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 CREVE AU LANgON. 
 
 {P-igc 70.
 
 il! 
 
 THE 
 
 ATLANTIC ISLANDS 
 
 AS RESORTS OF 
 
 HEALTH AND PLEASUEE 
 
 By S. G. W. benjamin, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "contemporary ART IN EUROPE," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 "Summer isles of Eden lying in dark-purple spheres of sea. " — Tknntson. 
 
 "O, health ! health ! — the blessing of the rich, the riches of the poor ! who can buy thee at too dear 
 rate, since there is no enjoying this world without thee. "— Jonson. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 
 1878.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS work on the islands of the North Atlantic has been prepared 
 with the hope that it will meet a growing want of the travelling 
 public. These islands, for the best reasons in the world, are becoming 
 more and more the resort of the invalid and the pleasure-seeker. But, up 
 to this time, no guide-book has existed giving a comparative and compre- 
 hensive statement of the advantages of such islands, whether as summer 
 or winter resorts. 
 
 No islands are included in these pages except such as are free from the 
 visitations of yellow fever or persistent malarial and zymotic epidemics. 
 Great care has also been taken to obtain the fullest and most correct san- 
 itary statistics on the subject, in which the author has perhaps been assisted 
 by his interest in medical topics. Official documents and data have been 
 consulted, and the opinions of the ablest resident physicians have been 
 received and compared. And in ever}- instance, regarding all points of 
 information, the writer has gathered his facts from careful personal obser- 
 vation or from the highest authorities. 
 
 As all of these islands have been recently visited by him, he has thought 
 lit to leave the description of them in their original narrative form, as he 
 saw all the important places mentioned, while the book may thus perhaps 
 be rendered more atti-active to the general reader by the introduction of 
 incidents of travel and adventure. 
 
 The Appendix, although placed at the end, really contains the pith 
 of the book. It is intended to convey copious information regarding 
 the attractions of each island for both invalids and sportsmen, sanitary
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 statistics, the means for reacliing these resorts, and the hotels and ex- 
 penses of living. The islands are there distinctly classified in the order 
 of their respective advantages, without bias or prejudice. It may be that 
 one or two well-known resorts receive less indiscriminate praise than 
 has hitherto been awarded to them, while other less known resorts come 
 in for a share of credit that may surprise some who are ignorant of their 
 merits. But the writer can honestly say that he has stated the facts as 
 they appeared to the best of his judgment. 
 
 The author avails himself of this opportunity to express his hearty 
 acknowledgments for the genial hospitality, the many kind attentions, and 
 the uniform courtesy he has met in his rambles among the Atlantic Isles, 
 whether from the officials of the local governments, the consuls of the 
 United States and other countries, or from private citizens.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. pagb 
 
 The Bahamas 13 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 The Azores 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Channel Islands 57 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Magdalen Islands 78 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 Madeira 94 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Teneriffe 121 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Newfoundland 146 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Bermudas 161 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Belleisle-en-Mer 179
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. Page 
 
 Prince Edward Island 188 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Isles of Shoals 205 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Cape Breton Island " 222 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 The Isle of Wight 234 
 
 APPENDIX 257
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Greve au Lan§on Frontispiece. 
 
 HoPETowN Hareoe, Abaco 13 
 
 Government House 15 
 
 Old Gdnnybags 16 
 
 Sponge Yard 17 
 
 Entrance to Port Nassau 19 
 
 BlACKBEARD, THE PiRATE 20 
 
 Fort Fincastle, Nassau 21 
 
 The Hermitage, Country-seat of Lord 
 
 Dunmore, AT Nassau 21 
 
 RovAL Victoria Hotel 23 
 
 Public Library, Nassau 24: 
 
 SiLK-COTTON-TREE, NaSSAU 2(3 
 
 Dunmore Town 28 
 
 Glass Windows 30 
 
 Street in Nassau 32 
 
 Azores, or Western Isles 34 
 
 Flores Cart and Peasant Hut 37 
 
 Pico, FROM Fayal 38 
 
 Pico Peak, from Fayal 39 
 
 The Pico Ferry 41 
 
 Market-day in Fayal 47 
 
 Hospital of Villafranca do Campo 49 
 
 Jetty of Ponta Delgada, St. Michael. 51 
 
 A St. Michael Wagon 53 
 
 The Channel Islands 57 
 
 St. Peter's Port, Guernsey 58 
 
 Monument to Prince Albert, Guernsey 59 
 Market-place at St. Peter's Port, 
 
 Guernsey 60 
 
 Children Begging for "Doubles" 61 
 
 Dolmen and Martello Tower, Guernsey (>2 
 Hauteville, Victor Hugos late Resi- 
 dence IN Guernsey 64 
 
 Guard -house described in '"Toilers 
 
 OF THE Sea" 65 
 
 The Corbiere and Light-house, Jersey 66 
 
 Mount Orgueil Castle, Jersey 68 
 
 The Pinnacle, Jersey 69 
 
 Page 
 
 St. Brelade's Church, Jersey 70 
 
 Vraicking 71 
 
 Crbux Harbor, Sark 72 
 
 Entrance to the Creux Landing-place, 
 
 Sark 73 
 
 The Autelets, Sark 74 
 
 Creux du Derrible, Sark 75 
 
 Natural Bridge, Pont-du-Moulin, Sauk 76 
 
 Seigneur's House, Sark 77 
 
 Sand Dunes and Wrecks between Am- 
 herst AND Grindstone Islands 79 
 
 The Magdalen Islands 80 
 
 Amherst, looking toward Demoiselle 
 
 Hill 81 
 
 Landing on Entry Island 82 
 
 Old Man and Old Woman 83 
 
 Dragging the Hull of a Schooner to 
 
 THE Beach 85 
 
 Through the Surf 86 
 
 Port and Village of Etang du Nord, 
 
 Grindstone Island 87 
 
 Cap au Meule and Wreck, Grindstone 
 
 Island 89 
 
 Part of Cape Alright 90 
 
 The Serene Joseph 91 
 
 The Madeira Islands 95 
 
 Funchal Harbor and Brazen Head... 96 
 
 Loo Rock 97 
 
 The Sledge-hack.... 99 
 
 The Mountain Sled 101 
 
 Church of Nostra Senhora do Moxte 103 
 
 Hammock-riding in Madeira 107 
 
 Village of Cama do Lobos 109 
 
 A THRESHING-FLOOlt HO 
 
 A Grist-mill HI 
 
 Peasants' Hut and Peasants 115 
 
 Penha D'Aguia 117 
 
 Plaza de la Constitucion, Santa Ckuz 121 
 The Canary Islands 122
 
 12 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Teneriffe 123 
 
 Spanish Senorita 124: 
 
 The Fostigo 125 
 
 Milk-venders 126 
 
 Camels and CocHiNiiAL-CARiuERs 128 
 
 Group of Chuzas, or Huts, near La- 
 cuna 12'J 
 
 Teneriffe Costume 130 
 
 GuANCiiE Mummies at Tacaronte 131 
 
 City of San Juan, Orotava 133 
 
 Dragon-tree as it was 134 
 
 Botanic Gardens, Orotava 135 
 
 View of the Peak from Orotava 137 
 
 Peasant Spinning 138 
 
 A Peasant-woman op Icod 131) 
 
 Peak of Teneriffe, as seen on ap- 
 proaching the Large Crater 141 
 
 Costume op Peasant 144 
 
 The Spout off Cape Broyle 147 
 
 Entrance to the Harbor of St. Johns 149 
 
 Ascent to a "Flake" 151 
 
 Cape Ray. — Telegraph House 153 
 
 St. Johns, from Signal Hill 155 
 
 Cleaning Fish 157 
 
 The Bermudas 101 
 
 CURA AND THE BaHAMA ISLANDS 1(;2 
 
 Hamilton, Bermudas 1(13 
 
 Floating-dock 1(J5 
 
 Trinity Church, Hamilton IGG 
 
 Moore's Calabash-tree 1(>7 
 
 View prom Light-house KJS 
 
 Cottage and Garden in Hamilton 109 
 
 A Street Scene in Hamilton — The 
 
 Wharf 170 
 
 A Street Scene in St. George's 171 
 
 The Devil's Hole 172 
 
 Caves on the Coast 173 
 
 Ravine on South Shore, Bermuda 174 
 
 Pitts Bay 175 
 
 India-rubber-tree 177 
 
 Fish-womkn of the Morbihan 179 
 
 Caesar's Table, or Table of the Mer- 
 chants, Locmariaquer 180 
 
 Le Palais, Belleisle 182 
 
 Peasant-girl, Belleisle 180 
 
 Sambro' Light. — Entrance to Halifax 
 
 Harbor 188 
 
 Entrance to Strait of Canso 189 
 
 Halifax, from the Citadel 190 
 
 Light - house. — Entrance to Pictou 
 
 Port 191 
 
 Government House, Charlottetown... 192 
 Methodist Church and Part of Char- 
 lottetoavn — East River in the Dis- 
 tance 193 
 
 Pagk 
 Avenue leading to Government House 194 
 
 Market Building, Charlottetown 195 
 
 Carrying the Mails across Northum- 
 berland Strait in Winter 197 
 
 Scene on Hunter River 198 
 
 Fish - house and Stage, and Fishing- 
 boats, RusTico 199 
 
 Fishing -boats beating into Rustico 
 Harbor, between the Bar and the 
 Spit: Bathing -house in the Fore- 
 ground 200 
 
 Fishing Party 201 
 
 Shag and Mingo Rocks, Duck Island. 205 
 
 Isles of Shoals 206 
 
 Whale's-back Light 208 
 
 Duck Island, from Appledore 210 
 
 Laighton's Grave 211 
 
 South-east End op Appledore, look- 
 ing South 212 
 
 Haley's Dock and Homestead 213 
 
 Ledge op Rocks, Haleys Island 214 
 
 Smutty Nose 215 
 
 Old Church, Star Island 216 
 
 Captain John Smith's Monument, Star 
 
 Island 217 
 
 Gorge, Star Island 218 
 
 White Island Light 218 
 
 Cliffs, White Island 219 
 
 Covered Walk and Light-house, White 
 
 Island 220 
 
 Londoner, from Star Island 221 
 
 Fishermen Cruising 223 
 
 Tall Fishing 225 
 
 Riding out a North-easter 227 
 
 The Micmac Indians 228 
 
 One of the Fisherman's Perils 229 
 
 Taking a Sight 232 
 
 Isle of Wight 234 
 
 Ryde 235 
 
 Grave of the Young Cottagkr 237 
 
 Legh Richmond 238 
 
 John Wilkes 239 
 
 SiiANKLiN Chine 240 
 
 Ventnor, from Pulpit Rock 241 
 
 The Natural Enemy 243 
 
 BoNCHURCH ■. 244 
 
 The Well op St. Lawrence 245 
 
 A Ckab-nitoner 240 
 
 Black Gang Chine 247 
 
 Faringford, the Residence op Alfred 
 
 Tennyson 248 
 
 Scratchkll's Bay 249 
 
 Tomb of the Princess Elizabeth 251 
 
 Carisbrooke Castle 252 
 
 Osborne 254
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS; 
 
 AS RESORTS FOR 
 
 HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 WE had been heading sonthward in the steamer City of Me ri da for 
 two days, followed by raw northerly winds, when the wind suddenly 
 shifted to the south. The change in the temperature was magical. Over- 
 coats were thrown aside at once, and all hands were called aft to spread 
 the awning; the waves went down, the clouds disappeared, the cold gray 
 color of the sea turned to azure, and every breath of the " sweet south " 
 seemed to sing a welcome to enchanted isles where reigns perpetual sum- 
 mer. On the fourth night we passed the Elbow Light, on the north-east 
 angle of Abaco, and sighted Hole-in-tlie-Wall at midnight. Many of ns 
 also now saw for the first time the Southern Cross gleaming over the bow, 
 while the North Star and the Bear were still visible on the quarter. At 
 dawn a long, low line of green keys lay abeam, and soon we saw the 
 graceful groves of cocoa and the spires of Nassau gleaming in the sun, 
 now rising in a cloudless sk}^ The vessel drew too much water to go 
 over the bar, and therefore came to anchor outside of the light-house at
 
 14 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 the western end of Hog Island, a beautiful coral islet three miles long, 
 which, by furnishing a breakwater cheaper and safer than that of Plym- 
 outh or Cherbourg, enables Nassau to claim the best port in the Baha- 
 mas. Boats of all descriptions darted from the shore, manned by negroes, 
 presenting sometimes a diverting variety of raggedness in the slender 
 wardrobe prescribed by conventional propriety rather than by any need 
 of protection against the weather. As we rowed in over the bar the first 
 object to attract our attention was the absolute clearness of the water — 
 hyaline, as a poet might truthfully call it — which enables the eye to see 
 everything on the white sand bottom, and the vivid, almost dazzling, green 
 hue of the surface, mottled with varied tints of the same color, giving 
 exactly the appearance of polished malachite. On landing, amidst a hub- 
 bub of negroes, we found the streets of almost snowy whiteness, intensified 
 by the glare of the white walls, so that straw hats and shade umbrellas 
 were at once called into requisition. One very soon gets accustomed to 
 this, however, and the effect could be greatly modified if the worthy citi- 
 zens would only content themselves with lower walls around their gardens, 
 or would color those they have with some sober gray. This is evident 
 when one rides out beyond the (;ity, where the roads are of precisely the 
 same character, but much more tolerable, because lined with verdure in- 
 stead of staring white walls. 
 
 It was a charmino- transition from the olare of the streets to the cool, 
 spacious verandas of the Royal Victoria Hotel, which occupies noble 
 grounds on an elevated position commanding a superb prospect over the 
 city, the harbor, and the ocean beyond ; and a breakfast of turtle steak, 
 chocolate, and tropical fruits freshlj' plucked, reminded us again that for 
 a while at least we were free from the furnace-heated prison-houses of the 
 North, and the icy, capricious, penetrating winds of our Northern spring, 
 if it is not a misnomer to call it spring. 
 
 Nassau is not only the chief town of the island of New Frovidence, but 
 also the capital of the Bahamas. There the Legislature meets and the 
 governor resides. The Government House is pleasantly situated, and tlie 
 approach to it is appropriately adorned by a colossal statue of Christopher 
 Columbus. The Legislature is elected once in seven years, and generally 
 includes several colored members. The black population largely predomi- 
 nates, for not only did the early settlers own slaves, but many cargoes of 
 captured slavers were taken to Nassau and left there to shift for them- 
 selves. The aboriginal race of the Bahamas is now entirely extinct. The 
 negroes are generally tall and well formed, and very civil in their de- 
 meanor, and great crimes are uncommon among them. Theft and licen-
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 15 
 
 tiousiiess are their chief " irregularities." It is creditable to the people 
 that the spacious and haudsome prison recently constructed at Iiigh cost 
 is half emptA', which gave the jailer a curious uneasiness, because, as he 
 said to me, he had a piece of road-mending to be done in the broiling 
 sun of mid-da}^ and the number of criminals under his charge was not 
 equal to completing it within a given time ! The old prison, a rather 
 picturesque building resembling a mosque, is now turned into a public 
 library; the cells, once filled with pirates and boozy blockade -runners, 
 now form the alcoves of a very well-arranged library, stocked with some 
 six thousand volumes, generally well selected, and open to the use of the 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSE. 
 
 public. As this institution is near the hotel, it is of great advantage to 
 strangers sojourning on the island. 
 
 Some of the mulattoes display considerable talent as artisans. The 
 shell-work they produce shows exquisite taste and skill; and Bethel, the 
 best ship-builder of the group — and a very clever man he is, too — is of 
 the colored persuasion. Captain Stuart, M^ho commands the light-house 
 and revenue schooner, is a man of commanding appearance and marked 
 intelligence, and is regarded by the negroes of Nassau as " a sort of god
 
 16 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 round heah," as they phrase it, because he foretold the great hurricane 
 of 1866. Tlie colored people of Nassau are much addicted to church- 
 going, and it is pleasant of a calm evening to hear the singing from the 
 churches all over the town. Poppy Kumer, as he is familiarly called, 
 
 a quaint, unique character, is their 
 most noted preacher, and many of 
 his curious sayings and eccentrici- 
 ties are current. He is, in addition, 
 a man possessed of intellectual pow- 
 er, and is thoroughly in earnest. Old 
 Gunnybags is another noted charac- 
 ter of Nassau, a modern Diogenes, 
 who takes up his residence in Grants- 
 town, the suburb affected by the 
 black gentry. The old fellow, not 
 to speak disrespectfully of him, was 
 crossed in love in his earlier days, it 
 is said, since which melancholy event 
 he has W'Orn a suit of gunny bags of 
 a fashion not borrowed from Paris, 
 and has slept in a hogshead laid on, 
 its side under a wall by the wayside ; 
 owing to the narrowness of his quar- 
 ters and the heat of the climate, he 
 cooks his meals in the open air. A 
 little beyond Grantstown are the 
 places called Jericho and Jericho-beyond-Jordan, which show what thrift 
 the negro can display on occasion. 
 
 As a class, however, the negroes of the Bahamas are far more supersti- 
 tious than religious. They are great cowards at night, shutting up their 
 cabins tight as a drum to keep out the wandering powers of darkness. 
 Although the fact is resented by many of the most intelligent colored 
 residents, there is no doubt that the more ignorant negroes of these islands 
 entertain an almost incredible belief in fetichism. The obeah men drive 
 a thriving business, and it is seldom a sponging-boat goes to sea without 
 first enlisting the valuable aid of the man-witch or warlock. They are 
 said to be lazy, and certainly they seem to take life very easily, lying on 
 the ground sometimes for hours under the full blaze of tlie noonday sun, 
 chewing the end of a sugar-cane, or brawling in grandiloquent and often 
 meaninsless rodomontade at the street corners. But there is little need 
 
 ..L.\N\iiAt.b.
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 17 
 
 of exertion when it takes so little to supply their iuiniediate wants. A 
 recent pastoral of one of the ritualistic priests, giving directions for the 
 observance of Lent, created "inextinguishable laughter" in Nassau, for, 
 among other ordinances, it forbade the eating of sugar. As sugar-cane 
 forms a staple article of food with the negroes, a strict observance of 
 his directions would have been followed by lamentable results. But I 
 think the charge of laziness unfounded, if one but considers the severe 
 labor the negroes often accomplish, as, for example, in the sponge fishery, 
 which gives employment to the owners and crews of five hundred licensed 
 craft of ten to twenty-five tons burden, and is carried on with some risk 
 from the weather, and much hardship, for the sponges are two or three 
 fathoms below tiie surface, and must be torn from the rocks with hooks 
 attached to long poles. The positioti of the sponges is ascertained by 
 means of a water-glass, which is a simple oblong box a foot square, open 
 at the upper end, and containing a pane of glass at the other; on holding 
 this perpendicularly over the water one can see everything through it as 
 clearly as in an aquarimn — fish, sponges, coral, or shells. The Bahama 
 
 SPONGE YARD. 
 
 sponges are chiefly of four sorts — sheep-wool (which is the most valuable), 
 reef, velvet, and glove; and, although inferior to the finest Mediterranean 
 sponges, are very strong, and serviceable for washing carriages, surgery, 
 and the like. The sponge -boats usually get in on Saturday, and the 
 
 9
 
 18 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 sponges are assorted in tlie markets, each boat-load and variety bj- itself. 
 On Monday they are disposed of at auction, only members of the sponge 
 guild and those making genuine offers being permitted to bid, which is 
 done by written tenders. 
 
 Talking aloud to themselves is another trait peculiar to the negroes 
 of the Bahamas. As a p)roof of their love for large -sounding phrases 
 alluded to above, which are often used without the slightest idea of their 
 meaning, I give here a copy of a letter written by a soldier of one of the 
 native regiments, addressed to his physician, who kindly placed it at my 
 disposal, selecting it at random from a number of similar precious doc- 
 uments he had received : 
 
 ■ "Feb. 23, 18 7-. 
 
 "Sir, — I thy most worthy servant, have the honour, at this time, to im- 
 ])lore and beseeche thee, this 2d time to Pore this thy patient and impen- 
 itent hand Maid, for although it has pleased the Almighty to deal thus 
 with her, as she at present is, still i ti'ust that it may please him also to 
 release her, out of her present pains and sufferings, to her former position 
 again. And we trust that his Never failing providence may and will sup- 
 port thee to listen to the Tortures and cries of the Afflicted, for his mer- 
 cies sake. Sir the present positions of thy penitent hand Maid is thus, a 
 severe and Protruberance pain in the back, and a cough in proportion to 
 the pain in the back, and a pain in the stomach in proportion to the cough, 
 and a standing weakness, and a stubborn faintiness, with restlessness day 
 and night, and Sir she stands at present in need of a good proportion of 
 blood, for Sir she loose a good set, before she came to thee the first time. 
 For Sir, she was losing it from Sunday to Sunday, which was eight days, 
 and it began to abate on the ninth day. And Sir by the help of God and 
 thy assistance, I implore thee to try for her for 
 
 " I am thy humble Servant." 
 
