never met with any person who could deny 
that these islands are beautiful ; and yet their iron -girt 
and cinerous cliffs, o’ertopped with rugged mountains, 
with only here and there a peep at the fertility within, 
hold out little promise of hospitality to the stranger ; 
more especially when it is discovered that every acces- 
sible point is defended by strong batteries perched up 
