A VISIT TO THE AZORES.*

Tars contains what one wants to hear about such visits. It is very well written, delightfully illustrated, and whilst accu- rate in all historical and scientific facts is thoroughly read- able from beginning to end. The Azores (1,400 miles from the Lizard) "lie in the most tempestuous part of the North Atlantic, and are at all seasons liable to be beaten by furious gales." Some of them, indeed, are almost inaccessible :— "Mr. Gkxlman, who visited Flores and Corvo in the month of May, made the passage from Fayal to Flores in sixteen hours, but the whaler in which he was had to lie off the island for three days before there was a chance of landing,—so heavy was the surf. At length be was rowed half-way to the shore in a whale-. boat, and then transferred with great difficulty to a strong island boat. The boatmen followed as closely as possible in the wake of a great breaker,—the whole line of surf tumbling with a fearful roar,—and shot the boat under shelter of a rock. Here the violence of the waves was somewhat less great, and, as the boat rose 8 ft. or 10 ft. on the swell, the people on the rocks made a snatch at the wretched passengers, and dragged them safely on shore. . . . . . The British Consul in Flores had determined never to leave it. However, he one day had gone on board a vessel which had called for provisions, and, whilst conversing below with the captain, a sudden gale sprapg up, and the ship was in such danger of drifting ashore, that the captain found it necessary to put to sea. The gale continued, and, running before it, Mr. Mackay was, much against his will, landed in England from the ship in which he had intended only to spend an hour."

The Azores are for "good sailors,"—as the euphemistic phrase goes, implying that (as was apparently the case with most of Mrs. Roundell's party)—no discomfort is felt from Portuguese cookery, Atlantic gales, and fellow-passengers in all stages of sea-sickness combining to enliven a voyage on • A Visit to the Azores ; with a Chapter on Madeira. By Mrs. Charles Ronaidell. With 25 Illustrations from Sketches and Photographs. London: Bicktrs and Sons. 1889.

which it was impossible to stay on deck. Certainly few could calmly remark, as Mrs. Roundell did when driven below :--

"The wretched sufferers who believed in castor-oil as a cure made the whole vessel reek of that terrible remedy, and, good sailors as we are, I wonder that we did not succumb. However, the ` Funchal ' was soon steady enough for 'E.' to paint, and for me to write, and we were soon too busy to heed anything that was going on around us."

"E." (or Miss E. V. H.), be it noted, has considerably added to the charm of this book by her clever sketches.

When the Azores were reached, there was plenty to see; architecture, manners and customs, scenery, to study; geology to illustrate, and history to recall. The party began well by

an adventure more interesting to a reader than delightful to a, traveller; they went, however, to the Boca da Inferno (from San Miguel to Las Furnas) :—

"No more appropriate name could have been found for that awful yawning entrance to the dark pit of bottomless depth, filled with violently boiling mud. The mud is greyish-brownish-blue in colour, and it boils up in frightful spurts, emitting volumes of smoke, and making an awful noise like a tremendous hammer as it falls back into its terrible bed. I had never imagined that any- thing could be more wonderful or more dreadful."

Equally interesting and quite as uninviting are the accounts of the ox-carts, which make such a noise that passers-by cannot

hear themselves speak (their owners, however, proudly boast that "each can recognise his own cart by the shriek ") ; of the Chapel of the Flagellation (not; however, peculiar to Portu- guese settlers in the Azores, as Mrs. Roundell seems to think) ; of earthquakes and of volcanoes; and even of cigarettes, at one time so heavily taxed that each was a treat for a whole party.

The Portuguese can scarcely be congratulated on the financial management of their property :—

"The inhabitants of the Azores, as well as those of Madeira, are enormously taxed, and the money is all sent to Lisbon. The

land property tax has actually been known to reach 171 per cent, and has never been lower than 10 per cent

every possible duty is imposed on the inhabitants ' The conscription, too, is most severe, and many youths emigrate secretly in order to escape the cruel law which compels every male over-fourteen to deposit 440 with the State before leaving the country. This sum is to provide a soldier to serve in his place in Portugal should he not return!'

Besides this unkind fashion of treating sons of the soil (whether the soil be the bright red earth or the stony hillside), the protection of Portugal means most irregular mails for the islands, and is doubly aggravating in Madeira, where per- manent English residents and a considerable population of visitors are to be found. The frugality and laboriousness of the inhabitants (not; of course, the loiterers most seen by casual English invalids), and the glorious growth of vegetation, as well as the rapid success of anything that is cultivated, all deserve a better fate than to be ground down by Portugal to the checking of profitable enterprise.

These points will doubtless strike the most frivolous of Mrs. Roundell's readers, but it is possible to treat the subject of the tiny Azorean Archipelago with great seriousness, as is witnessed by the long list of authorities on the subject, and not least by some of the clear and well-assorted information collected by the latest author under consideration. Country reading-clubs should put the volume on their list. It is instructive, though it happens to be readable.