 "Wrecking is another branch of business for which the Bahamas have 
 long been famous, owing to their intricate navigation. At one time this 
 M'as very lucrative, but it has been falling off of late years. Formerly 
 everything saved from a wi-eck was sold at auction in Nassau ; now all 
 goods not of a perishable nature, and undamaged, are reshipped to the 
 port of destination. Collusion between ship -masters and the pilots was 
 also frequent; but increased> vigilance on the part of the insurance com- 
 panies has interfered with this nefarious business, while the numerous 
 light-houses recently erected by the Government, with noble self-sacrifice, 
 have operated in the same direction. The uncertainties attending money-
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 19 
 
 making in this precarions way have their effect on the cliaractei* of the 
 people, as is the case when the element of chance enters largely into busi- 
 ness; the pi-izes in the lottery are few, but are occasionally so largo as to 
 excite undue expectations, and thus unfit many for any pursuit more steady 
 but less exciting. For months they will cruise around, watching and hoj)- 
 ing, and barely kept alive on a scant supply of sugar-cane and conchs: 
 then they fall in with a wreck, and make enough from it, perhaps, to 
 keep them going another year. It is not a healthy or desiral)le state of 
 affairs. 
 
 One Sunday morning a commotion arose quite unusual in the uncom- 
 
 l.NTltANCE TO PORT NASSAU. 
 
 monly quiet and orderly streets of Nassau. There was hurrying to and 
 fro, and the sound of voices shrill and rapid indicated some sudden and 
 extraordinary excitement. The wharves of the little port were thronged 
 and positively black with eager negroes, and great activity was noticeable 
 among the sloops and schooners. Some were discharging their cargoes 
 of sponges, shells, fish, and cattle in hot haste; others were provisioning 
 or setting np their rigging; others again were expeditiously hoisting their 
 sails and heaving up their anchors; while the crews, black and white, 
 sung songs in merry chorus, as if under the influence of great and good 
 tidings. What could it all mean? It meant this: another vein in the 
 Bahama gold mines had been struck, another lead discovered, and the 
 miners were off to develop it, each hoping to be the lucky one to turn out 
 the largest nugget, and to retire on it for life. In other words, news had 
 just been brought of the wreck of a Spanish vessel on the Lavadeiros 
 Shoal, one hundi'ed and fifty miles away. She was none of your wretched
 
 20 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 colliers or fruiters, with a cargo valueless to wreckers, but a ship whose 
 hold from keelson to deck beams was packed with a thousand tons of 
 choice silks and stuffs for the black-eyed brunettes of Havana, just enough 
 damaged to oblige them to be sold at auction in Nassau, where all goods 
 wrecked in that archipelago must be brought for adjudication. Verily, we 
 thought, " it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good ;" the misfortune 
 which has -wrung the soul and perhaps ruined the happiness of two or 
 three in far-off lands has made glad the hearts of several thousand dark- 
 ies, raulattoes, and whites in the Bahamas. Here is a text for La Roche- 
 foucauld, the modern cynic. 
 
 The manufacture and exportation of salt have also been among the 
 most lucrative pursuits of the islands. With the single exception of Andros 
 Island, which seems to be still in a formative state, there is not a fresh- 
 water lake or stream in the whole 
 group; but lakes of some size, contain- 
 ing more or less salt, are found on 
 many of the islands. Vast quantities 
 of salt have been made at Exuma, 
 Long Island, Rose Island, Inagua, and 
 Turk's Island. The latter is now un- 
 der the jurisdiction of Jamaica, and 
 the production of salt at the other isl- 
 ands is at present in a very languish- 
 ing condition, the result of the high 
 duties imposed by our Government 
 on the article, which act in two ways, 
 like a two-edged sword, forcing our 
 people to pay a higher price than they 
 otlierwise would for what salt they 
 consume, and effectuallj' crippling one of the most important trades of 
 the West Indies. 
 
 But the branches of business which in past years have brought most 
 wealth into Nassau have been buccaneering, privateering, and blockade- 
 running. The buccaneers were at one time in liigli feather there; they 
 bought up or captured the governors, toasted and roasted the people when 
 recalcitrant, and, hiding behind the low keys in their little vessels, sprung 
 out, spider -like, on any unwary trader quietly sailing by. Blackbeard, 
 wlio is represented in the cut given above, from an old print, was the 
 most celebi'ated of the ruffian chiefs wlio at various times ruled over these 
 islands. An immense silk-cotton-tree stood until within a few years on 
 
 BLACKBEARD, THE PIRATE.
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 21 
 
 Bay Street, in Nassau, under the broad brandies of which he admin- 
 istered high-handed justice, and caroused with liis harridan dames. He 
 was finally killed off the coast of South Carolina in a desperate fight, and 
 the land had rest for certain years, 
 tlie escutcheon of the colony bearing 
 since that time the significant legend, 
 '■'■Kxpulsis j>iratis, restituta commer- 
 cial 
 
 After the pirates came the pri- 
 vateers of the Revolution. Fincastle 
 (Lord Dunmore), when he left Vir- 
 ginia, settled in tlie Bahamas, of which 
 lie was appointed governor, and lie °| 
 was followed by many Tories, Al- 
 though not a great man, his is one of 
 the most noted names connected with 
 the history of the Bahamas. Traces of 
 his administration still exist in many 
 places. There is a quaint fort named Fincastle behind the Victoria Hotel, 
 curiously resembling a paddle-box steamer ; and the country-seat where 
 lie resided, now called the Hermitage, is still standing by the water, ad- 
 mirably situated, surrounded by a noble grove of oaks and cocoa-palms. 
 Royal Island, having a snug little harbor easy of access, was a rendezvous 
 where arms and stores were concealed, and royalist privateers made it a 
 common resort during the American Revolution. An old stone house still 
 remains there which has doubtless witnessed many wild, mysterious scenes 
 in days gone by. 
 
 FOnT FINCASTLE, NASSAU. 
 
 TUE UEKMITAGE, COUNTBY-SEAT OF LOiU) DUNilOlli:, AT NASSAU.
 
 32 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 We may add, in passing, that one of the most noted characters who 
 ever figured in Nassau was Blennerhasset, notorious for his rehitions 
 with Aaron Burr. It will be remembered that after the excitement pro- 
 duced by the trial had blown over, Blennerhasset passed off the scene ; 
 but Blennerhasset still lived. There is excellent authority for stating that 
 the Bahamas, a refuge for so many rovers and adventurers, gave him a 
 shelter during some of the remaining years of his life. Leaving his wife 
 (whom the classic oration of Wirt has made famous) to care for herself, 
 he there assumed the name of Carr, and received the position of Attorney- 
 o-eneral. The seci-et was known to but few. Another wife consoled him 
 for the absence of Mrs. Blennerhasset, who once discovered his retreat, 
 but was spirited out of the island, and maintained elsewhere on a sep- 
 arate allowance. Those were roistering days, when gentlemen drank hard, 
 played high, and fought duels like devils — days now fortunately passed, 
 it is hoped, forever, at least in Nassau — and Blennerhasset acted his role 
 well, by no means a looker-on in Vienna. 
 
 And now we come to the most remarkable episode in the history of 
 tlie Bahamas, the part they played in tlie Southern rebellion, about which 
 a volume of entertaining information could be written. On the 5th of 
 December, 1861, the first Confederate vessel ai-rived from Charleston, 
 witli 144 bales of cotton ; and between that time and the close of the 
 war 397 vessels entei-ed Nassau from Confederate ports, and 588 sailed 
 tlience for Southern ports. Of tliese the steamers were to tlie sailing ves- 
 sels in tlie ratio of three to one. Of the cleaiances 432 were ostensibly 
 for St. John, New Brunswick, and of the total number only thirty-two 
 carried the Confederate flag — a pretty fair indication of the amount of 
 complicity practised about that time by Her Majesty's subjects and officials 
 in Nassau, and of the value of the British capital engaged in this ques- 
 tionable traffic. In nothing was this connivance on the part of a neutral 
 power moi-e evident than in the case of the Florida^ or Oreto^ which was 
 three times seized by the commander of the British inan-of-war Bull-doy, 
 and three times released by the decision of the insular Admiralty Court 
 on grounds afterward wisely disavowed by the Home Government. 
 
 During the Confederate years the little town actually swarmed with 
 Southern refugees, the captains and crews of blockade -runners, cotton- 
 brokei's, rum-sellers, Jews and Gentiles of high and low degree, coining 
 monej' and squandering it as if they owned the secret of the transmuta- 
 tion of metals. They played toss-penny in the verandas of the Royal Vi(;- 
 toria Hotel with gold eagles! The shops were packed to the ceilings; 
 the streets were crowded with bales, boxes, and barrels — cotton coming in.
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 23 
 
 Confederate uniforms and pills of lead and quinine, to pepper patriots 
 and patients, going out. Sennnes and his bold boys twisted their mus- 
 taches at every corner, danced involuntary reels and hornpipes from grog- 
 irerv to irroo-irerv, and from the waxed floors of the Government House, 
 where they were always sure of a cordial reception, to the decks of the 
 Banshee and Alabama, or brandished their revolvers in the faces of Union 
 men, whose lives were too uncertain to insui-e thereabouts in those rol- 
 licking days. A spicy little paper called the Young Punch, edited by a 
 witty Confederate in Nassau, under the sobriquet of "The Can't Get 
 Away Club," gives a glimpse of the state of things then existing, and 
 shows that there was some real fun connected with blockade-running. A 
 
 KUVAL VICTORIA HOTEL. 
 
 rather grim joke was played at the expense of tlie rebels via Kassau. A 
 large invoice of prayer-books was brought from England and reshipped to 
 Charleston, with tlie express understanding that tliey were suited to the 
 devotional wants of the Confederacy. Quite a number had been distrib- 
 uted before it was discovered that tlie prayers for the President and Con- 
 o-res's of the United States had not been altered ! 
 
 It is not a creditable fact that some of the goods smuggled into the
 
 24 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 PUBLIC LIBRARY, NASSAU. 
 
 Confederacy by way of Xassau were fi'oin Northeni ports, as, for example, 
 ship-loads of pistols brought from Boston in ban-els of lard. On the other 
 hand, there are many instances of noble patriotism on record. The name 
 oi Timothy Darling, Esq., is deserving the honor and respect of every 
 true American. A native of Maine, but long a resident of Nassau, a 
 British subject, and one of the principal merchants and politicians of the 
 Bahamas, he was more than once offered the agency of the Confedei-acy, 
 and always firmly declined — a proposal which, as the event proved, would 
 have been w^orth several hundred thousand dollars to him. 
 
 During the continuance of the war the weather was exceptionally fine 
 even for the West Indies ; no hurricanes, and but few gales of any vio- 
 lence, occurred. Evei-ything went on merry as a marriage-bell, and the 
 policies of vessels clearing for Nassau might well have omitted the words 
 "wind and weather pei'mitting." But in the year succeeding th.e fall of 
 Kichmond, 18GG, occurred the most terrible hurricane experienced in those 
 watere during this century. The ocean rolled completely over Hog Island 
 into the harbor in surges so enormous that the crest was even with the 
 gallery of the light-house, sixty feet al)ove the sea. Houses and forests 
 went down before the wind like reeds; many which withstood its force
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 25 
 
 when it blew from noith-east collapsed when it shifted to sonth-west. In 
 twenty -four hours the city was like a town sacked and burned by the 
 enemy, and a large part of the wealth accumulated during the war had 
 disappeared into thin air. The island has never entii-ely recovered from 
 the blow. Those who are inclined to believe in special providences may 
 find food for reflection in the circumstance that no Union man had his 
 house wrecked, or suffered any considerable loss. This is, at least, a curi- 
 ous coincidence. It is not to be supposed, however, that violent weather 
 or hurricanes are frequent in the Bahamas. Formerly they occurred once 
 in two or three years, in August to October, but now blow at much longer 
 intervals. There has been no hurricane in that archipelago since the one 
 of 1866. The prevailing winds are north to south, round b}' east, taking 
 the form of trade-winds from the eastward during a large part of the year, 
 and it is rarely that the heat of mid-day is not cooled by a breeze from the 
 sea. The facilities for yachting and fishing at Nassau are admirable, fast 
 yachts being always on Jiand, while the neighboring keys present attract- 
 ive I'esorts for picnic parties, and the variety, beauty, and savage character 
 of many of the fish I'ender fishing a sport of more than ordinary interest. 
 The beautiful Lakes of Killarney, in the interior of New Providence, 
 abound with wild-duck, and those who care to cruise as far as Green Key 
 may find lots of pigeon-shooting. 
 
 The drives around Nassau are also very charming, often leading by 
 the sea-side. There are few scenes more replete w^itli quiet but exquisite 
 and satisfying beauty than the drive to Fort Montague toward sunset; on 
 one side, groves of palms, lithe and graceful as nymphs, gently swaying 
 their undulating plumage in the evening wind; on the other side, the 
 'sea murmuring on the yellow sand; in the distance, the city and the port 
 limned against a sky ablaze with the glory of the tropics. The roads are 
 alwa^'s excellent, and of such a nature that the horses, when shod at all, 
 are only shod on the fore-feet. With a few exceptions, they are small 
 and meagre to a degree that rendei-s Rosinante corpulent in comparison, 
 being fed chiefly on sugar-cane stalks. It is curious that on islai'ids gen- 
 erally the equine race, while exceptionally hardy, has a tendency to dwin- 
 dle in size. But although appearances would lead one to expect a similar 
 condition in the vegetation of the Bahamas, the reverse seems to hold good. 
 With but one or two exceptions, the islands are low calcareous rocks, prob- 
 ably the summits of peaks once rising far above the sea, and enlarged and 
 re-elevated by coral insects since their submergence. The limestone is 
 gray, and so hard as to strike fire when exposed to the weather, but soft 
 enough below to be shaped with saw and hatchet, while the layer of soil
 
 26 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 scattered over it is so thin as to make it impossible to understand how 
 anything but scrub and goats could flourish upon it. Any Yankee so 
 enterprising or hare-brained as to introduce the latest improved plough 
 into Nassau would be considered a iit candidate for the Insane Asylum 
 behind the bishop's residence. And yet there is not a plant of the tropics 
 that may not be made to grow there, and many of the temperate zone. 
 The mahogany is common, chiefly on Andros Island, and might become a 
 lucrative branch of commerce if there were roads to transport it to the sea. 
 
 
 SILK-COTTON-TREE, NASSAU. 
 
 The variety called the horse-flesh is exceedingly durable, and is exclusively 
 used for the frames of Bahama vessels. It seems to rival oak for this 
 purpose. The pine reaches a good size in the interior of New Providence, 
 where the palmetto is so intermingled with it as to pi'esent a suggestive 
 blending of the vegetation of two zones. The wild pineapple, or air-plant, 
 which lives in the branches of forest trees, holding sometimes a quart of 
 dew in its silver-gray bowl of spiky leaves, is also an interesting object. 
 The satinwood, lignumvitse, yellow -wood, fasti(;, and cedar grow every- 
 where, and cocoa and date palms abound, together with the Ficus Tndicus, 
 a species of banyan. Of the East Indian banyan a very perfect specimen
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 27 
 
 exists near Foit Montague. The banana, tamarind, sapodilla, mango, cof- 
 fee-plant, guava, cnstard-apple, orange, sugar-cane, mainmee, and almost 
 every vegetable production of the tropics, grow more or less in the Baha- 
 mas. The oranges of San Salvador or Watling's Island are exceptionally 
 sweet. How such vegetation can thrive on a mere basis of rock is a per- 
 petual mystery. I visited an orange plantation outside of Nassau where 
 the gray rock was completely honey-combed with depressions called cave- 
 holes. On the bottom of these was a little soil, and there the trees grew 
 and flourished in clumps of eight or ten. The grape fruit is a species of 
 large orange, the color of a citron, and with a thick rind and a pleasant 
 tiavor. Why it should be called the grape fruit seems difficult to under- 
 stand. A gentleman from the Bahamas saw some of them in a fruit- 
 vender's stall in New York" labelled California oranges, their size seeming 
 in accordance with the usual exaggerated character of the productions of 
 that ambitious State. "My friend," said he to the fruit-vender, "those 
 are not California oranges; they are Bahama grape fruit." 
 
 "I guess you'd better move on," was the vender's reply, in an unmis- 
 takable tone of asperity. 
 
 One of the most singular trees in the Bahamas is the silk-cotton, which 
 attains a large size, not only reaching a good height, but spreading laterally 
 over a wide surface, and buttressed at the base like a Gothic tower, evi- 
 dently an adaptation by nature to support it in the absence of any perpen- 
 dicular hold it might have in a deeper soil. The roots also extend to a 
 great distance, creeping over the rock like vast anacondas, and clinging 
 to every crevice. The bolls are full of a soft brown cotton, resembling 
 floss silk, but not adhesive enough for use. One of the most remarkable 
 specimens of this tree is the one behind the Government House. Its roots 
 extend nearly the eighth of a mile, arid then shoot up into another mag- 
 nificent specimen in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hotel, in whose 
 branches a large platform has been constructed. 
 
 The cactus and aloe are, of course, connnon, and especially the Sisal 
 aloe, from which manilla rope might very well be manufactured with a 
 little enterprise, as might also be added regarding the production of cas- 
 tor-oil, as the plant grows abundantly on the islands. The pineapple flour- 
 ishes in San Salvador and Eleuthera ; the chief supplies of that delicious 
 fruit which reach our markets are from the latter island. 
 
 The cruise to Harbor Island and Eleuthera is one of the most interest- 
 ing within easy distance of Nassau. It can be made in a yacht or in one 
 of the many little schooners constantly plying to and fro ; keys are always 
 in sight, and a lee can be made at any time ; while one can return by way
 
 28 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 of Abaco, where a cruise in the sounds on either side of tliat island, and 
 a visit to the curious little settlement called Ilopetown, inhabited by de- 
 scendants of the buccaneers, present various attractions. Spanish Wells, 
 on the island of that name, is a most singular place. Planted on the low 
 beach, the houses are huddled together in inconceivable disorder, and 
 built on posts to raise them above the sea waves, and also to keep them 
 free from the incursions of the hermit-crabs, which live in the rocks in vast 
 numbers, and often come out at niglit and prowl over the land. Before 
 every house is an oven — it was baking-day when we touched there — and 
 the smell of fresh bread could be observed before we got to land. It was 
 also ironing-day, and before every cabin flat-irons were ranged on coals. 
 
 DL'NMORE TOWN. 
 
 The women wear the peculiar oblong pasteboard sun -bonnet which was 
 common years ago in our rural districts, called in some places "rantam- 
 skoots," and their appearance is not especially attractive; but then I did 
 not see them in their best bibs and tuckers, and dress does make a differ- 
 ence. Tlie school -house is thatched with palm leaves, and is a quaint 
 little building. The school-master told me they lived on conchs and fish, 
 and he had not tasted meat for two months. If fish makes brain, the 
 Bahamians ought to be intellectual to a degree; but facts do sometimes 
 conflict with theories. Many of the fish in those waters are poisonous at 
 times, especially the barracuda, which is a very savage fish, three to five 
 feet long. The cause for the noxious character of the West India fish is 
 not yet fully explained. The symptoms of poisoning by the barracuda 
 are great itching, pain in the joints, and baldness, lasting sometimes for 
 years. The first hint of poison is a violent sickness of the stomach, at-
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 29 
 
 tended with vomiting within half an hour after eating tlie fish. The white 
 people of the Bahamas generally itiduce the negro fish-sellers to .eat of 
 the fish fii'st, and, if it prove harmless, then partake of it themselves. We 
 caught a large barracuda, on the way to Harbor Island, and it was cooked. 
 Ignorant of its dangerous qualities, I ate freely of it. After I had satisfied 
 my appetite, I was told of the possible symptoms that might soon follow. 
 It being too late to avoid the mischief, I gave the matter no furtiier 
 thought, and happily suffered no ill effects. 
 
 From Spanish Wells the track lies over a succession of coral reefs, 
 through which the passage is of the most intricate chai'acter; one of the 
 worst places, a long zigzag reef, is called the Devil's Backbone. Were 
 it not for the extraordinary clearness and vivid malachite tints of the 
 w^ater, and that wherever a reef rises near the surface it is indicated by a 
 reddish spot, the complementary color of green, it would be next to im- 
 possible for a vessel to work into the port. The brilliance of this hue at 
 mid-day also causes the deep water beyond to appear purple, while the sky 
 is actually flushed with rose to the zenith on a bright day. The port of 
 Harbor Island is spacious, and so protected by reefs and bars at each en- 
 trance as to be the safest in the woild for vessels not drawing over nine 
 feet of water, after they once get inside of it. It is formed by a low 
 island stretching across a bight at the north-eastern end of Eleuthera. On 
 the inner slope of this isle is situated Dunmore Town, containing twenty- 
 five hundred inhabitants, next to Nassau the largest settlement in the Ba- 
 liamas. A veiy pleasing little place it is, encircled by beautiful cocoa-nut 
 groves, and dreaming by the gi-een -water in an air of solitude and peace 
 which is very bewitching to one who is weary of the rush and giddy whirl 
 of the nineteenth century, while the cool trade-winds always moderate tlie 
 heat. On the ocean side of Harbor Island is the finest beach I have seen, 
 of very fine, delicate pinkish sand, hard as a floor, a glorious galloping 
 ground for the half-dozen ponies in tlie place. The people depend for 
 fresh water chiefly on w^ells sunk in the drifted sand immediately back 
 of the beach. When the well is dug, it is protected from falling in by 
 three or four barrels, one over the other, and the rude curb is guarded 
 with a padlock. The sea-water filters through the sand into these wells, 
 and becomes sweet as ordinary spring- water. A gale of wind destroys 
 the wells once in three or four years, and excavating new ones is a dan- 
 gerous process. The inhabitants gain a livelihood cultivating pineapples 
 on Eleuthera. A fleet of two hundred boats is owned in the settlement. 
 Every morning at sunrise this little fleet spreads its wings to the trade- 
 wind, and wafts eight hundred men and boys, black and wdiite, to the
 
 30 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 lovely beach and cocoa -nut groves on Eleiitliera, two miles away; every 
 night they return. Tlie pineapples begin to ripen in April, and only gi-ow 
 to advantage on a peculiar red soil that is always thin, and is found in 
 but few districts. The plantations are on undulating ground, the highest 
 in the Bahamas, and are skirted by mahogany, logwood, and cocoa -nnt 
 groves, overgrown with the brown love vine, and abounding in scarlet- 
 flowered hop, clitoria or wild pea, and various other flowers, while the 
 song of the brown thrush resounds in every thicket, A pine held, when 
 
 GLASS WINDOWS. 
 
 the pines are ripe, looks as if it were on fii-e, the scarlet of the spiked 
 leaves forming a flame -color with the vivid oi-ange- yellow of the fruit. 
 There are two principal varieties of the pineapple, the scarlet and the sug- 
 ar-loaf, the latter of which is the best. It is almost needless to add that 
 pineapples such as those of Eleuthera, eaten perfectly ripe on the spot, are 
 infinitel}^ superior to the pineapples sold in our markets. The same may 
 be said of the cocoa-nut. For a penny a negro ui'clhn would climb up a 
 tree and fetch me a pair of what are called jelly cocoa-nuts, the fruit be- 
 ing plucked before the pulp has hardened, so that it can be eaten with a 
 spoon. The flavor is very delicate, while the milk is cool even at mid-day,
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 31 
 
 and furnislies a tlioronghly liealthy, mildly astringeiit drink, preferable 
 to water or the brandy-and- water in which the lesidents too often indulo-e 
 for a warm climate. 
 
 Some charming excursions may be made from Harbor Island. The 
 bay is one of the most beautiful sheets of water ever marked by the keel 
 of a yacht, fringed by cocoa-nut groves, and protected from the surges of 
 ocean by the silver-flashing barrier of the bar. The walk from Bottom 
 Cove to the arch called the Glass Windows is remarkable for the sug- 
 gestive beauty of the land forms, the effect being heightened by the stately 
 stalks of the aloe rising here and there, like solitary bronze columns, lift- 
 ing a mass}' coronal of golden flowers against the sk}- ; while on one side, 
 owing to the nari'owness of Eleuthei'a at that spot, the green water of 
 the coral reefs is close at hand, and on the other actually blue water, 
 for Eleutheia is on the extreme edo^e of the Banks, servino- for some 
 seventy miles as a breakwater for the rest of the group against the vast 
 waves of the Atlantic, Mdiich rise there suddenly sometimes without any 
 wind, and last for sevei-al hours. The natives call these windless risings 
 of the sea " rages ;" they are probably caused by a heavy storm blowing 
 at a distance. In 1872 an extraordinary tidal wave rose without warn- 
 ing at the Glass Windows, washing under the arch and entirely over the 
 island, carrying away several young people who were enjoying a picnic 
 there. The account of the rescue of one of tliem is a thrilling and re- 
 markable story, too long for narration here ; but those who visit Harbor 
 Island will And Mr. Cole, the intelligent and courteous school - master, 
 quite willing to repeat the narrative of an adventure of which he was 
 himself an eye-witness. The arch is of limestone, eighty-five feet above 
 the sea. A line can be dropped plumb down to the water. It is split 
 entirely across at the centre, and as one stands over the crack fancy read- 
 ily suggests the consequences if the arch should fall in at that moment. 
 Near Gregory's Harbor is a cave extending eleven hundred feet under- 
 ground, enriched with stalactites of a brilliant brown hue. It is really 
 worth visiting. There is also a large cave at Long Island. 
 
 South by east of Eleuthera is Cat Island, or Guanahani, celebrated 
 as the land first seen by Columbus, and called by him San Salvador. 
 The reader must here be prepared, however, for a surprise, when it is 
 stated that in all probability it was not Cat Island which Columbus 
 named San Salvador, but Watling's Island — a smaller isle a little more 
 to the southward and eastward. The facts in the case are these : con- 
 trary, probably, to the general opinion, it has never been definitely known 
 whicli was the island entitled to the honor; but about fifty years ago,
 
 32 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 when liistorians were busy witli the voyage of Columbns, they under- 
 took to settle the question by comparing his journal with the imperfect 
 charts of the Bahamas then existing. Navarette fixed on Turk's Island, 
 which later investigation has proved to be erroneous ; while Irving, sup- 
 ported by the strong authority of Plumboldt, argued for Cat Island, and 
 since then this has been generally accepted as San Salvador, and it is so 
 designated on our charts to this day. But the English reversed their 
 opinion some time ago, and transferred the name of San Salvador to Wat- 
 
 / ^^ 
 
 STREET IN NASSAD. 
 
 ling's Island, and it will be so found on their latest charts. The reasons 
 for this change seem conclusive. Lieutenant Beecher, of the English navy, 
 proves beyond question that Cat Island cannot be San Salvador, and that 
 Watling's Island answers the conditions required better than any other 
 island lying in the track of Columbus. His two strongest reasons against 
 Cat Island are that Columbus states that he rowed around the northern 
 end in one day. The size of Cat Island makes this physically impossible 
 there, while it is quite feasible at the other island. He also speaks of a 
 lara:e lake in the interior. There is no such water on Cat Island, while 
 such a lake does exist on Watlino-'s Island.
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 IT was on the 23d of July that the Al clipper-bark Jehu sailed from 
 Boston for Faj'al and a market, in ballast. She had in the steerage 
 thirty-one Portuguese, M'ho were returning home, and the object of the 
 voyage was ostensibly to secure a charter for an eai-ly cargo of oranges 
 in November, but really to obtain, clandestinely, a haul of Azorean pas- 
 sengers flying the islands in face of the stringent prohibitory laws against 
 emigration. There is in the Portuguese doTninions a strict system of 
 conscription, under which every man, on reaching twenty-one, must incur 
 the chance of being drawn for the army ; and in. consequence no one can 
 leave the Azores who has not yet had his name shaken in the lot, unless 
 he gives bonds in three hundred dollars that he will return and serve, if 
 drawn, the money to be forfeited if he fails to respond ; and this reguhi- 
 tion applies even to mere lads scarce weaned. It is evident that the great 
 poverty of the people makes this a pretty effectual bar to emigration. It 
 is true that passports are with some reluctance granted to those who do 
 not come within the application of this law, yet those wishing to emigrate 
 are principally young and enterprising males. But for years they have 
 found means to evade the observation of the Government, escaping on 
 passing whalers, whose crews are largely composed of Portuguese, or on 
 English and American traders, which have occasionally cruised among 
 the islands for the purpose of " stealing Portuguese," as tlie business is 
 called. The Jehu was at the time the only American vessel then depend- 
 ing for its profits on this curious and hazardous traffic, the other packets 
 plying between this country and the Azores being partly owned by resi- 
 dents there, who do not dare to trespass on the laws of the land. 
 
 Manuel, the second mate, and all the crew were Portuguese ; he was 
 very handsome, black-bearded, eagle-eyed, and with a herculean frame. 
 AVe had baffling winds, with calms and fogs, until we got near wlialing 
 ground. Tlie Azores are an important rendezvous for whalers, who can 
 provision there more cheaply than at home, and for that purpose touch 
 
 3
 
 34 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 there even when bound around the Iloi-n. The waters in tliat vicinity are 
 also 2;ood for cruising, although whales are less abundant than formerly. 
 On the 5th of August we took a sou'-wester, and the Jehu flew toward 
 Flores with every stitch of canvas set and all drawing, making a thou- 
 sand miles in four days, galloping away with the wind abaft the beam, 
 and carrying sail until it blew away. An observation on the 8th showed 
 that we had passed Flores, which had been hidden in mist, at midnight, 
 when we should have been abreast of the island. Captain Brown had 
 thouo-ht of lying to the previous night, but had unwisely concluded to 
 
 RCORVO 
 
 ^% 
 
 AZORES 
 
 — or — 
 
 Western Isles 
 
 ■^ Pico 
 
 
 Joii^* 
 
 -of" 
 
 ^ 
 
 F{,n s,t. K. T. 30 Longitude West 29 from Greenwich 28 
 
 keep on, and we now had to beat to windward sixty miles. We were not 
 the first who had found the Western Islands elusive as the Flying Dutch- 
 man or St. Brandon's Isle. Lying far apart as they do, it is quite easy, 
 when the weather is at all thick, to miss them, or come foul of them with 
 a fatal crash, for they are all so precipitous that a ship may almost any- 
 wdiere butt her bowsprit against the cliffs before grounding or finding 
 anchorage. The Azores (so called from the agor, a hawk peculiar to those 
 islands) were discovered early in the fifteenth century by Cabral, and tlie 
 Formigas, a reef near St. Mary, were the first seen. St. Michael and St. 
 Mary were the first to be settled, about 1431, sixty years before the voyage 
 of Columbus ; who on his return, in pursuance of a vow made during a 
 great storm, landed half his crew,wdio went barefoot to the Chapel of the
 
 THE AZORES. 35 
 
 Virgin to offer thanksgiving. He was about to follow with the remainder 
 of the crew, but was hindered by the unfriendly conduct of the governor. 
 
 It was a fine morning in August when we reached Flores — the Lsle 
 of Flowers — and with a fresli leading wind stood close along the shore, 
 enjoying a good view of the jagged volcanic peaks and well-cultivated 
 slopes. We hove to at breakfast-time off Santa Cruz, tlie chief place on 
 the island. A boat soon came off with the health officer, and after getting 
 pratique^ I went ashore w^ith the captain. The boats of Flores are made 
 for out-at-sea w^ork, deep and bi'oad, more like a small ship than a row- 
 boat, and the oars are very clumsy, and constructed of two or three pieces, 
 crooked boughs, fastened together with marline, and turning on the gun- 
 wale by a broad slab through which the thole-pin passes: it requires two 
 or three men to pull them. We reached the port — and what a port! 
 Riding in on the top of a roller, through a gauntlet of black lava rocks, 
 hoary with roaring foam, and scarce thirty yards apart, we entered a haven 
 about an acre and a half in extent, surrounded by perpendicular cliffs, on 
 whose edges the houses are perched, and with a beach to match, affording 
 scant room for a dozen boats. The boatmen took us off the boat on their 
 shoulders, and landed us high and dry amidst a throng of eager men, 
 women, and children, who occupied every spare foothold from which tlie 
 new arrivals could be seen. Closely they gatliered around us, the young 
 and the old, the halt and tlie maimed, the rich and the poor, the latter in 
 large majority ; some to welcome us, others to gaze, others to badger and 
 barter, and still others to beg. A public fountain near the landing, emp- 
 tying its musical stream into a stone trough, and surrounded by a group 
 of barefooted, black-eyed, olive-hued girls in white mantles, filling earthen 
 jars, was the first object to fix my attention, vividly reminding me that, 
 although yet in the Atlantic, I had again come within the magic influence 
 which lends an indescribable charm to the shores of the Mediterranean, 
 
 The people of Flores are good-looking, many of the young girls and 
 youths having a piquant beauty that is very attractive. But the aged 
 often have the parchment-like, deeply wrinkled skin common the world 
 over to the peasantry when advanced in years. The women of Flores 
 generally wear a shawl or white cloth over their heads. Excepting the 
 few of the upper class, both sexes of all ages go barefoot. AVhen they 
 attend mass they carry their shoes with them, and put them on before 
 entering the church. 
 
 Convents for both sexes were abolished throughout the group by Dom 
 Pedro I., but the Franciscan convent of Santa Cruz still stands. The dor- 
 mitories are let to tenants, but the chapel belonging to it is a fair speci-
 
 3G THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 men of the Renaissance-Italian style as seen in colonial chnrclies, adapted, 
 by its profuse and rather tawdrily gilded ornamentation, to impress an 
 ignorant populace. The church of Santa Cruz occupies a commandinf>- 
 position, and is externally one of the best in the Azores. It is flanked 
 by two towers surmounted by Saracenic domes; but the interior is cold 
 and naked. Both church and convent are about three centuries old. 
 
 The formation of Flores and the neighboring island of Corvo, which 
 is merely a crater whose sides are cultivated by a small colony of Moriscos 
 not a thousand in number, is in some respects different from that of the 
 remainder of the group; that they are distinct is partially proved by the 
 circumstance that earthquake-shocks felt in the other islands are not expe- 
 rienced in these two, which have shocks entirely their own. Figs, yams, 
 potatoes, corn, wheat, bananas, apples, peaches, and almost any vegetable 
 production of both spheres, grow, or can be made to grow, on these islands, 
 so mild is the average temperature, extremes being unknown. But to 
 bring many of them to perfection, a more intelligent culture is necessary 
 than they receive at these islands. It never freezes, even during the rainy 
 season, except on tlie mountains, nor does the mercury often rise above 
 85° in summer. Excellent figs I tasted, yet by no means comparable to 
 the fig of the Levant ; the apples are far inferior to ours ; and the grapes 
 are only tolerable. It is but fair to add that for eighteen years a blight 
 has cursed the Azorean vineyards, as in the Madeiras, and both grapes 
 and wine are scarcer, and possibly })oorer, than formerly. The indications 
 now are that the bliglit is about over. 
 
 There are several villages in Flores, and agriculture is prosecuted with 
 much industry, women also laboring in the fields, and the implements 
 are of a patriarchal character. Donkeys and horses are scarce, and the 
 means of transportation are the human head and small carts drawn by 
 diminutive cattle; the wheels are solid, turning on an axle of chestnut- 
 wood, selected especially on account of the infernal squeak it gives out. 
 The peasants find this a congenial music on the lonelj^ roads ; it can be 
 heard a great distance, and is so modulated as to produce alternately a 
 squeak and a groan ! The cattle become accustomed to work to this dole- 
 ful accompaniment, and the drivers maintain that it is essential to their 
 own happiness; each cart-owner is, in fact, boastful of the peculiar tune 
 creaked by his own vehicle. 
 
 Having landed some of our passengers, and engaged provisions against 
 our return, we sailed for Fayal. Two days' sail took us close to Castello 
 Branco, or White Castle, a bold headland at the southern end of the isl- 
 and, four hundred feet high, and resembling a huge fortress, connected
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 37 
 
 with the hind by a slender natural causeway. But night came on before 
 we could weather this headhmd, and we stood out to sea again to avoid 
 being becalmed and sucked against the rocks by the swift, treacherous cur- 
 rents. Vessels overtaken by calms sometimes have very narrow escapes 
 in those waters. On tlie following morning we beat into the roadstead of 
 Ilorta, the town of Fayal, the latter name being often incorrectly used for 
 both. The name Fayal is derived from t\\Q faya, a small evergreen tree, 
 found, however, more on Pico than on the island to which its name is 
 given. The harbor is the best in the group, affording tolerable anchorage 
 and shelter from westerly winds, Pico, four miles distant, presenting a 
 magnificent breakwater to east winds; but against gales from the nortli- 
 
 FLORES CART AND PEASANT UUT. 
 
 cast and south-east there is no shelter, and vessels have then to cut and 
 run, or incur great risk of going ashore. They always ride at heavy moor- 
 ings, and sometimes in a gale all hands seek refuge on land. 
 
 "We threw the topsail aback, and Avaited for the port-boat, which soon 
 came out, followed closely by the revenue and several other boats. The 
 officers very carefully examined our captain as to the number on board, 
 causing all hands to be mustered along the rail to count noses. As we had 
 several who had come without passports, and therefore could not pass mus- 
 ter, some sharp practice resulted, after which everything was, with some 
 hesitation, pronounced satisfactory. Two guards, one more than usual, 
 owing to the doubtful character of the Jehu, were detailed to remain on 
 board during her stay. Yery particular are these Portuguese martinets 
 in all the punctilios of revenue law, on the principle that the smaller the 
 State the more necessary is it to maintain its dignity with fuss and fcath-
 
 38 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ers. So strict are the revenue laws that even a mere sail-boat cannot leave 
 one island district for another without a clearance. A person cannot go 
 
 FAYAL 
 
 PICO FROM FAYAL. 
 
 from Pico, in the Fajal disti'ict, to St. George, only sixteen miles off, hut 
 in the Terceira district, except with a passport; and if caught without one, 
 he is permitted to meditate on his sins in jail. 
 
 The captain of a Yankee whaler pla^-ed a good joke on the port au- 
 thorities of Horta. While cruising in the neighboring waters, one of his 
 crew fell from aloft and broke his leg. Accordingly, the vessel put into 
 Fayal to land the poor fellow. 
 
 " Where are you last from ?" asked the port officer. 
 
 " From Barbadoes." 
 
 He looked over his instructions, and found Barbadoes to be a suspected 
 island, so nothing would do but that the whaler must proceed seven hun- 
 dred miles to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and go into quarantine there, 
 before she could land the man. What does oui- sharp Yankee do but sail 
 to the island of Terceira, only seventy miles distant. 
 
 "Where are you last from ?" asked the port officer of Terceira. 
 
 "From Fayal," replied the American. 
 
 So they gave him praiigue. Then he sailed back to Fayal. 
 
 " Where are you last from ?" again asks the port officer there. 
 
 " From Terceira." 
 
 " Ah, very good." 
 
 They could do nothing else but give hun jyratique, and the man with 
 a broken leg was at last landed, and sent to the hospital at Fayal. Pos- 
 sibly this is not the only instance of sharp practice winked at in Fayal. 
 
 The f/ehu was now sent in charge of the mate to St, George to land
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 39 
 
 tlie remaining steerage passengers, while Captain Brown stayed at Fajal to 
 negotiate for a charter. On hmding, I called at the town residence of the 
 Dabneys, where I was pohtely received and treated to fine blackberries 
 and figs, and Pico wine, a mild tipple suggesting sherry, although decid- 
 edly inferior to it in flavor and quality. The house, built by the late Mr. 
 Dabney, for many years United States consul, is surrounded by extensive 
 grounds, admirably laid out and stocked with choice exotics. We took up 
 our quarters at the hotel kept by Mr. Edwards. The afternoon was pleas- 
 antly spent in a stroll to Porto Pirn, an excellent little haven adjoining 
 the main port, if it w^ere not exposed to the full sweep of westerly gales. 
 The town on that side is protected by old fortifications, erected in former 
 ages as a defense against the descents of corsairs, and is entered by a pict- 
 uresque mediaeval gate. * 
 
 Pico began to show his head in the afternoon, indicating good weather, 
 lie is the barometer of the Azores : wdien his head is muflled, the weather 
 will be dubious ; but when the peak is visible, all will be pi'opitious. The 
 mountain stands at the western end of the Pico island, and towers 7613 
 feet above the sea, an isolated volcanic cone, surrounded at its base by 
 
 PICO PEAK, FROM FAYAL. 
 
 many smaller craters. Later in the day I visited the fort by the jetty, and 
 there saw " Long Tom," a gun which belonged to the privateer General 
 Armstrong^ in the war of 1812. The defense of this vessel, on the 26th
 
 40 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 of September, 1814, is one of the most gallant exploits in the history of 
 American naval warfare. Captain Keid and his ofhcers were at a ball 
 when it was reported that an English fleet was off the port. He hurried 
 on board, and moored his ship under protection of the fort. He had only 
 seven gnns and ninety men, but repulsed three attacks of flotillas sent in 
 by an English squadron, destroying many boats, and inflicting on the ene- 
 my a loss of three hundred men. Finding that he must eventually be over- 
 powei-ed, Captain Eeid caused the muzzle of "Long Tom" to be pointed 
 into. the hold, and flred, thus scuttling the vessel, and escaping to the shore 
 with his crew. "Long Tom" was afterward fished up and mounted in 
 the fort.* 
 
 On the day following I sallied out before breakfast, strolling along the 
 water-street which skirts the* shore and is protected by a parapeted sea- 
 wall. I was in season to see the Pico fen-y-boats landing their passengers 
 and cargoes, which were carried through the surf on the heads or shoul- 
 ders of barelegged boatmen. The boats cai-ry two lateen-sails, and are 
 made to stand heavy weather. In the early morning they come from 
 Magdalena and Larga, villages of Pico, deeply laden w^th passengers, 
 wood, charcoal, fruits, and other commodities, and, after discharging, re- 
 load and return. So soon as the goods were landed, peasant women, 
 barefooted and nut-brown, but pleasant-featured, raised the heavy baskets 
 or jars to their heads, and wended their way to the market-place, which 
 is entered through a high gate from the Rua de Collegio. It is a square 
 enclosure, with a rov/ of booths running entirely around, and within these 
 meat and provision stalls. On the pavement in front sat the country- 
 w^omen, displaying panniers of fruit and vegetables. In the centre of the 
 quadrangle is a large well shaded by fine trees. There is a picturesque- 
 ness quite Oriental about the whole scene. 
 
 The remainder of the day was agreeably passed in rambling about the 
 city, which has five thousand inhabitants, and is well laid out, on a slope, 
 containing some elegant residences and gardens, and several churches, 
 which, however, present no architectural points worthy of note. The 
 laro-e buildings formerly erected for a Jesuit college, convent, and church 
 are now occupied as barracks. 
 
 The freemasons have two lodges in Ilorta, and the order has some 
 stren(*-th in the islands. The shops of Ilorta, as throughout the Azores, 
 
 * It is not generally known that the English fleet which thus attacked Captain Reid in a 
 neutral port was carrying re-enforcements to General Tackenham at New Orleans. The losses it 
 sustained in the fight detained them so long at Fayal that they did not reach New Oilcans until 
 after the battle at that place luid been lost.
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 41 
 
 have no windows, but two or three doors, always wide open and giving 
 denii-daylight. The dwelHngs are built over the shops, with small bal- 
 conies projecting over the street, some of them veneered with azulejos, or 
 glazed tiles. The names of the streets are of the same w^are in blue and 
 wliite. The strangest sight in Ilorta is the capote of the women, worn 
 alike in summer and in the rainy season : this cloak is of heavy, dark- 
 blue stuif, falling in massive folds to the ankles, and surmounted by a 
 stupendous hood, stiffened with wlialebone and buckram, and of astound- 
 ing' shape and size. Some pretty faces may occasionally be discerned 
 
 nil, 111(1 FERRV. 
 
 nnder this grotesque guise, althougli the women of Fayal are less pleasing 
 than their sisters of Flores. At night the main street is dimly lighted, 
 rather superfluously it seemed to me, as after dark very few steps are 
 lieard. Day or night, no place could be more quiet, Tlie roar of the 
 surf tumbling on the reef or against the sea-wall is about the only sound 
 prevailing. Now and then the bray of an ass, or the bark of a dog, or 
 the shrill voice of a peasant-girl — once or twice a day the harsh jangle 
 of a tumble-down hack drawn slowly by mules — such are the sounds in 
 llorta. Quiet reigns there, except at the landing-place near the fort; 
 thei-e the bawling of boatmen and sailors is often resonant. 
 
 On the third morning, after another early stroll about the market and 
 the port, I ordered a donkey for the Caldeira, or crater of Fayal. The
 
 42 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 saddle, like those of Scio, is intended for riding sidewise, without stirrups, 
 and is broad and well cushioned, with a bow at each corner by which the 
 rider steadies himself. By the driver's advice, I sat on the "starboard" 
 side of the little beast. We proceeded by way of the Flamengoz, a strag- 
 gling village on the outskirts of Horta, once settled by Flemings, and the 
 most attractive part of Fayal. Much of it lies along the course of a tor- 
 rent deeply worn in a lava bed. At one picturesque spot a brown stone 
 bridge spans the torrent with several arches ; under them a small thread 
 of water now percolated, in which merry-voiced gii'ls were washing their 
 clothes. Beyond the bridge, on a hill, stands a white church, from whose 
 steps a superb prospect is gained. Pico rises in the background, gar- 
 landed with delicate clouds, yet towering as if close at hand ; between the 
 two islands lies the port, the roofs of Horta, and then the nearer hills 
 which form the gorge through which runs the river, overhung with foli- 
 age in tropical variety and luxuriance. Here we left the good macadam- 
 ized road, and struck into narrow bridle-paths. The cultivated lields were 
 everywhere enclosed by walls or hedges of the Hortensia, profusely cov- 
 ered with massy clusters of white and purple flowei's. Gradually we left 
 all signs of civilization, and struck into a solitude, the donkey carefully 
 picking a precarious foothold over lava soil scooped out, furrowed, ribbed 
 and broken by the winter rains in the most inconceivable manner. 
 
 After several hours we reached the mouth of the crater, seven miles 
 from Horta, and 3335 feet above the sea. Making the donkey fast to a 
 bush, w'e descended into the crater, a feat more easily mentioned than ac- 
 complished, for it is 1700 feet to the bottom, and the sides are so precipitous 
 and broken as to make the descent hazardous without a guide. A young 
 American was killed some years ago going down into this abyss. The 
 floor of the crater is overgrown with dry yet sponge-like moss, giving to 
 the feet the sensation of a heavy Turkey carpet. Near the centre is a pool, 
 tawny and turbid, of unknown depth, and close to it rises a smaller crater, 
 resembling in size and appearance the liana-draped, age-hoary teocallis in 
 the jungles of Yucatan. A few frogs, not in awe of the sublime loneli- 
 ness of the spot once the scene of belching fires and subterranean thun- 
 ders, gave an occasional croak by the edge of little brooks wimpling down 
 from the clefts in the rocks. Before we began the ascent, the clouds came 
 creeping over the edges of the precipices, assuming the form of water-falls 
 dropping into space in eternal silence. This magnificent volcanic valley 
 is nearly six miles in circumference and over a mile in its largest diam- 
 eter, but so symmetrical is its form that it is with difficulty one can realize 
 its depth and extent.
 
 THE AZORES. 43 
 
 Before we left Fayal, I had time also to ascend Pico Peak, Mliicli is 
 the central point and most interesting feature of the Azores. I crossed 
 the strait in one of the feluccas which ply daily between the islands. The 
 spirited action of the saucy little craft filled one witli exuberant joy, her 
 immense lateen- sails swelling and straining in the breeze as she drove 
 careening over the waves with a bone in her mouth, and now and again a 
 dash of spray over the bow ; the groups of chatting, gayly dressed, black- 
 eyed peasants clustered on the deck were also charmingly picturesque ; sea 
 and sky were a deep azure ; and before us, a stupendous outline clean cut 
 against the sky, towered the Peak, solitary and sublime. 
 
 Immediately on landing, I sent men in different directions to procure 
 a mule for the ascent. But four-legged animals are scarce at Pico ; and 
 it was several hours before one could be found, and then only for the fol- 
 lowing day. This was bad. The time generally allowed for the ascent is 
 two days, while the time at my disposal was short, and the weather looked 
 threatening. Without clear weather, it is effort thrown away to climb the 
 Peak. I decided to accomplish the trip in one day, and then walked up 
 two miles to tlie village of Vellas, with Jorge, my guide, in whose house 
 I passed the night. The village lies on one of the lower slopes of the 
 mountain. It has no water, and the women bring all the water from 
 wells at the sea-side two miles away, sometimes making the trip several 
 times daily. They carry the jars on their heads, which gives them the 
 stateliness of caryatides. 
 
 The women of Pico ai'e the handsomest of the Azores, finely formed, 
 and with features of almost classic beaut3\ Tlieir wealth of massive black 
 tresses are done up in a simple beautiful braid, crowned by a straw hat or 
 a scarlet clotli. Blithe and buxom, they seem to bear the burdens of life 
 right merrily. Where ignorance is bliss, there is indeed no greater folly 
 than to be wise. 
 
 Jorge's house was the best in the village; it consisted of three small 
 rooms and a porch, over a half-story containing a hand-mill and a stable. 
 The garden was stocked with yams, potatoes, grape-vines, and fig and 
 orange trees, fenced in with brown walls of loose lava, which looks mas- 
 sive and lieav}-, but is light and spongy, and is so irregularly shaped that 
 M'alls made of it cling together without mortar. The villagei'S collected 
 at Jorge's in the evening to gossip by the light of a feeble glim. They 
 were ranged on the floor around the apartment, like sachems in a wig- 
 wam. The pipe of peace went around in the form of a meagre cigarette; 
 each took a moderate whiff. Tobacco is too precious an article in the isl- 
 ands to be indulged in too prodigally by most of the people. After a
 
 44 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 while I was able to roll up in a blanket on the floor ; but sleep was a 
 scarce commodity that night. A baby with the colic, who at first excited 
 my sympathy, finally aroused in me less amiable feelings. But the Eng- 
 lish language has a pliability and richness suitable to all occasions. To- 
 ward morning I caught a few winks, but was soon awaked by the girls 
 tripping merrily by after the daily rations of water. Then came the 
 mule. It was neai'ly four o'clock. Hastily despatching a cold breakfast, 
 I mounted. The saddle was a crazy piece of antiquity ; but it held to- 
 gether as long -as I needed it. The muleteer and Jorge, the guide, fol- 
 lowed on foot ; and as we went on we were accompanied part of the way 
 by villagers going out to work in the fields. The morning was glorious. 
 Bay, oleander, and arbutus hedged the road ; the M'histle of blackbirds 
 w^as heard far and near ; sometimes we flushed a partridge or started a 
 rabbit. The truncated outline of the cone was wreathed by light, rosy 
 clouds, and its summit burned like a living coal in the glow of the rising 
 sun, while the lower part was still hidden in shadow and mist. It seemed 
 a huge altar on which the Titans of old M'ere sacrificing their morning 
 oblations to the Lord of the Universe. 
 
 After climbing four thousand feet, I was obliged to leave the mule 
 behind in charge of a neat-herd, and sci-amble up the unbroken slope of 
 the cone on foot. It was a \ery liai'd climb of over three thousand -feet, 
 M'ithout a break, as if one were to creep up a dome of that size. At one 
 o'clock, after great exertion, we scaled the rocky wall of the first crater, 
 and looked into it as one might look down into an ancient fortress from 
 its battlements. The sides are perpendicular, avei-aging seventy feet in 
 height, except in one place, where a breach has been made. It is ap- 
 parently about three hundred yards in diameter, and offers the most com- 
 plete s])ectacle of desolation I ever beheld. Masses of scoriae and black- 
 ened lava lie strewn around its floor, like fragments of shattered towers ; 
 nowhere is there the slightest sign of life ; not a bird, not a blade of grass, 
 is to be seen. On one side is the little peak, soaring like the grim keep of 
 a castle. It is three hundred feet high, and stands on a platform of lava, 
 which is again supported by long buttresses, rugged and twisted, like the 
 writhing limbs of tremendous dragons suddenly stiffened into stone. 
 
 The heat was intense in the crater, and my thirst was such as no wine 
 could quench. Fortunately, we found a bowl-like hollow in the interior 
 of a cleft of a lava bowlder, in which was mysteriously concealed a small 
 pool of water, icy cold, enclosed like the bulb of air in a spirit-level. The 
 aperture was just large enough to admit head and shoulders. Outside of 
 the rock was the heat of the tropics, and within the coolness of winter.
 
 THE AZORES. 45 
 
 Having lunched, we grappled with the little peak, an undertaking at- 
 tended with some hazard, owing to its height, its excessive steepness, and 
 the character of its formation. It is composed „of loose blocks of lava, 
 which are easily detached, and roll bounding to the bottom, threatening 
 the footing or the head of the climber. When half-way up, Jorge, who 
 was in advance, dislodged a large stone. "Look out!" he cried. I dodged 
 my head just in time, but, instinctively raising my arm, received a blow 
 whicli disabled my hand for several days. On reaching the top, we found 
 a slightly depressed crater, perhaps twenty-five feet in diameter, out of 
 which issued a thin, hot vapor. The stones were sufficiently warm to 
 make a change of position agreeable. Sitting on the edge of this pin- 
 nacle, I felt much as one might if seated at the top of a lofty chimney. 
 The long slope below seemed so perpendicular that it suggested the illu- 
 sion that I might descend over seven thousand feet before touching bot- 
 tom, if I chose to take the leap. I felt no sensation of giddiness, but a 
 certain awesome solemnity, such as one might realize if he were on the 
 apex of creation. One can only experience tliis eifect on mountains which 
 stand entirely isolated, like Pico, between sky and sea, and terminate, like 
 it, in a minute point. Three thousand feet below, the scattered white 
 clouds lay dreamily, like a fleet becalmed ; and, below or beyond them, 
 Fayal and most of the group of nine islands were seen inlaid on the ame- 
 tliystine floor of tlie vast ocean. The meeting of the sea and sky line was 
 discerned with difficulty. The blue overhead was an intense and almost 
 opaque cobalt. We seemed on that point to be ensphered midway be- 
 tween two semiglobes whose edges were joined at the horizon. 
 
 The descent naturally occupied less time, and at dusk we re-entered 
 Vellas. The villagers were chatting in their doors; a guitar tinkled 
 in the still air. But the tramp of the mule clattering down the steep 
 streets, a sound unusual at Vellas, produced a sensation. A lad, half wild 
 with excitement, dashed ahead, shouting, " The American is coming!" 
 Much laughter and merriment ensued ; once more they all gathered at 
 Jorge's house, and, tired as I was, I could get no sleep for some hours. 
 
 Keturning to Ilorta at sunrise on the following morning, I found an 
 invitation awaiting me to breakfast at the house of Count Santa Anna. 
 Performing a hasty toilet, I was in season for a. charnnng stroll about the 
 grounds. An elegant breakfast followed, graced by the ladies and gentle- 
 men of his household. The count is a bachelor, but his sister's family re- 
 sides with him. The Jehu had by this time returned from San Jorge, 
 and, when breakfast was over, I hastened on board: we made all sail, and 
 glided past Monte de Guia out to sea, bound to St. Micliael. The distance
 
 46 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 is one hundred and fifty-six miles, east-south-east, and it took ns just three 
 days and four nights to do it in, owing to cahns and head-winds. 
 
 On a fine morning in August we came up with the city Ponta Delgada, 
 The appearance of the place — lying on a gentle slope, flanked by luxuriant 
 orange plantations and volcanic peaks sharply serrated — is very pleasing 
 from the sea. Other towns of the same size are also visible here and 
 there, and the general aspect of the island is more prosperous and inviting 
 than the shores of the other islands of the group. In effect, there is anch- 
 orage along nearly the whole southern side of St. Michael, although with 
 southerly gales vessels are forced to make an offing. A breakwater was 
 begun twelve years ago, on the outer lip of a sunken crater, in ten fathoms 
 of water; it is expected to afford shelter for one hundred sail, and is 
 now gradually approaching completion, in spite of the terrible shocks of 
 the winter surges, which have several times opened large breaches. 
 
 The city is faced wntli a sea-wall, and the landing is wdthin a hand- 
 some jetty, forming a square, snug boat-harbor. This, with the archways, 
 church-tower, and entrance-gate, combines to impress one who lands there 
 for the first time with an idea of local wealth and prosperity not entirely 
 belied by further inspection of the place. Ponta Delgada is regularly 
 laid out and neatly kept, tlie streets are underdrained and well paved, and 
 the roads into the country are macadamized, and afford excellent drive- 
 ways. The churches are numerous, and generally well built. The value 
 of the arch and tower is understood at St. Michael. The cathedral is an 
 imposing edifice ; the belfry simple, but grand in its proportions, and hung 
 with a chime of sweet-toned bells. Less can be said for the interior, al- 
 though it is not without merit. I observed on the walls a Papal dispen- 
 sation granting forty days' indulgence to tliose who should, in however 
 small degree, contribute to the repairs on the roof. A quaint effect is 
 added to the exterior by liuman- faced, lion -bodied gargoyles springing 
 from the rear angles under the eaves. With the Church of San Francisco 
 is connected a nunnery, whose windows are guarded by massive iron grat- 
 ings; it resembles a jail for the confinement of the w^orst criminals rather 
 than an asylum wliere pure young virgins flee from a wicked world to 
 meditate on the Paraclete and Paradise. The convents in the Azores had 
 become so corrupt that D.om Pedro I. abolished them some thirty yeai'S 
 ago, as before stated; but this one is allowed to exist by limitation. Priests 
 are numerous in the streets, which are otherwise cheerful and attractive. 
 
 There is considerable traffic between town and country, and much 
 passing of peasants driving loaded asses and mules ; and the rattle of 
 crazy hacks, furiously driven and drawn by refractory mules, is not uncom-
 
 THE AZORES. 47 
 
 moil. Once a day an antique omnibus runs to Alagoa, a town nine miles 
 off down the coast. Some really handsome equipages, with attendants 
 in livery, are occasionally seen. St. Michael boasts a baron, a viscount, 
 and a marquis, all of its own raising. The mansions and gardens of these 
 gentry are sumptuous, well laid out and stocked with exotics, noticeable 
 among them the Norfolk pine. But the orange plantations are the glory 
 of St. Michael, and they spread over the whole island. Every plantation 
 is surrounded by high walls of lava stone, within which are again planted 
 rows of the insenso-tree, which forms a dense growth to a considerable 
 height; and, protected by this double enclosure from the furious winter 
 winds — for the Azores are in the line of the severest Atlantic gales — the 
 orange-tree spreads its glossy foliage and bears its golden fruit; and an 
 ample crop it is : 360,000 boxes, twenty to the ton, are annually exported. 
 By the middle of October the long procession of mules and donkeys be- 
 gins to wend down the mountains to the citv, laden with the fruit whicli 
 is to gladden many firesides in foreign lands. At the same time the 
 schooners and barks begin to arrive from abroad to waft spicy odors to 
 the wharves of England and America. This continues until April. 
 
 MARKET-DAY IN FATAL. 
 
 Besides the activity of the orange season, Fridays and Sundays, being 
 the market-days, are always blithesome occasions, full of bustle and life.
 
 48 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Tlie people collect then in holiday attire to buy, sell, or exchange their 
 ■wares, and one has a good opportunity of observing all classes in St. Mi- 
 chael. The people of that island more nearly resemble the parent stock 
 than the natives of the other islands. The men are handsome, and the 
 children are often exceedingly beautrfiil ; but of the women less can be 
 said. Pleasing in maidenhood, early child-bearing and hard labor in the 
 iields soon rob them of their charms. The heavy capote is very common 
 there, and the streets look as if every other woman were a nnn, giving 
 a sombre effect to street scenes, which, indeed, lack a certain something 
 to give them character. On analyzing the question, I came to the con- 
 clusion that the addition of more variety and brilliance of color in the 
 dress of the people is what is wanting to complete the effect one would 
 expect in a place like Fonta Delgada. The population of St. Michael is 
 about 115,000, of which Ponta Delgada contains 25,000. The females 
 are 8000 in excess, owing partly to the lawful emigration of males to 
 Portugal arid Brazil. 
 
 Twenty-five miles from the capital are the thermal springs called the 
 Furnas, whose waters, strongly impi-egnated with sulphur, have been a 
 sanitary resort for many years. They are reached by an excellent car- 
 riage-road, winding through the most romantic scenery. These springs 
 are apparently a sort of safety-valve for the volcanoes of the Azores. 
 Although Pico is now half comatose, it has been active w^ithin a hundred 
 years, while it is scarcely thirty years since St. George was the scene of a 
 terrific catastrophe, the whole summit of that island appearing to be more 
 or less overrun by subterranean fires and melted lava, bursting forth from 
 many sources, and nearly depopulating it. Nor is it uncommon for islands 
 to spring up in those waters, especially in the vicinity of St Michael, and, 
 after a short sta}^ above the surface of the ocean, to disappear as suddenly 
 as they rose. 
 
 After a stay of some days, we again embarked on the Jeliu^ wdiich, 
 during the interval, had been lying off and on in charge of the mate, and 
 started for home by way of Pico and St. George. Toward morning we 
 took a breeze from sou'-west, and the bark boomed along at a spanking 
 rate. A heavy squall brought us down to close-reefed topsails, and under 
 this canvas we flew till noon, when "Land ho-o-o-o!" was the cry; and 
 there, sure enough, was the loom of land through the mist on the weather 
 bow. But what land ? Pico was the island for which we were bound, 
 but some said this was Terceira; others, St. George. Yet how we could 
 have deviated so as to make either of these in a run of only a hundred 
 miles it was impossible to say. An hour brought us near enough to ascer-
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 49 
 
 tain that it was St. George, and that we were over twenty miles out of our 
 course. Had the gale continued or the fog not lifted, the consequences 
 might have been serious. It turned out that a chisel had been thouglit- 
 lessly left in the binnacle, thus affecting the needle. St. George looked 
 very grand and grim with the thunderous evening clouds enshrouding his 
 brow, lit here and there by liery gleams of sunset. For two days we 
 drifted with the currents back and forth in a calm, between Pico, St. 
 George, and Terceira. Angra, the chief town of Terceira, is the residence 
 of the Governor of the Azores. Here also is a college, with law and theo- 
 
 HOSPITAI, OF VILLAFRANCA DO CAMPO, FAYAL. 
 
 logical schools attached. The island produces oranges abundantly, and is 
 noteworthy as the seat of intellect and the residence of the creme de la 
 creine of Azorean society. A great naval battle for the possession of Ter- 
 ceira was fought off Port Angra, in the sixteenth centurj-, between the 
 Spaniards and the Franco-Portuguese fleet. 
 
 St. George, without presenting any striking isolated peak, is very high 
 land throughout its extent of thirty miles^ falling everywhere sheer down 
 to the water from a plateau, except at the southern end, where it slopes 
 very slightly, and its precipitous sides are deeply grooved. The villages 
 are small and the population is thin, yet more than enough to till the
 
 50 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 araljle soil. Wheat, cattle, and cheese are the products of this island. 
 Beef and fowls ai'e cheap, and canaries are plenty, as on all the islands 
 of the group, of a russet-green hue, but warbling a full rich song: they 
 serve a double purpose in the Azores — to sing and to furnish tidbits — 
 and very delicate they are, whether in a cage or on a platter. 
 
 On the 21st, we approached St. George, and were boarded by a boat, 
 which had eluded the revenue officers and come in quest of tobacco. 
 Large quantities of the weed are smuggled into the islands, often by 
 whale-ships, and at an enormous profit. In the evening signal-lights were 
 seen both on Pico and St. George, indicating that fugitives were there 
 waiting, as by previous arrangement, to steal off to the vessel ; but she again 
 drifted too far out with the current in the calm. Pico Peak showed niao;- 
 nilicently at sundown, in one of the most superb sunsets I have seen at 
 sea. On the 22d, we stood close in to Pico, giving the agent of the Inter- 
 national Transatlantic Submarine Railroad an opportunity' to identify the 
 vessel and mature his plans. We also saw a revenue-boat keeping careful 
 guard along the shore. About nine in the evening a brilliant flame, the 
 concerted signal, appeared, flashing at intervals on St. George. We stood 
 in, and at about ten a light suddenly shone out close to the ship, and a 
 boat was soon vaguely discerned. 
 
 As they came up, " Is this an American ship ?" was the hail. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What's her name?" 
 
 " The Stirprise.'''' 
 
 " Is she going to Boston ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Does she take passengers ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Then they pulled along-side and boarded us, bringing four passengers. 
 Soon after midnight another boat came up with four more passengers, 
 and informed us that several were waitino; for us on the other side of St. 
 George, where no guards are kept, owing to its inaccessible character, so 
 that the embarkation can take place there in the daytime ; although there 
 they have to slip down steep ledges, and sometimes swim several yards 
 through the surf to the boats, as the sea is often too high to allow a boat 
 to land. An English brig had taken off eighty from that side a few days 
 before our arrival. 
 
 At daylight we squared away for the eastern side of St. Geoige, run- 
 ning under its lee with a very stiff breeze, coming down the gorges in ter- 
 rific squalls — and what high land that is ! From the central ridge the
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 51 
 
 land slopes gently two miles, and then, along its whole length of thirty 
 miles, falls almost perpendicularly from 900 to 1500 feet, usually nearer 
 the latter than the former figure ; a tremendous spectacle, as inile after 
 mile Avas passed, and still no break in that Titanic wall, corrugated with 
 black gorges and gulches. It made the scene still more impressive to ob- 
 serve how every available patch of earth is everywhere terraced and culti- 
 vated by man, who here seems fitted both with wings and claws to till the 
 soil on bits of slope, at an angle of sixty-five degrees, to the very edge of 
 precipices that drop hundreds of feet to the ever-beating surge below. 
 
 JLTTY 01' rONTA DELGADA, ST. MICHAEL. 
 
 About noon the treacherous wind lulled, and the bark began setting in 
 toward the land. By great effort and by skilfully seizing a flaw, they 
 contrived to work her out into the wind again and into control. Then 
 smoke was seen on Ponto Ferrado. We sent off a boat, which met another 
 coming off with a single passenger. The boatmen said others were wait- 
 ing to come on board, and therefore returned; but as they M'ere scattered 
 about the neighborhood secretly bidding their friends farewell, it might 
 take some time to collect them, so we braced the yards and stood over 
 toward Graciosa, or the Beautiful Isle— rightly named, if one may judge 
 from its appearance as seen from the sea. When we again stood in for 
 St. George, a sail loomed up suddenly close to us, white in the light of the 
 moon. Four more passengers now arrived, and the boat was then hauled
 
 52 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 on deck with its crew, including the agent of the I. T. S, R. II. We lay 
 off and on all night, the squalls blowing with tlie fury of jpam^eros. A 
 signal-lig^^t was seen several times; but at sunrise such a swell was rolling 
 in, that landing was out of the question, and we stood on beyond the north- 
 ern end of the island. After a few hours we again headed for the ren- 
 dezvous, passing near to " Padre," a colossal statue 223 feet in height, off 
 Rosales Point, hewn by nature out of the rock, and vividly resembling a 
 venerable priest, kneeling, in his vestments. A boat was sent ashore, but 
 not returning when expected, its loss in the surf was surmised, and an- 
 other boat was sent in quest of it. After a long interval, both boats re- 
 turned with only three passengers. A smoke being then discerned on 
 another spot, a boat was again sent off, returning this time with a young 
 fellow who had been burning brushwood for us all night. 
 
 But in the mean time those on board were fully occupied. In his 
 anxiety to procure passengers, the captain had allowed his ship to come 
 too near the land,w"hich is so lofty that when it is blow^iug a gale of wind 
 off shore, it is often a dead calm close in ; and it is even more hazardous 
 to be becalmed off St. George than off the other islands, because on that 
 side, in addition to the currents, there is, even in the mildest weather, a 
 heavy northerly swell tumbling in. About five it was evident that the 
 ship was drifting landward ; and it became necessary to put forth every 
 effort, as we w'ere nearing the cliffs fast. The three boats were got out, 
 and all hands, including the male steerage passengers, were pnt to rowing, 
 without, however, making any impression in checking the dead-drift of 
 the bark shoreward. Black overhead loomed the tremendous cliffs, many 
 hundred feet above us, frowning under a heavy canopy of cloud that grad- 
 ually veiled the upper crags, Night was at hand, the barometer was low, 
 and all signs were ominous of a change of weather. The writer was at 
 the wheel, with orders to watch for the first breath of air, to bring the ves- 
 sel up to it. There seemed a little trying to come fi'om the north-east, but 
 not enough to stop the ship in her drift toward the rocks, where the long 
 ocean-swell broke with a sullen and ceaseless thunder. At last there came 
 a smart shower, and then a gentle, almost imperceptible, flaw. " Keep her 
 up !" roared the captain, half beside himself with anxiety. The air came 
 again ; the sails began to fill, and, gathering way, the bark again responded 
 to the helm. Gradually she drew off shore, the boats were called in, and 
 slowly we gained two miles, and began to feel more easy, although not 
 realizing until later from what a shipwreck we had escaped. We were all 
 at supper, when the cabin-boy came down and said, "It looks awful bhick 
 to windward !" The cabin was cleared in half a wink ; then the ship rung
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 53 
 
 with tlie tramp of feet, tlie frantic shouts of the officers, the creaking of 
 blocks, and tlie furions Happing of sails. The squall was very fierce. Not 
 liaving sea-room for running off before it, as is nsual with sqnare-rigged 
 vessels in such an emergency, the vessel was brought up in the wind's eye 
 just in time to save going on her beam-ends or carrying away her spars. 
 Either contingency would have resulted in tlie sliip's drifting directly on 
 the rocks, and going to pieces in the wild sea wliicli accompanied the 
 squall. But,though stag- 
 gering under the blow, :"' v^^^ 
 everythmg held ; and 
 having rolling topsails 
 »(a priceless invention), 
 tlie Jeliib was soon un- 
 der close-reefed top-sails 
 and courses, and with 
 this canvas managed to 
 claw off ten miles of 
 lee-shore and make an 
 offing. 
 
 It blew a gale of 
 wind all night, backing 
 more into the north at 
 daylight, when we con- 
 cluded to run for a lee under Fayal, thirty miles away. The wind shift- 
 ing several points, we made instead for the strait between Pico and St. 
 George, and hove to under Pico, the base of whose stupendous cone was 
 wreathed with luminous clouds, running up the weather slope like surf 
 dashing up the sides of a light-house. During the afternoon I saw at one 
 time seven rainbows in a row, each brilliant and defined with perfect dis- 
 tinctness. The wind shifting to sou'-west, and blowing veiy fresh, we lay 
 to around Pico until the 27th, when, although the weather was still very 
 dubious, we again ran for the north side of St. George to land the agent 
 of the I. T. S. P. R., who would land nowhere else, lest he be nabbed b}- 
 the guarda-costa^ and made to pay dear for running Portuguese off the 
 islands. A boat with the second mate and the best half of the crew was 
 sent ashore to land the agent, while we stood out to sea again, taking in 
 sail after sail as we again passed Padre, and having a hard day's work of 
 it, short-handed as we were. Mr. Looby, the mate, a very valuable officer, 
 on whom, owing to his efficiency, the safety of the ship depended much 
 more than on the captain, had not slept four out of the last forty-six hours. 
 
 A ST. MICHAEL WAGON.
 
 54 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Toward niglit we stood in and picked np the boat. Her crew were in liigli 
 dudgeon, on account of tlie perilous expedition upon which they had been 
 sent ; but the captain had the good sense to hold his peace, treated the 
 men to a stiff glass of grog, and the affair blew over. AV^e lay off and on 
 all night off St. George, and the next day ran out past Pico, returning be- 
 tween the two islands at sundown. It was now cahn, the moon near the 
 full ; and soon the expected beacon-flame was seen blazing at intervals at 
 Calheta on St. George. We ran in and showed our light in the rigging, 
 and about eleven a large launch appeared bringing thirteen passengers, 
 including several women and children. This completed the number we 
 could get from St. George, full twenty less than promised. But the season 
 was advanced, and the supply was running low, over one thousand having, 
 already left the islands during the summer, of whom the Jeliu had taken 
 one hundred and twenty on her previous trip. 
 
 After dodging in this unsatisfactory way around Pico for several days 
 longer, and finding at last that some unknown cause prevented the escape 
 of those we were expecting from that island, we put the helm up and bore 
 away for Flores. A glorious breeze on the quarter took us in thirteen 
 hours to Santa Cruz, where we again landed and remained three days, 
 which were passed with nmcli pleasure i-ambling about the island, enjoy- 
 ing its unique scenery and its hospitable cheer, for which I am much in- 
 debted to the unaffected kindness of Dr. M'Kay, the English consul, and 
 his amiable family; to Senhor Pedro Almeida, German consular agent; 
 Senhor Constantine Almeida, collector of the i-evenues, and other gentle- 
 men. The bark meantime lay off and on, taking on board water and 
 provisions, and thirty-five more passengers, who had n)any of them been 
 in Amei'ica and were all able to obtain passports. Those who were al- 
 ready on board were kept out of sight until 2iix.Q.x pratique was obtained; 
 after that it was easy enough, and quite en regie, for the guard left in the 
 ship to wink hard when he saw strange faces from time to time creeping- 
 out of the steerage. 
 
 It was after nightfall of the 5th of September when everything was 
 ready, and we bade farewell to our kind friends, who acconqjanied us to 
 the beach. The islesmen carried us on their shoulders to the boat and 
 shoved off. We rode over the rollers at the entrance of the little port, and 
 pushed out on the wide ocean to seek the Jehu, which had drifted with the 
 current in the calm nine miles to the southward. Heartily the eight boat- 
 men bent to the huge oars, accompanying the movement with a rude song. 
 The night was perfectly still, but cloud3^ Seaward a thin mist veiled the 
 mysterious deep ; on our right the steep crags of Flores loomed high and
 
 THE AZOKES. 55 
 
 dim; the long swell of the ever-panting bosom of the ocean was like glass; 
 and yet from the hollow caves came the eternal boom of the surf-billows 
 that have beaten that wild coast ever since it first arose to view. At 
 length the ship's light became faintly visible, and then the vague outline 
 of spars and sails duskily liumed against the sky, and forms moving eerily 
 before the lights; and then was heard the sighing of the sails languidly 
 swino-ino; to and fro with the idle roll of the phantom-like bark; then the 
 rush of feet on deck ; the shrill orders of the nuite ; the shadow of the 
 great fabric above us ; the flash of a broad light in our dazzled eyes ; the 
 grappling with the ship ; the hurried scramble up her black sides into the 
 snug security and comfort of a good, trim clipper and a cosy cabin ; and a 
 rousing cup of tea, and a brace of as tender and savorily roasted ducks as 
 ever tempted an anchorite to forego a w^hile his crust and acorns. 
 
 For eight days we had mild, fair winds, and the guitar and the love- 
 song rung through the ship early and late. By the starlight the steerage 
 passengers gathered in the gangway and listened to the vocal songs of isl- 
 and improvisatores. One, with a guitar, sung a couplet ending in a female 
 rhyme, and another responded, repeating the last line and adding a coup- 
 let of his own, the subject constantly varying, with allusions to whatever 
 most interested singers and listeners. The versification was smooth, and 
 the refrain, although monotonous, was not unmusical. Evidently we here 
 had poetry in its bucolic form, as exemplified by Theocritus and Virgil; 
 the Azorean bards gave us genuine eclogues even if rude. This blended 
 form of poetry and music, still common in the East, is undoubtedly the 
 earliest mode in which the twin arts found expression. One night Ave had 
 a sort of rustic ball in the steerage ; merry was the music of violin and 
 guitar, and lively was the dancing by the feeble light of a smoky lantern, 
 w'hich gave a Rembrandtesque effect to this unique and romantic scene. 
 
 An affray between the second mate and the cook broke the calm in 
 which we were basking, and seemed a fit prelude to the boisterous weath- 
 er which attended us during the last fortnight of the passage. Captain 
 Brown was playing cribbage with Mrs. Brown on the quarter-deck one 
 afternoon ; most of the steerage passengers were lying here and there sun- 
 ning themselves, or embroiderino- and chattino; toojether. The watch were 
 engaged splicing ropes or patching old sails ; and all was so peaceful that 
 the musical plash of the water could be heard against the ship's side as 
 she slipped along at a lazy six knots an hour. Suddenly angry voices, 
 sharp and loud, disturbed the quiet, and in an instant Manuel, the second 
 mate, had the cook on his back in the gangway and was ferociously thump- 
 ing his head on the deck. All was then in an uproar. The combatants
 
 56 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 were from different islands; and wliile tlie women set np a wailing and 
 shrieking, swaying their bodies back and forth in wild frenzj^, the men, 
 both crew and steerage passengers, began to take sides. In the mean time 
 Captain Brown went on with his game, willing to let them tight it out 
 among themselves nntil further developments. But the twitching of his 
 face showed that he was keeping half an eye to windward. The crisis 
 arrived when the man at the wheel struck eight bells, and the man who 
 was to relieve him, instead of going aft, lingered to look on, and perhaps 
 take a hand in the hglit. " What are you doing there ? why don't you go 
 to your wheel V roared the captain to him. " I will when I'm ready, sij-," 
 answered the half-mutinous Portuguese. Up leaped the captain, standing 
 six feet two in his stockings, and heavily built at that; and as if the fire 
 of 3'onth were once more galloping through his veins for a moment, with 
 three strides he reached the man, and hissing in his ear with almost Sa- 
 tanic passion, " You'll come when ye are ready, will ye ! You go to that 
 wheel, or by the living God I'll dash your brains out !" and clutching him 
 by the nape of the neck, as one might hold a wet rag or a limp puppy, he 
 fairly lifted him along on his toes to the wheel and planted him there. 
 This action seenied to bring most of the rioters to their senses ; they were 
 made instantly conscious that they were going much further than they 
 ever intended. The second mate and the cook were separated, and the 
 former returned to the foi'ecastle to continue the splicing of a pennant. 
 But the cook, burning for vengeance, seized a cleaver, and, creeping 
 stealthily up behind Manuel, was just about to split his skull, when the 
 others interposed and caught the uplifted arm. A sullen peace was 
 patched up after this affray, and the heavy weather which succeeded 
 tended to distract the attention from a quarrel, which, as is not unusual, 
 had originated about a woman — " There was a woman in the case." 
 
 Amidst a succession of variable gales, accompanied by enormous seas, 
 we now worked our way laboriously toward Boston, adding a \ery narrow 
 escape from destruction by fire to the other incidents of the voyage. On 
 the twenty-third day we made Thatcher's Island in a fog, ran down to the 
 Graves under a stiff breeze, and, rounding Boston Light, cast anchor off 
 the quarantine — the first time our anchor had touched bottom since we 
 had sailed from India wharf on the 23d of July.
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 ^ ^' G 
 
 L I S II 
 
 n^riE severest gale that had blown for several winters had lashed the 
 -■- shores of Great Britain. The whole country was covered with un- 
 wonted snows, and frozen by cold very unusual there. Many wrecks had 
 occurred, and the Channel had, as usual, been swept by the tempest. A 
 large steamer had foundered in its waters, and the costly breakwaters of 
 Alderney and Jersey had been greatly damaged. Hardly had the waves 
 yet subsided when the royal mail packet SouthamjJton steamed down the 
 Solent, past the Isle of Wight, at 
 midnight, for tlie Cliannel Islands. 
 But on getting out into the open sea 
 we found the wind piping up again, 
 and a high sea directly in onr teeth. 
 Accordingly, we put back, and lay 
 till morning in Yarmouth Roads. 
 The wind moderatino; at davlisrlit, 
 we weighed anchor and made a sec- 
 ond attempt. All day it blew fresh, 
 with quite "a lump of a sea" on; 
 but toward night Alderney hove in 
 sight, then the three ligiit- houses, 
 warning the mariner to give a wide 
 berth to tlie Caskets, one of the most 
 dangerous and most celebrated reefs 
 in the Atlantic. On these rocks Prince William was lost, the only son of 
 Henry I., after which event it is said the king never smiled again. In 
 later times, the wreck of a Russian line-of -battle ship, and of the Eng- 
 lish man-of-war Yictory^ M'ith eleven hundred men on board, have, among 
 other wrecks, given a melancholy celebrity to tlie Caskets. As we neared 
 and passed this reef the waves became greatly larger and more broken, 
 although the wind was less. This was explained as caused by the tides 
 
 C n A N 2^ .E L 
 
 
 L A.-i;°N D S
 
 5S THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 and coiinter-cnrrents, wliich, owing to the very irregular character of the 
 adjoining coast of Normandy and the numerous sunken ledges surround - 
 
 a - h 
 
 ST. PETER S PORT, GDERNSET. 
 
 ing the cliannel, combine with the extraordinary ]-ise and fall of the tide 
 to render navigation in this archipelago generally rough, and in the winter 
 season hazardous. 
 
 Picking her way carefully between the various pitfalls which line the 
 entrance to St. Peter's Port, the steamer moored along-side the pier after 
 nightfall. As I wound my way np the steep winding streets to my lodg- 
 ings, it seemed as if I had fallen upon some old fortihed rock town of the 
 Middle Ages, and the impression was not altogether contradicted by in- 
 spection of the place by daylight. St. Peter's Port has a population of 
 16,000, females being in an excess of nearly a third, as is also the case in 
 Jersej^ It is built on a slope of considerable steepness, rising two hun- 
 dred feet above the sea, and consists of the old and the new town. The 
 former faces the port, and is fronted by a pleasant esplanade, ornamented 
 with ti'ees and protected by a sea-wall. The port itself, originally built 
 by Edward I., is entirely artificial, and has been enlarged in later years 
 with great labor and expense. On a rock at the end of one of the piers 
 stands Castle Cornet, a massive pile without much beauty, but dating back, 
 it is said, to the Romans, and presenting various interesting additions since 
 then. It suffered greatly, three hundred years ago, by the explosion of its 
 powder-magazine, which was struck by lightning. The main pier or break- 
 water lies at right angles to the waves of south-east gales, which are very 
 savage in those waters. Nothing can be wilder than to see an immense 
 breaker swooping down on the massive wall, and then dashing to a great 
 height into the air, a gray ghostly mist that is immediately torn away by
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 59 
 
 the gale and swept across the harbor. Coming once from Jersey in a tre- 
 mendous south-easter, the steamer I was on was taken by the undertow 
 swelling up into a huge mound of green water as it fell off from the break- 
 water; she was lifted high in air, whii'led beyond control of the steersman, 
 and came within an ace of crushing in her side against the lee breakwater 
 at the entrance. They concluded not to venture out again that day, but 
 lay snug until the next morning, when the weather moderated. 
 
 On the esplanade is a really very fine colossal bronze statue of Prince 
 Albert, and close at hand is a bronze plate stating that the queen and her 
 consort landed on that spot in 1846. Immediately adjoim'ng stands the 
 parish church, as it is called, one of the oldest buildings in the islands, and 
 in some respects the one most worthy of attention for architectural beauty. 
 The style is Flamboyant Gothic, and it is enriched I)y beautiful stained 
 windows. Wandering about the steep 
 narrow lanes radiating from this ^^ 
 
 choice and venerable relic of antiq- 
 uity, one is astonished to find such 
 stern massiveness in the buildings, 
 such winding irregularity in the nar- 
 row streets, and a steepness that ne- 
 cessitates the most curious succession 
 of lona; stairways, with cross -lanes ^ 
 meeting at the landings leading up 
 to other narrower steps, all in the 
 most quaint and unexpected manner. 
 
 The new town may be said to 
 begin with St. PauVs Chapel, and 
 extends back of the old town north 
 and south, generally more level, and 
 always pleasing. While in the old 
 town the houses are almost entirely 
 of sombre granite, in the new they 
 are as universally stuccoed, and tint- 
 ed of a soft ci'eam or brown tint. I 
 think it would be difficult within the same space to find elsewhere so many 
 charming streets and houses as in St. Peter's Port, giving an air of unos- 
 tentatious competence. On almost every one is painted either the family 
 name or some pleasing title in English or French, as "Merida Villa," or 
 " Pon Repos," while in front are little garden-plots, neatly kept, or rows of 
 ivied elms; ivy also clings lovingly to the surrounding walls. Everywhere 
 
 MONLMENT lO PRINCE At-BtHT, OLEKNSEY.
 
 GO 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 MAKKET-PLACE AT ST. PETER'S POUT, GUERNSEr. 
 
 one comes across these cheerful, home-like streets, leading to pleasant in- 
 land views, with a central spire surmounting some time-worn chapel of 
 ])ast ages, where still the villagers meet with undiminislied devotion. 
 
 Not an unimportant addition to the pleasure a stranger takes in ram- 
 l)ling about St. Peter's Port is the physical beauty of those he meets. We 
 tind here the pure Norman race, the same as that which conquered Brit- 
 ain, but, unlike that, scarcely mixed with Saxon or any otlier foreign 
 blood. The men have a fresh, ruddy complexion, an honest, frank, good- 
 Inimored but manly expression. The women have a skin remarkably fair, 
 delicate, and clear, and features regular, expressive, and often beautiful. 
 If but their eyes Avere as brilliant and eloquent as those of their sisters of 
 Greece or America, they would present a nearly perfect type of female 
 beauty. And the children are, of course, charming; and even when they 
 run out of the peasant houses in the remote districts and beg the passer- 
 by for " doubles," there is a witchery about them seldom found in beggars 
 elsewhere. But to speak of beggars in Guernsey is almost absurd, for 
 extreme poverty is nearly unknown, while almost every tiller of the land 
 cultivates a patrimony inherited from his ancestors for many centuries, 
 and it is difficult to find evidences of squalor in the island. Even the 
 houses of the peasantry are neatly kept, and a clean lace oi* cambric cur- 
 tain veils the lower windows of the humblest cots, while flowers and vines 
 are trained on the window-seat durino; the winter season.
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 61 
 
 The language is the old Nonnan French, pure and simple, although 
 the dialect of Guernsey differs slightly from that of Jersey. English is 
 now spoken by the better families, and often understood by those who do 
 not use it among themselves. Services in many of the churches, and all 
 proceedings in the courts and Legislature, are in French. Strange as it 
 may seem to many, the islands are in their government very nearly inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain, to which they owe a sort of feudal allegiance. 
 In the transaction of their own affairs they are practically independent; 
 and, stranger still, Jersey has a government and laws of its own, while 
 Guernsey, with the dependencies of Sark and Alderney, is ruled by still 
 another code and Legislature. The Legislature consists in each case of a 
 Senate-house, composed of the bailiff, or chief-justice, and the jurats, and 
 the Assembly, including a lai-ger number, called the States, but of less 
 influence. The laws still smack of the rough emergencies of tlie Middle 
 Ages, and are sometimes very arbitrary. Any one who chooses to set up 
 a claim as creditor has a right, on his bare assertion, to seize either the 
 person or the property of the alleged debtor, whether a native or a stran- 
 ger, and the debtor has no redress ; on the other hand, the sheriff cannot 
 enter a house unless the door be opened voluntarily, and, if he desire to 
 
 CHILDREN BEGGING FOR " DOUBLES."
 
 G2 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 arrest a man or woman, mnst sometimes resort to artifice to decoy the vic- 
 tim into liis clutches, as, for example, to send an ally into the house on 
 some errand, who can open the door when the sheriff knocks. 
 
 Notwithstanding this semi-independence, and the fact that French is 
 the popular and official language, the queen boasts no subjects more loyal 
 than these Normans of the Isles. To question their loyalty is to inflict 
 insult almost amounting to injury. Some of England's most distinguished 
 soldiers and sailors have (;ome from these islands, where their names arc 
 cherished with patriotic pride. More than this: it is the common opinion 
 here that, instead of being a fief of England, England herself owes her 
 allegiance to the lords of the Norman Isles. For why: these islands are 
 a part of Normandy, and were such when William of Normandy reduced 
 
 V--1 
 
 DOLMEN AND MAKTELLO TOWER, GUEItNSEY. 
 
 Britain to subjection to Norman rule. During all the changes that have 
 happened in the succeeding centuries, they alone have survived of the 
 Norman territory, and have preserved a remnant of that race intact and 
 unmixed which laid England at its feet and has kept her subject ever 
 since. This is not so absurd, after all. It is quite as reasonable for these 
 little islands to be lords paramount of England as for the comparatively 
 small England to hold sway, as once she did, over the whole of North 
 America, Hindostan, Australia, etc. ; and the apostolic succession of the 
 Church is scarcely as clear as the descent of these Channel Islanders from 
 tlie fellow-countrymen of William the Conqueror and Richard Coeur de 
 Lion. It may be well to add here that one law exists in Guernsey advan- 
 tageous to foreigners residing within its limits : they are not subject to the 
 payment of taxes unless holding real estate in the island. 
 
 The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the group was for several centuries 
 under the control of the Bishop of Coutances ; but after the doctrines of
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 63 
 
 the Eelormation were universally accepted by the people, tliey were trans- 
 ferred to the diocese of the Bishop of Winchester, who is represented in 
 each island by a dean. The islanders are, with few exceptions, good Prot- 
 estants ; churches and chapels abound, and are generally well attended. 
 Puseyisni and ritualism have, so far, made little progress here ; the Low- 
 Church still continues popular, while the Non-conformists of all the lead- 
 ing sects are in a floui'ishing condition. Superstition is gradually losing 
 its hold, and mucli genuine and intelligent piety doubtless exists in some 
 of these islands. But in the hamlets most remote from town, and among 
 the older people, curious superstitions still obtain belief. On Christmas- 
 night there are some even in St. Peter's Port who will on no account go 
 to a well to draw water. Others will not venture into a stable at mid- 
 niglit lest they should surprise the cattle, asses, and sheep on their knees 
 Avorshipping the infant Saviour. A photographer is sometimes regarded 
 as dealing in the black-art, and some refuse so far to compromise their 
 character as to allow themselves to be photographed. In Guernsey, at St. 
 George, is a well called " Holy Well," still visited by damsels, for on the 
 surface of its waters maidens are said to be able to see the face of their 
 future husbands. In Jersey, near St. Clement's, is the Witches' Kock, 
 where, it is said, the witches hold their Sabbath : the belief in witchcraft 
 is not entirely extinct here. The marks on that rock are confidently as- 
 serted to be the footprints made by his Satanic majesty during the visits 
 which, it is to be feared, he makes quite too frequently in Jersey as well 
 as elsewhere. 
 
 One of the first things the stranger hears of, on coming to these islands, 
 is the exclusiveness of the upper class, their hauteur and pride, and the 
 contempt in which a tradesman is held. It is stated that a gentleman 
 will be on very good terms with a tradesman in his shop, but will not 
 condescend to recognize him in the street, while at balls the line is drawn 
 with painful distinctness. On the other hand, it is said that the distinc- 
 tion between the "sixties" and the "forties," as the two classes are termed, 
 is wearing away. For an exclusiveness so much more pronounced than 
 usual even in an English colony there was doubtless some ground origi- 
 nally, arising from local causes, which is now forgotten. 
 
 St. Sampson's is the only other town of any size in Guernsey after St. 
 Peter's Port. It is named after some mythical Irish saint who came here 
 in the sixth century. The place is about two miles from the capital, the 
 I'oad being by the sea, skirted with houses on one side and a sea-wall on 
 the other, with here and there an old martello tower or a bit of an ivied 
 castle to relieve the view. The port of St. Sampson's is a good one of its
 
 64 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 size. I counted as many as sixteen vessels there, loading with granite for 
 England. The granite trade is the most important business of Guernsey. 
 
 HAUTEVILLE, VICTOR HUGO'S LATE KESIDENCE IN GUERNSEY. 
 
 The clmrch of St. Sampson's was consecrated in 1111. It is tlie oldest 
 building in the island, but offers no architectural attractions. More in- 
 teresting are the Vale Castle adjoining and the Druidic remains. Long 
 before Rollo the Norman visited and conquered these islands, long befoi'e 
 St. Sampson and Julius Csesar, the Celt had braved these perilous waters 
 in his rude bark, and had scaled these almost inaccessible shores. Here, 
 in those ages lost in the vague mists of unrecorded antiquity, the Druid 
 practised his mysterious and bloody rites, and left numerous dolmens and 
 cromlechs to tell the tale of a race that would otherwise have passed away 
 from these isles into the utter silence of oblivion. Many of these remark- 
 able vestiges have unfortunately been destroyed ; of those which remain, 
 one of tlie most interesting is at KAncresse Common, near St. Sampson's. 
 It is covered by seven blocks, of which the largest, estimated to weigh 
 thirty tons, is 17 feet long by 10 wide and 4|^ feet thick, while the whole 
 dolmen is 45 feet long by 13 in widtli. Under the floor were found one 
 hundred and llfty urns, human bones, amulets, and the like.
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 e^o 
 
 St. Sampson's and the adjacent portion of the little island are also in- 
 teresting, as many of the scenes of Victor Hngo's impossible " Toilers of 
 the Sea" are laid there. There is no foundation for the story, so far as I 
 can learn, but it is very well told, and gives incidentally vivid and often 
 truthful descriptions of the scenery and people, and should be I'cad by 
 every one contemplating a visit to the islands. Passing throngh the old 
 part of St. Peter's Port, by the markets (well stocked with most excellent 
 tish, beef of a very superior quality, and line vegetables), and proceedhig 
 in the rear of Fort George, one comes to Hauteville, for many years the 
 residence of Victor Hugo. He is now in Paris, but his mansion remains 
 furnished as he left it, in a manner highly characteristic of the distin- 
 guished author. Keeping on in a southerly direction, one comes to the 
 south side of the island, to the artist or scientific student searching for 
 studies in geology or crustaceology, by far the most interesting part of 
 Guernsey. As Guernsey is triangular in form, and only nine and a half 
 miles on its longest side, much the pleasantest way to see its beauties is on 
 foot. The southern coast is indented with several small but exceedingly 
 beautiful bays, presenting a great variety of granitic forms, often almost 
 volcanic in grotesqueness of shape, the cliifs rising sometimes over three 
 hundred feet, often perpendicularly, from the silvery beaches of soft white 
 
 a'Aiiii-iiorsio iii;.sci:iiiEii i 
 
 sand at their base. Wild caverns are hollowed into the sides of the cliffs, 
 and rivulets, under the sylvan covert of many varieties of vines and shrubs, 
 descend from the plateau above to these bays. Le Moulin Iluet Bay, Icart 
 Point, Petit Bot Bay, the Gouffre, Gull Ptock, Pleinmont, are in turn the 
 
 o
 
 60 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 favorites of the eiitliusiast who visits them; but the stern, precipitous, tlniii- 
 dei'-scarred Titanic cliffs of Pleinmont seemed to me the grandest phice 
 for a sea-view in Guernsey, and one of the finest to be found anywliere. 
 Near the brow of tliese precipices Victor lingo lays the scene of some of 
 the most striking passages in his Ijook. The small guard-house, which 
 he represents to have been haunted, and makes the rendezvous of smug- 
 glers, stands there still, entirely alone on the cliff. 
 
 In plain sight from Guernsey in good weatlier, twenty miles from land 
 to land, in an east -south -east direction, lies the island of Jersey, twelve 
 
 THE CORBIERE AND LIGHT-HOUSE, JERSEY. 
 
 miles long and seven wide, in area nearlj^ twice the size of Gnernse}'. St. 
 Ilelier's, the chief town, contains over 30,000 inhabitants, and is situated 
 on the bay of St. Aubin, a most beautiful sheet of water, skirted by a level 
 sand beach, flanked by high slopes and cliffs, and ornamented on the oj)- 
 posite side by the charming little town of St. Anbin. The approach to St. 
 Helier's from Guernsey is around the south-western angle of the island, 
 bristling with reefs, showing their teeth to the mariner in a most threaten- 
 ing manner. Of these the most formidable is the Corbiere, or " Sailors' 
 Dread," the haunt of innumerable coi'bieres, or sea-crows. A light-house 
 has recently been erected on the liighest point, but it is a most formidable
 
 TIIK CHANNEL ISLANDS. 67 
 
 foe, as the M-riter can testify from personal observation, having passed it 
 twice, in a heavy gale of wind from the south-east, much nearei- than was 
 agreeable. It must be owned that few spots present a finer op])ortunily 
 for studying the effect of a raging sea on a rugged shore. The undertow 
 meeting the waves formed by the wind, and again affected by the diverse 
 currents and tides, which here rise forty feet, produces off the Corbi^re, as 
 off the Caskets, waves of exti-aordhiary lieight, grandeur, and fury. 
 
 The entrance to the port is very dangerous, owing to the reefs that 
 skirt the channel and extend miles to the eastward. The harbor is almost 
 entirely artificial. On the left, on entering the mole, is a higli rock sur- 
 mounted by the remains of a hermitage many centuries old. St. Ilelier, 
 Hilary, or Ililarius, was one of those shadowy Irish saints whose apocry- 
 phal adventui-es serve to adorn the saints' calendar with a species of pious 
 "Arabian Nights" tales. From what is said of the good people of St. 
 Ilelier's, one might infer that they had made the mistake of spelling his 
 name Hilarious, and suited their lives to the name. To eschew the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil is not enough the custom in this insular Paris. 
 Just northward of the Hermitage, on a rock of some height, stands Eliza- 
 beth Castle, a rather picturesque pile, of which a portion once formed an 
 abbey. The town is not very pleasing near the port, the streets being nar- 
 row and dark, but it rambles up on higher ground, and gi'adually assumes 
 a more cheerful and inviting aspect. The shop windows often make a 
 display of wares quite metropolitan. The markets are well worth a visit, 
 and the market-women sometimes dress in a costume slightly peculiar, 
 the only noticeable local costume in the islands. Generally the people of 
 tliese islands dress and wear their hair with excellent taste, combining the 
 English common-sense ideas of comfort with a certain French giacefulness 
 that one too often fails to see in England. 
 
 Odd as it may sound, there are two Lilliputian railroads in Jersey, 
 starting from St. Ilelier's — one rniming five miles to Gorey, called the 
 Eastern Railway, limited ; the otlier also extending about five miles, to St. 
 Aubin. The latter cost a large amount, and swamped two or three local 
 banks, producing much business prostration, and still further reducing the 
 value of local cui-rency. They seem to have been boiTowing lessons from 
 the United States in this island : paper money is issued in the most reck- 
 less manner, and much enterprise, in the form of hollow bubbles of specni- 
 lation, has enriched a few and impoverished many; but the law, mindful 
 of the claims of the sufferers and what it owes to the defense of society, 
 has made an example of some of the leading offenders, from which we, in 
 ■ turn, can take a lesson from the island of Jersey. Considerable shipping
 
 68 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 is owned at St. Ilelier's, employed in foreign conimerce or in the cod-fish- 
 
 eries. 
 
 After St. Ilelier's, or rather before it in interest among the objects to 
 attract the visitor to Jersey, is Mount Oi-gueil Castle, at the village of 
 
 MOUNT OBGUEIL CASTLE, JERSEY. 
 
 Goi'ey, on the eastern coast. It is now dismantled, and occupied only by 
 a warder, but this makes it all the more attractive. Perched on a rock 
 washed by the waves, the highest parapet of the venerable pile is 270 feet 
 above the sea. Built of stone the same as the rocks on which it is 
 founded, it looks in manj^ parts almost like a portion of the cliff. Setting 
 aside the legends about Julius Caesar, who is made responsible for the par- 
 entage of half the castles in Europe, there is no doubt that Mount Orgueil 
 was occupied, if not built, by Rollo, the grandsire of William the Con- 
 queror, whose escutcheon is still quite distinct over the main entrance to 
 the keep. The crypt under the chapel, with a marble statue of the Vir- 
 gin and Child, is in good preservation ; also the apartments occupied by 
 Charles II. while seeking an asylum in this island, which remained faith- 
 ful to the house of Stuart. These apartments have unfortunately been 
 modernized recently for barracks, although untenanted at present. The 
 guard-room where military courts were held is gone, but the adjoining cell 
 wdiere criminals were executed remains, with vestiges of a secret staircase 
 which communicated with the keep and the sally-port. The dungeon is a 
 ghastly j)lace, but the most interesting spot in the castle is the dark, dismal 
 cell, some six feet by four, with but a small loop-hole over the sea, where 
 Prynne, the Puritan, was confined for three years. He had ample time to 
 compose poeti-y or philosophies in these close quarters, although the scene 
 was not altogether congenial to tranquil meditation. That rheumatism, 
 megrims, and misanthropy did not quite corrode his bones or his intellect
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 CO 
 
 is evident from the fact that he tried to write verse, as sliown by tlie fol- 
 lowing doggerel lines, besides certain moral essays : 
 
 "Mount Oi-gtieil Castle is a lofty pile, 
 Within tiie eastern part of Jersey Isle, 
 Seated npon a rock full large and high, 
 Close by the sea-shore, next to Norinandie, 
 Near to a sandy bay, where boats do ride 
 Within a peere, safe from both wind and tide," etc. 
 
 From the battlements rnsty chains still hang, by which criminals in those 
 rough ages were suspended alive. 
 
 The view from the top commands the coast of Normandy and Brit- 
 tany, including the Cathedral of Coutances on clear days, and, besides a 
 prospect of the landscape of Jersey, gives one an idea of the dangers 
 which beset the mariner in these waters. Scylla and Charybdis were 
 very trifling affairs compared with the chevaux-de-frise of rocks under and 
 above water which encircle these islands. If the sailor escapes the Cas- 
 kets, the lal)yrinthine snares of the Little Russel are ready to trip him ; 
 
 THE PINNACLE, JERSEY. 
 
 or, if sailing for Jersey or St Malo, the St. Roquier or tlie Hanways lie 
 in wait for him, or the Paternostei's, so terrible that they are thus called,
 
 70 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 perhaps, because there is nothing left to liim wlio encounters their savage 
 blows but to say his prayers. Escaping these, he still has the Corbiere or 
 
 ST. BKELADE's CHDRCH, JERSEY. 
 
 La Couchiere to avoid, and is not yet past dangers, for by no means the 
 least savage yet lie near his path — the Chansseys, and the terrible Min- 
 quieres, fronting the coast of France many miles, like a picket-guard; and 
 the most awful and solitary of all, the Douvi-es, like an advanced post in 
 the ocean, solemn an.d implacable. Tlie coast of Jersey is also every- 
 where dangerous of approach, and rises in some places over three hun- 
 dred feet on the northern side. Many very bold, striking cliffs are to be 
 seen there, many rocks of i-emarkable form and size. The Jersey granite 
 is considerably warmer in color than that of Guernsey, Mdu'cli renders its 
 cliffs sliglitly less stern, and moi*o in harmony with the vivid green of the 
 surges that lash their feet and hll their vast caverns with the di'ead thun- 
 ders of the storm. Boulet Bay, Greve de Lecq, Gr^ve an Langon, Cape 
 (xrosnez, the Pimiacle, or La Pule, at L'Etac, are a few of the man_y points 
 deserving the investigation and the enthusiasm of the tourist, the natu- 
 ralist, and the artist. St. Brelade's Church is the oldest building in Jer- 
 sey, and is still well preserved, and quite picturesque.
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 71 
 
 The interior of the island is altogether belied by its coast scenery, for 
 it is highly rustic and idyllic, intersected everywhere by winding lanes 
 almost concealed by hedges, and banks abounding in ferns, mosses, and 
 thick-embowering vines and shrubs. So very winding and intricate, in 
 fact, are the rural lanes of Jersey that a cause is assigned for it : the 
 island was in early ages infested by pirates, who carried off the people as 
 well as their goods to that degree that, in order to mislead the freebooters 
 and make it easier to cut them off before they could reach the sea, the 
 paths were twisted into a species of labyrinth. These lanes ai-e, how- 
 ever, gradually being replaced by more direct roads, and many of the old 
 avenues of trees are falling before the axe of improvement or necessity. 
 
 Twenty miles in a north-easterly direction from Guernsey lies Alder- 
 ney, called by the Normans Aurigny, in most respects the least interesting 
 of the group, although the abruptness with which its elevated table-land 
 phniges into the ocean presents some very striking scenes. But the table- 
 land itself is generally Hat and bare, and the town of St. Anne's offers 
 few points of interest. The island is but three miles and a half long. It 
 claims our attention, however, on two accounts. On its north-western side 
 is Braye Harbor, celebrated for the breakwater or mole which the English 
 Government has been building for many years at an enormous expense as 
 a naval station and harbor of refuge, to offset the corresponding port of 
 Cherbourg in Normandy, and enable the English to command the Chan- 
 
 VUAICKING. 
 
 nel. This breakwater has, very strangely, been constructed in a most 
 blunderiu"- manner, at least in its form, so that it presents itself to the sea
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 in such a way that it often suffers serious damag-e, and will eventually 
 have to be altered. Alderney is also known for the breed of cows which 
 bears its name. These are so called probably because the first ones ex- 
 
 
 CREUX HARBOR, SAKE. 
 
 ])orted were from that island, althou2;li now very few that are sold as 
 Alderney cows are directly from there. Those of that breed actually ex- 
 ported from these islands are generally from Jersey, where the cattle are 
 much the same as those of Alderney, small, with tapering heads, and of a 
 delicate fawn-color. The Guernsey cow is esteemed by some even moi-e 
 highly tlian the Alderney ; it is rathei- larger, and moi'e of a red, brindled, 
 in color. The cows are milked three times daily, and the milk is churned 
 without skimming. One pound of butter a day is by no means an uncom- 
 mon yield for a good cow. The cow cabbage is made to reacli a size so 
 large that the leaves are used to wrap the butter in for market, while the 
 stalks are varnished and armed witli fei-rules, and extensively used at St. 
 Helier's for canes. The cows are very carefully coddled. The grass they 
 feed on is highly enriched by the vraic, a species of sea-weed gathered 
 fi'om the reefs at low tide. There are two vraic harvests appointed by 
 the Government — one in the spring, the other in August, although it is 
 gathered at other times in siuall quantities. All hands turn out in the 
 season with boats and carts, frequently at night, and it is a very lively, 
 picturesque occupation, though often attended with risk and loss of life 
 from the overloading of boats or sudden rising of the tide. The cows are
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 73 
 
 always tethered when feeding : they eat less in tliis way, really giving 
 more milk than if glutted with food ; and wliile tliey are cropping the 
 grass on one side of a field, it has time to spring np on the other side. 
 When they have done eating, they are at once removed from the sun into 
 the shade. The breed is preserved from intermixture with other breeds 
 by strong and arbitrary laws very carefully enforced. No cattle are al- 
 lowed to enter the islands except for slaughter within a certain number 
 of days, with the exception of oxen for draught. 
 
 Opposite the eastern coast of Guernsey are the islands Ilerm and 
 Jethou, about three miles distant from St. Peter's Port. The former is 
 a mile and a half long, high, and in some places very bold, and possesses 
 withal a sand beach abounding to a very unusual degree with shells of 
 great variety and beauty. It is chiefly valuable, however, at present as a 
 resort for sportsmen. Two or three liouses are on the island, including a 
 hotel, much resorted to in sunnner. Jethou is close at liand, but is much 
 
 ENXUANCi; TO THE CBEUX LANDING-PLACE, SAKK. 
 
 smaller, and tenanted cliiefly by rabbits. Beyond these islands, a little 
 more to the southward, and only seven miles from Guernse}', is Sark, one 
 of the smallest, most curious, most interesting, most elusive, most deso-
 
 T4 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 late, most beautiful, most dangerous, most sublime, of the Atlantic islands. 
 The old legend-makers, who have sung such weird tales of phantom isl- 
 
 THE AUTELETS, SAUK. 
 
 ands, now appearing close at hand, then vanishing like enchantment, must 
 have drawn their inspiration from watching Sark from Guernsey. On 
 some days it is so distinct, and looks so near, that cliffs and houses and 
 even men can be distinguished with the naked eye, and the soft j)lay of 
 light and shade and color on the rocks. Tiie next day one shall look in 
 the same direction, and he will discern with difficulty the faint hazy out- 
 line of what seems an island forty miles away. The approach to the 
 island is almost always hazardous, and except in the best w^eather no boat 
 can land or leave, owing to the maelstrom-like velocity and turbulence of 
 the tides, which rush raging in all directions around the shore, and fill the 
 hollow caves with melancholy dirges, as for the many wrecked on that 
 merciless coast. The late Seigneur of Sark was lost off Point Nez, and 
 the present Seigneur and his family have had an escape bordering on 
 the miraculous. Sometimes, even in summer, weeks will pass without the 
 possibility of communicating with the island. In winter one must depend 
 entirely on Sark boats of seven or eight tons burden, strong and weath- 
 erly. In summer a small steamer plies in good weather between Guern- 
 sey and Sark; but it cannot enter the port, which is doubtless the smallest 
 in Europe. It is formed by a breakMater thrown across a miniature bay
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 70 
 
 called the Crenx, A little beach extends aroiitul the base of the vertutal 
 cliffs, and the interior of the island is only reached by an artificial open- 
 ing actually pierced through the surrounding wall of granite. 
 
 Sark is about three miles and a half long, and is divided into Great 
 and Little Sark, the latter being a small peninsula at the southern end, 
 united to the main portion by a curtain of rock some two hundred yards 
 long, called the Coupe. It is three hundred feet above the sea, on one 
 side literally vertical, on the other nearly so. The path at the top is not 
 over five feet wide. It is said one person who lived on Little Sark never 
 dared during a lifetime to cross over the Coupe. Another old fellow, who 
 used to like to take his grog of an evening in Great Sark, would, on re- 
 turning to Little Sark at night, walk several times over a log that lay near 
 the Coupe. If the result was satisfactory to his equilibrium, he would 
 then venture to reel across the Coupe, The cliffs surrounding the island 
 furnish an inexhaustible supply of the grand, the wild, the picturesque. 
 The rocks are clothed with highly colored vines and lichens ; the magniti- 
 
 CUEUX UU DEUKIBLE, SARK. 
 
 cent caves, seemingly the abode of sea-fairies, teem with varied and beau- 
 tiful submarine vegetation and di\erse forms of life, shell-fish, mollusca.
 
 76 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 algae, and the like. Our limits forbid more than allusion to such spots 
 as the Autelets, the Creux du Derrible, or D'lxcart Bay. 
 
 The interior of the island is devoted to agriculture and pastui-age, and. 
 
 
 
 
 /J 
 
 
 I ^^HS^^^^Ssci -- 
 
 
 
 -i-V^ " ;- 
 
 NATURAL BRIDGE, PONT-DU-MOULIN, SARK. 
 
 although not generally wooded, and destitute of streams, presents many 
 choice bits of rural underwood. The avenue leading to the Seigneurie is 
 exceedingly beautiful, and the building itself is a veiy pleasing object. 
 The huts of the peasantry are often of the most massive construction, 
 having walls six feet thick. 
 
 Those who suppose Monaco, or Andorra, or San Marino to be the 
 smallest state in Europe must awake from their delusion. Sark has, by 
 the last census, only 546 inhabitants, and is practically an independent 
 state, owing only a feudal allegiance to Great Britain by way of Guernsey. 
 Traces of the Druids exist, showing their early occupation of the island. 
 In the Dark Ages it was the haunt of pirates, wlio from .this almost inac- 
 cessible eyry swooped down on ships passing the Channel. After they 
 were exterminated, the Fi-ench lield Sark some time ; but in the reign of 
 Elizabeth it was taken by a very ingenious stratagem, of which only a 
 brief recital can be given here. It seems a galley anchored off the island
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 77 
 
 under pretense of being a trader whose captain liad died on the voyage. 
 To consign a Christian man to the deep seemed a gratuitous sin, when 
 Sark was so near at hand. Would the garrison allow his comrades to 
 land the cofhn and bury him in consecrated ground ? They would go 
 ashore unarmed, and would allow themselves to be searched on landing. 
 This request was granted after due deliberation. The coffin was landed, 
 and in solenni procession borne into the cliurch. The door was then 
 closed suddenly, and before the French could discover the object of this 
 manceuvre, the coffin, which was filled with arms, was broken open, and, 
 arming themselves, the sailors rushed out and cut down the French right 
 and left. In their panic some threw themselves from the cliffs, the rest 
 surrendered. Since that time Sark has continued under the English flag. 
 
 The Seigneur is feudal lord of the island, and shares the government 
 with the other landholders, about forty in all. The worthy pastor, Mr, 
 Cauchmeyer, a Swiss, has not been off the island for thirty-seven years. 
 
 I can heartily and truthfully recommend the invalid and pleasure- 
 seeker to give these islands a trial — with a bit of advice on a point not 
 always regarded by persons culpably foolhardy or totally ignorant of 
 boat-sailing, especially in these very dangerous waters : never set out in 
 a boat here, or undertake to go to Sark or any of the islands, if the. boat- 
 men are reluctant to trj' it, or if you are advised by the natives to wait 
 for a change of weather. 
 
 seigneur's H0U8E, SARK.
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 My attention was fii'st called to the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence, when I sailed in the A7i?ia Maria fishing schooner. 
 The skipper had often cruised in their neighborliood, and strongly advised 
 me to visit them. Accordingly, I packed my kit and started in search of 
 this terra incognita, in September — two months too late to see them if 
 one consults his personal comfort, although really the best season if the 
 tourist wishes to gain a clear notion of the savage character of the islands, 
 and the waters which encircle them, and of the isolated life which the 
 islanders lead. I went by way of Prince Edward Island, and found it 
 no laughing-matter either to reach or leave these dunes of sand, even so 
 eai'ly in the autumn, although they are but fifty-six miles due north from 
 Eastern Point, Pi'ince Edward Island (the distance from Souris, where the 
 boat touches, to Havre Aubert, Andierst Island, -being but eighty miles). 
 Twice a month, until navigation closes, the steamer Albert runs from 
 Pictou to the Magdalens, touching at Souris to take the mails when the 
 weather allows her to enter the exposed port of Soui-is. But her move- 
 ments are very uncertain, and tlie sleepless vigilance which is said to be 
 the price of liberty is trifling compai'ed with the watchfulness required on 
 the part of the voyager who has made up his mind to reach the Magdalen 
 Islands, and to reacli tliem b}' the steamer Albert from Souris. No one 
 could tell me tlie exact day or hour she was to be looked for, and a gale 
 of wind about the time we might begin to expect her seemed to render 
 it very uncertain whether she would touch at Souris at all ; but the post- 
 master promised to give me prompt information wlien tliey came for the 
 mail-bag. At nine in the evening, the wind having moderated, the whistle 
 of the steamer was heard shrieking in the port. I ran to the hotel for my 
 carpet-bag, but the postmaster had, of course, forgotten to send me word 
 according to promise, and every one at the hotel had gone to an itinerant 
 sliow. With the bag on my shouldei-, I ran a mile, and was able to clam- 
 bei" over the side of the steamer iust as she was shoving off from the
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 79 
 
 breakwater. A sliglit detention of five minutes, owing to a loose screw 
 in the engine, was all that enabled nie to catch the boat. The Albert 
 proved to be, without exception, the most clumsy and dangerous craft I 
 ever stepped foot on, considering the pei'ilous nature of the waters she nav- 
 igates. The weather was fine and the wind fair, so we managed to aver- 
 age nearly six knots, which took us in sight of the ishinds at sum-ise. It 
 was a clear, cheerful day after the storm. Nearly a hundred sail of our 
 Gloucester fishermen dotted the horizon, and the crests of Amherst, Al- 
 i-ight in the extreme distance, and Entry directly ahead and near at hand, 
 were exceedingly beautiful, warmed by the morning sun, which mellowed 
 their various vivid tints into pearly grays. 
 
 It may be said here that the name now given to the whole group 
 originally belonged to the long narrow island M'hich comprises the moi'c 
 
 ^.uAM^^m- 
 
 #K 
 
 m 
 
 w ''''^ ^^f/ 
 
 SAND DUNES AND WRECKS BETWEEN AMHERST AND GRINDSTONE ISLANDS. 
 
 or less lofty divisions termed respectively Amiierst, Grindstone, Alright, 
 Wolf, Coffin, and Grosse Isle — islands which are all more or less connected 
 by a double row of sand dunes enclosing lake-like lagoons, but divided 
 in some places by sea-opem*ngs fordable at low water, and at Basque Har- 
 bor, Havre aux Maisons, and Grand Entry Harbor deep enough to admit 
 of the entrance of small vessels. Around tlie Magdalen Islands, never 
 more than a few miles distant, are Dead man's Island, the Ih'rd Rocks, Biron 
 Island, Shag Kock, and Entry Island, M-hicli are now all comprised under 
 the same name. The Magdalen Islands ^wr excellence trend thirty-eight 
 miles in a north-easterly direction, from Amherst to Coffin Island. A long 
 ■5pit, called Sandy Hook, and partially under water, extends due east from 
 Amherst toward Entry, from which it is separated by a narrow and dan-
 
 80 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 gerous cliannel. Pleasant Bay is tlie bight formed by Sandy Hook i-oniul 
 by Basque Harbor to Grindstone Island, and is a connnodions and sate 
 roadstead in all but easterly winds, when vessels must cut and run for 
 the other side of the island, or make a dash for Havre Aubert if taken 
 too suddenly. In the terrific gale of August, 1873, our fishing fleet was 
 
 lying for refuge in Pleas- 
 ant Bay, when the wind 
 shifted so rapidly and 
 violently into the east- 
 ward that thirty - three 
 schooners were driven 
 on shore in an hour, 
 piled together on the top 
 of each other. The skel- 
 etons of some of these 
 hapless vessels still bleach 
 on the beach at Amhei'st. 
 Rounding the grand, 
 gayly colored sea-cliffs of 
 Entry Island, the Albert 
 steamed nj) to an anchor- 
 age at Amherst, at the 
 bottom of Pleasant Bay, 
 and a boat cairied the 
 mails and one solitary 
 passenger ashore through the surf. The cui-ious little town of Amherst 
 lies there, composed of perhaps fifty houses straggling up the flanks of the 
 Demoiselle, a conical hill, which on the sea side falls vertically nearl}^ two 
 linndred and eighty feet. The business portion of the metropolis of the 
 Magdalens clusters farther doMm, where store-houses and fish stages for 
 the drying of cod are huddled together on a sandbar scarce a hundred 
 ])aces across, which connects Mount Gridley with the Demoiselle Hill. 
 On the north side of this bar is Pleasant Bay; on the south side is Havre 
 Aubert, twisted by our fishermen into Harbor le Bear. It is a small but 
 perfectly safe port, the best in the Magdalens, it is said ; bnt the entrance 
 channel is very narrow and shifting, and accessible only to vessels draw- 
 ing not over twelve feet of water. On the flats in the centre of the har- 
 bor lies an old hulk rotting in the storms which howl around that devoted 
 coast so nnich of the year — a characteristic object, looking as if planted 
 there purposely to indicate the character of those desolate isles.
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 81 
 
 The passenger aforesaid found better lodging than he had reason to 
 expect, at Mrs. Shea's little boarding -house. The variety in the larder 
 was limited ; but tlie eggs were fresh, the milk rich, and the tea good, and 
 the total cost of board and lodging not over seventy-live cents per diem. 
 Amlierst town may be said to be the seat of the Government. Mr. Fox, 
 the revenue collector and superintendent of wrecks, resides there, and also 
 Mr. Painchand, the United States consular agent, who is very polite to our 
 countrymen, and Mr. Fontana, the most important individual in the isl- 
 ands, the agent of Admiral Coffin, the proprietor, who holds them subject 
 to tlie jurisdiction of the Dominion. In reward for his public services, 
 Captain Isaac Coffin, uncle of the present owner, received a grant of these 
 islands from the British crown in 179S. They were first discovered by 
 Jacques Cartier, and were colonized by French, chiefly Acadians, who 
 sought refuge here when expelled from Acadie. They have received 
 accessions from Canada, St. Pierre, Jersey, and England, and now number 
 about live thousand, nearly all of French descent, and speaking and re- 
 taining the language, customs, and religion of the parent country. They 
 occupy the land generally by leasehold, under various conditions, and the 
 rents are devoted by the proprietor to the laying-out of roads and other 
 public improvements. But great dissatisfaction has grown out of the 
 existing tenure of lands. It is alleged that the prosperity of the islands 
 is hindered by the present arrangement, and strong efforts are now made 
 to bring about the transfer of the islands to the Dominion. The admiral 
 asks eighteen thousand pounds, which would not seem excessive, consid- 
 ering that the area of the Magdalens is seventy-eight thousand acres, of 
 which fully one-third is arable, and another third not wholly useless, while 
 the fisheries add greatly to their value. 
 
 AMHERST, LOOKING TOWARD DEMOISELLE HILL. 
 
 6
 
 82 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 The lions of Havre Aubert were soon visited, including the English 
 chapel on Mount Gridley, the new Roman Catholic church on the Demoi- 
 
 LANDING ON ENTUY ISLAND. 
 
 selle Hill, and the jail and post-office, which are within the same enclosure, 
 and under the charge of one superintendent, whose official duties are not 
 exhausting. There is a mail but twice a month, and for five months there " 
 is no mail at all, for the shore ice forms around the islands while the 
 Strait of Northumberland is closed, and navigation ceases in the Gulf 
 from December to April inclusive. 
 
 It was important to visit Entry Island, and to seize the first good 
 weather, as the passage of nine miles in a small boat may prove very diffi- 
 cult in case of a sudden change of weather, always liable to happen after 
 the 1st of September; and, in fact, at all seasons the sea rises in the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence with great rapidity, always rugged and tumultuous, with 
 vast combers that break, owing to the tides and currents and the shoalness 
 of the water and the undertow, all aiding to render navigation there ex- 
 cessively hazardous, combined with the frequent fogs. 
 
 Some men had come from Entry Island to attend the sale of Avrecked 
 goods at Havre Aubert, and I was able to return with them. We sailed 
 in the broad light of the full moon, skirting Sandy Hook. A number 
 of the islanders with their dogs came down to help us beach the boat 
 and land the cargo on a long low sand spit on the northern side of En- 
 try ; and the scene by moonlight was very picturescpie, and seemed more 
 as if on the shore of some tropical isle surrounded hy summer seas
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 and balmy breezes than in the abnost hyperborean regions of the St. 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Mr. James Cassidy, the keeper of the light-house, cordially invited me 
 to lodge with him. A long mile over a rolling moorland, with shadowy 
 hills on our left and the moonlit sea and red star of the light-house be- 
 fore us, led through the frosty air to a warm fire in Mrs. Cassidy's com- 
 fortable kitchen, where a cup of tea and some of the capital island mutton 
 added very materially to our well-being. '' Look well to the commissa- 
 riat," is ever the motto of your experienced traveller. 
 
 Entry Island is pentagonal in form, only two miles long in its greatest 
 length, and for its size offers a greater variety of scenery and attractions 
 probably than any other island of the Atlantic. The western half of the 
 island forms a gentle slope, broken into pleasant intervales, divided into 
 charming meadows and pasture-lands, overgrown with potatoes or waving 
 grain and fragrant grasses, and ending abruptly in cliffs fifty to a hun- 
 dred feet high. Bits of dwarf woodland scattered here and there give 
 a very picturesque effect to this pastoral landscape, which is also height- 
 ened by the numbers of cattle, horses, and sheep everywhere visible, and 
 the farm-houses of the ten families who here pass away their uneventful 
 but not unhappy lives. They are all of Irish and English descent, and 
 sucli a thing as want is probably unknown on Enti-y Island. It contains 
 
 OLD MAN AND OLD WOMAN. 
 
 about thirty-two hundred acres, an average of over three hundred acres to 
 a family. They export some stock and provisions, including considerable
 
 84 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 butter. Mrs. Dixon told me she owned fifty-five cows; the niillv is ex- 
 cellent, and to be had for the asking. The people appear to be thrifty, 
 and yet it does not seem that they make the most of their opportunities. 
 But w,ho would blame them for this ? They have enough, and are con- 
 tent. The women do not have to buy four hats a year, or study the fash- 
 ions from Paris ; the men do not need to pore over the daily financial 
 I'eports, or discuss the public-school question in a place whei'e all are Prot- 
 estants, where there are no schools, and only a minister twice or thrice a 
 year to marry and christen. At the same time, I saw books and papers 
 in every house I visited, including the old family Bible, and the people 
 are as intelligent as they are hospitable. They use, in common witli all 
 the Magdalen Islanders, a peculiar square cast-iron stove set on high legs 
 between two rooms, fitting in an opening in the partition wall, thus heat- 
 ing botli apartments equally, and economizing both labor and fuel. Here 
 during the long winter days, when shut out entirely from the rest of the 
 world, they sit and spin yarns and woollen at the same time. The old- 
 fashioned spinning-wheel is used in all the islands, and most of the people 
 are clad in homespun. 
 
 The eastern half of Entiy is of quite another formation — bold and 
 mountainous. Although the liighest elevations are but lofty hills, yet they 
 are really so high, considering the small area from which they rise, as to 
 give in miniature the effect of a very rugged and mountainous land. The 
 highest summit is six hundred and eighty feet above the sea by the latest 
 survey, and it looks higher, it is so steep. The prospect fi'om the top on 
 that calm September day was one of rare beautyo The tints of sea and 
 sky were soft, yet rich as those of southei-n latitudes. At our feet were 
 spread the rich uplands and lowlands of Entry Island encircled by a line 
 of silver foam. Beyond lay the group of islets clustering around Pleas- 
 ant Bay, the red and gray precipices of Andiei'st, Alright, and Grindstone, 
 bathed in hues so tender and beautiful I could hardly believe it was not 
 some fair scene in the ^gean pictured before me like an exquisite dream. 
 In the exti-eme distance, fifty miles away to tlie southward, could be dis- 
 cerned the faint outlines of Cape North and St. Paul's Island. As this 
 hill, the highest elevation in the Magdalens, and (;onunanding a view of 
 the Gulf of St. Law^rence nearly one hundred miles in diameter, has re- 
 mained without a name up to this time, the writer has ventui-ed to name 
 it St. Lawrence Hill. To the eastward of St. Lawrence Ilill is Pig Hill, 
 about fifty feet lower, but equally well defined. From these two peaks 
 radiate a number of miniature gorges and dells thickly overgrown with 
 savage woodlands of dwarf spruce, intermingled wMth birch, pine, and sas-
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 85 
 
 safras, and terminating on all sides bnt the land side in astonisliing cliffs, 
 generally vertical, and in some cases actually overhanging the sea. These 
 niao-nificent precipices are three hundred and fifty feet high at the east 
 end, gradually rising to over four hundred feet on the southern side. The 
 loftiest of these cliffs, for lack of any other name, is here called the Watch 
 Tower. Scarped and sculptured in a thousand fantastic shapes, and bi-itl- 
 iantly hued with the lively and variegated tints of the new red sand- 
 stone, intermingled with gray gypsum and warm ochres, the cliffs of Entry 
 Island scarcely yield in beauty and gi'andeur to the famous rocks of the 
 Channel Islands, which, indeed, never reach an altitude of four hundred 
 feet. Devil's Island is a perpendicular isolated mass connected with the 
 main island by a zigzag curtain some thirty yards across, over three hun- 
 
 DRAGGING TUE HULL OF A SCHOONER TO THE BEACH. 
 
 dred feet liigh, and tapering up to an absolute edge scarce an inch thick. 
 The sheep wiggle across this edge, whicli may be likened to the bridge of 
 Al-Sirat, to browse on the acre of grass on the summit, where they keep 
 company with a colony of freebooting foxes, which, gradually driven from 
 one post to another, have taken a last refuge in this almost inaccessible 
 stronghold of despair, and raid on the hen-roosts o' stormy nights. Near 
 the Devil's Island is a pool which has been sounded farther down than 
 the sea-level without finding bottom. 
 
 I returned from Entry to Havre Aubert when a gale premonitory of 
 the equinoctial was setting in, and was obliged to wait for clearing weath- 
 er before starting for Grindstone Island. At length the elements seemed 
 propitious, and we set out. The equipage, driven by Jean Nedeau, who 
 can be recommended as a competent guide across the fords and quick-
 
 SG 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 THROUGH THE SURF. 
 
 sands of the Magdalens, consisted of a cart hung on what were intended 
 for springs, but they did not fulfil the intent of the maker. The jolting 
 I received that day was fitted to search out every weak spot in one's anat- 
 omy, and would sorely have tested the quality of false teeth. One could 
 readily realize in Jean Nedeau's cart what may be the sensation of having 
 
 the spine piercing upward into the 
 skull. The sturdy roan pony that 
 dragged us along at a three-mile-an- 
 hour pace was of a decidedly domes- 
 tic turn, and was strongly averse to 
 leaving home. 
 
 Our road led around the south- 
 ern side of Amherst Island, which is 
 eleven miles long, east and west, very 
 hilly in the interior, being five hun- 
 dred and fifty feet high, and general- 
 ly cultivated. Near the fishing ham- 
 let called the Basin we saw a very 
 beautiful view. In the middle dis- 
 tance rose the Demoiselle Hill like an acropolis; in the background lay 
 the purple heights of Entry Island like the main-land; and in the fore- 
 ground the blue waters of the Basin, girt with green meadows, where the 
 peasants were harvesting the hay. No scene on this side of the Atlantic 
 has ever reminded me so vividlj^ of historic bits in Asia Minor. Passing 
 the hamlets of Pont-du-Mouliu and Anse au Cabane, the road skirted the 
 perpendicular red sea-cliffs on the left, while the wind sung a wild mu- 
 sic in the spruce forests on our right. Here we saw a schooner on the 
 stocks on a cliff, from which it would be slid on to the ice in the winter. 
 Many small vessels are built on these islands, and it is not unconnnon to 
 construct them in the midst of the forest, over half a mile from the sea- 
 side. In the winter, when the men cannot farm or fish, the ship-builder 
 buys a few gallons of gin, and then invites his neighbors to the launch. 
 The cradle on which the hull is laid is placed on runners, and drawn over 
 the snow by many willing hands tugging at the cables. When they reach 
 the cliff's edge, the vessel is lowered to the ice, forty or fifty feet below, 
 on sloping ways, by the aid of crabs and a few oxen. AVhen the ice 
 breaks up, she becomes a thing of life, and goes forth to battle with the 
 storms. 
 
 At ten o'clock we came down to the lagoon called Basque Harbor, and 
 began the toilsome journey along the dunes which protect it on the north-
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 87 
 
 western side. After proceeding a couple of miles, shielded from the sea 
 by a range of low sand hills, we came to a break where the tide rushed 
 through like a mill-race : here we waited for the tide an hour, with ample 
 time to study one of the wildest and most desolate scenes on the face of 
 the earth. Sharp-speared salt grass scantily covered the tops of the sand 
 hummocks, and relieved the uniform white, which only seemed more repel- 
 ling when the surf lashed it with the foam of a storm that was gathering 
 in the south-east, threatening and terrible in its gloom. Wrecks, or bits 
 of wreck, were everywhere visible, partly covered by the shifting sands. 
 Seaward, Deadman's Island was distinctly seen — a large rock resembliug 
 a corpse laid out. When the tide had fallen somewhat, we ventured to • 
 cross, feeling our way along a shoal near the centre of the lagoon. The 
 water was up to the hubs of the wheels, and any deflection from the land- 
 marks Avhich guided us might have proved hazardous. After wading two- 
 thirds of a mile, we once more stood on dry but not on firm land, for that 
 epithet will hardly apply to bars more or less affected by every storm, and 
 in places completely covered by the sea in a gale of wind. After this, 
 we proceeded along the open beach, with the surf breaking among the 
 spokes of the M'heels. Curlew, plover, and wild-geese seemed to abound. 
 In one spot two wrecks lay close together ; one of them had been tliere 
 
 PORT AND VILLAGE OP J&TANG DU NORD, GRINDSTONE ISLAND. 
 
 ten years, and was still in tolerably good condition. She sailed out of 
 Miramichi, a noble vessel of twelve hundred tons, just off the stocks. It 
 was her first voyage. She had proceeded less than two hundred miles 
 when she brought up on the Magdalen Islands. The owner g-ot his in- 
 
 surance, but the circumstances were against him. 
 
 The far-sighted and
 
 88 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 resolute audacity that will bnild a vessel to cast it away is almost sublime, 
 while one hardly knows what to think of the sailor who will deliberately 
 destroy a ship on her first voyage. 
 
 Fording one or two more small inlets, we at length reached the end 
 of tlie dune, twelve miles long, and entered the curious fishing-village of 
 Etang du Nord, on Grindstone Island. In summer many of the people 
 leave their houses inland and come down to this place. The men go a-fish- 
 ing when the weather is at all practicable, while the women and children 
 dry the fish and have a warm meal ready when the men return. A large 
 fleet of strong fishing-boats of lai'ge size crowds the little port, just outside 
 of which lies the curious rock called Gull Island. The shore of the ha- 
 ven is lined with rude houses on stages in the water for the storing of 
 the fresh fish, and the huts of the fishermen are ranged behind these. A 
 quaint place is Etang du Nord, with its P'rench people and manners; and 
 as I took a capital fast-day dinner in the snug house of M. Bourque, I 
 could almost imagine myself back in the fishing-towns of Brittany. From 
 here in the dusk we jolted through the woods, down hilly paths, to the 
 house of M. Nelson Arseneau, at Havre aux Maisons, where I was hospi- 
 tably entertained for several days : " Vous etes chez vous, monsieur," as 
 mine host said to me, with unaffected cordiality. 
 
 Part of the little settlement of Havre aux Maisons, or House Harbor, 
 is situated on Alright Island, which is reached by a ferry. Both islands 
 have some remarkable headlands over three hundred feet high, notably 
 Cap au Menle, Cape Grindstone, and Cape Alright ; while each contains 
 much fine farming land, M'itli comfortable farms and pretty valleys, af- 
 fording pasture to numerous flocks and herds. Abundance of grain is 
 raised on these islands, but the general complaint is that there are no mills 
 to grind it. Brooks there are which, by the aid of a dam, could furnish 
 the power ; but I could not but think it very strange that, with such a 
 capital situation and such abundance of wind, they do not use windmills, 
 which are quite inexpensive. Cranberries grow on the islands, and the 
 cultivation of that beautiful berry might easily become profitable. 
 
 Havre aux Maisons is a port of nuicli importance as the seat of the 
 seal fisheries, in addition to what is done there in the disposal of shore 
 mackerel and ship-building. In the last century the walrus frequented 
 the Magdalens in vast numbers, but they were at last frightened away by 
 the prodigious slaughter. But the seal has always been common around 
 there, and sometimes the catch is important. In the winter of 1875 over 
 20,000 were taken, valued at $60,000 to the hunters, and yielding sev- 
 eral thousand barrels of oil in addition to the skins. The oil is tried out
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 89 
 
 in vats. Tlie blubber is thrown in at the top, which is left open ; when 
 thfe spring sun arrives, the warmth melts the blabber, and the oil runs into 
 the tubs below. The seals are caught on the floating ice, which sometimes 
 extends many miles, but is liable to be blown away from the shore ice 
 with a change of wind. Immense is the excitement throughout the whole 
 settlement when news runs from one end to tlie other like wildfire that 
 the seals have arrived. Every soul turns out, including the women, who 
 stand on the beach with refreshments. Every party of hunters carries 
 a 'small skiff, with which to return in case the ice moves off. Drao-o-inn: 
 the dead seals over the ice is a very exhausting labor; some now use 
 horses and sledges for this purpose; but at best it is a fearfully laboi-i- 
 
 B^^- 
 
 CAP AU MEULE AND WRECK, GRINDSTONE ISLAND. 
 
 ons and dangerous work, and many have lost their lives, can-ied away on 
 the ice. 
 
 It may not be generally known that our fishermen have for years 
 frequented the Magdalen Islands for mackerel. It is not uncommon to 
 see a fleet of two hundred schooners in those waters, taking home annnally 
 30,000 bari'els of mackerel, worth over $350,000 at a low estimate. But 
 the flshermen of those islands also pursue the shore fisheries with profit 
 in boats. Nine thousand barrels of mackerel and ten thousand quintals 
 of cod, worth in the aggregate $100,000, are set down to their credit, ex- 
 clusive of what were caught by the Yankee fishermen, during the not very
 
 90 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 profitable season of 1875. The herring fisheries are also of great value 
 and importance at tlie Magdalen Islands. 
 
 North-east from Grindstone Island stretches the broad and navigable 
 lagoon formed bj Wolf and Alright islands on either side, with their long 
 
 PART OF CAPE ALKIOHT. 
 
 sand dimes that unite them with Grosse Isle and Coftin Island. Gi-and 
 Entry Harbor is a fine port of refuge between the two latter islands, which 
 are the most common resort of the seals. Detached from these to the 
 north are the Bird Rocks, and Biron Island, which is inhabited by a few 
 families who cultivate its rich soil and raise stock; but it is inaccessible, 
 except when the weather is serene and with the wind off shore. Owing 
 to the lateness of the season warning me to seize the first opportunity to 
 leave, and the fierceness of the equinoctial gales, which lashed the Gulf 
 surges into rage unwonted even in that turbulent sea, I M'as unable to 
 visit the remaining islands. Passage was kindly offered me in the small 
 schooner Sea Foam to Souris; but, on account of the heavy surf on the 
 bar, we could not avail ourselves of the favorable wind after the gale, but 
 were forced to wait a day. The ship-channel of Havre aux Maisons is 
 very tortuous, in some places scarcely a ship's width, and lies so near the 
 end of the spit that it can be touched by an oar in passing, while the cur- 
 rent of the incoming or outgoing tide rushes through with such violence 
 that in a moderate breeze it is extremely difficult for a vessel to get by 
 the spit without being headed off by the tide and slewed on a bank. 
 Three times we got aground, and each time w^ated for the tide to lift 
 us off. The same thing happened to the schooners in company with ns. 
 Finally, by the aid of a kedge, at slack tide, we were able to slip thi-ongh 
 the channel and put out into the open water of Pleasant Bay. But our
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 91 
 
 fair breeze had failed us, and the weather looked dubious and threatening, 
 with light and baffling winds all night, which took us to the southward 
 of Entry Island, when the wind settled in the south-west, with lightning, 
 a heavy sea, and a very wicked-looking sky in the offing. A storm was 
 brewing, and after a hasty consultation the helm was put up, and we bore 
 away again for Pleasant Bay, where we dropped the mud-hook under tlie 
 lee of the Demoiselle Hill, and were soon joined by a fleet of schooners. 
 It blew fresh all day, shifting into the west, with a fine clear sky. In the 
 afternoon we got up the anchor and moved farther up the bay, opposite 
 Basque Harbor, to make a lee in case the wind should shift to the north- 
 east in the night. Tiiere we lay until the following aftei-noon. The 
 time was pleasantly whiled away exchanging visits with the neighboring 
 schooners. Some very sensible, good fellows, with now and then a comical 
 genius, were discovered in the diminutive cabins of these little craft, and 
 the conversation, the merriment, and the yarns never flagged. On board 
 our schooner we numbered six, consisting of the owners, the passenger, 
 
 the skipper, the officers and crew, ^_. „___^^_ __ 
 
 combined in the burly person of one 
 man named Jim, and Joe, the cook, 
 who professed to be from Glouces- 
 ter, and was one of the most singu- 
 lar characters ever seen on board a 
 schooner. Cleanliness in his person 
 or apparel was not one of his prom- 
 inent traits. I know he has wash- 
 ed his hands at least once in his 
 life, because I heard the owner of 
 the schooner send him on deck to 
 do so just as he was about to knead 
 some dough. As a cook, he was 
 voted to be the greatest failure of 
 the season, although he limited him- 
 self to cooking only salt-horse, cod- 
 fish, and potatoes with their jackets 
 on. But the imperturbability of his disposition, combined with an impu- 
 dence that almost exceeds belief, afforded us a compensating fund of en- 
 tertainment, aided by the undying feud that existed between this hojjeful 
 disciple of Soyer and the skipper. 
 
 " Blast your eyes !" roared the skipper, at dinner, " why don't you put 
 the beef to soak before you boil it, you young pii-ate V 
 
 THE SERENE JOSEPH.
 
 92 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 " It was soaked," said the serene Josepli. 
 
 "And who was it but myself who put it in to soak at the last min- 
 ute ?" replied the skipper. 
 
 " Well, if you put it in to soak, M-hat was the need of my doing it, 
 ell ?" answered the respectful youth. 
 
 '• D n your impudence !" yelled the skipper, now fairly shaking; 
 
 witli rage, and hurling a hatchet at the brazen-faced youth, who dodged 
 it, and it struck the side of a bunk, just over his head. 
 
 The whole morning Joe lay in a sunny spot on deck, out of the wind, 
 in a brown-study. In the evening he handed around a greasy note-book, 
 in which he had put down the result of his meditations in the form of, 
 a satii'ical poem on the captain, which was not altogether destitute of 
 literary merit. 
 
 It was very interesting, while we lay there, to watch the gannets div- 
 ing for mackerel. Rising to a great height, they suddenly turned head 
 downward, and, folding tlieir wings close to the body, dropped into the 
 water with the speed and violence of a shot, splashing the spraj' well into 
 the air. When a flock of them were diving in this way over a school of 
 lish, the effect was that of balls falling into the sea during a naval battle. 
 
 On the following day by noon the wind got into the north-west, and 
 it was decided to make another attempt to get across. We ran through 
 the channel between Entry and Amherst, passing near to the Tigress 
 steamer, which was wrecked on the former island in the late gale two 
 days previously. The sunset that evening was one of the most supei-l) 
 it has been my fortune to see. The waves were of the most exquisite 
 emerald hue, tossing up their spray like diamonds, while sixty-five of our 
 schooners fishing close together under the lee of the purple hills of Am- 
 herst Island, their main-sails touched with a rosy flame, and flocks of sea- 
 birds darting hither and thither like bearers of light, or shooting-stars, 
 their white wings illumined by the glory of the setting sun, combined to 
 compose a marine view of unsurpassed magnificence. But after the sun 
 went down, the weather looked less satisfactory ; however, it was decided 
 to keep on. 
 
 All night the wind was fresh but steady : all hands took turns at steer- 
 ing and watching, and a sharp lookout was kept for East Point Light, on 
 Prince Edward Island. This was made more difiicult because a number 
 of fishermen were tacking about or lying at an anchor, and their lights 
 sometimes looked surpi'isingly like the gleam of a light on shore. After 
 taking another look, the skipper went below again to catch forty winks. 
 Jim was at the wheel, and the writer, leaning against the foremast, and
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 93 
 
 dodging the spray which shot over the bow, was on the lookout. I'ut 
 Jim also wanted to go below, ostensibly to get his sou'-wester; and I 
 went to the wheel. However, when he found himself in the warm, snng 
 cuddy, he stretched himself along-side of the other four, and there they 
 all lay on the floor, snoring as if we were a thousand miles from land. It 
 was, however, not a bad night to have the deck to one's self, to hold the 
 old schooner heading sou'-west and by south by the feeble glim in the 
 binnacle, to keep a sharp lookout for the liglit under the leech of the 
 main-sail, an eye to windward for squalls, and also find an odd second now 
 and then for reflections suggested by the scene. It was a murky, rest- 
 less night about two in the morning; the wind growing fresher, and com- 
 ing in flaws moanino- throuo;h the rigging, and driving dark clonds across 
 the stars that twinkled hei'e and there. Everything betokened a change 
 of weather and a storm before long. The schooner, close hauled on tlie 
 starboard tack, held bravely on her course, careening over gracefully as 
 a stiff puff would strike her ; then a turn of the wheel shivered the head- 
 sails, and she was all right again. But at last I became convinced that a 
 light on the lee bow could be no other than the one we were looking for, 
 and I called up the skipper. Immediately on seeing it, he ordered the 
 helm to be put up, and, slackening the main-sheet, we bore away to give 
 the reef off the point a wide berth. In the August gale of 1873, two of 
 our schooners running before it, and with no other possible course that 
 they could take and live, ran over the reef, and, owing to the depth of 
 water then on it, might have escaped if they had not lost headway when 
 their foresails jibed. An enormous breaker overtook and swooped over 
 them at that critical instant. In a twinkling they were seen to capsize 
 and go down, and not a vestige of them was ever seen again. Beating 
 under the land against a strong breeze, accompanied by a fleet of schoon- 
 ers running for a lee, we readied Som-is at noon, just escaping a hurri- 
 cane, which came on soon after and destroyed many vessels.
 
 94 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 " 71 TADEIRA is an island lying off the coast of Africa, in the latitude 
 -^*J- of Charleston, S. C, a resort for invalids. It is said to be exceed- 
 ingly rich in natural beauty, and its wine is famous." 
 
 That was all I knew about the island — quite as much, if not more 
 than is known probably to most Americans; but a trip made the previous 
 summer to the Azores had whetted my appetite, and happening, about the 
 time I was thinking of another cruise, to come across Captain Hardy, of 
 the bark Ethan Allen, his glowing description of Madeira easily induced 
 me to take passage with him, engaging the same state-room as on a former 
 voyage. We had been twenty days out of Boston, running, generally, 
 with a fair wind and less incident than usual, when "Land ho!" was the 
 cry, and there, indeed, was the loom of land faintly discernible under a 
 mass of cumulus cloud on the weather bow. For several hours it was 
 doubtful whether what we saw was Madeira or its neighbor, Porto Santo; 
 but, after a while, three isolated hummocks, pale-blue, under the lee bow, 
 gradually assuming the peculiar outline of Porto Santo, indicated that 
 Madeira was the land on our right, enveloped, as usual, in a curtain of 
 vapor, and sixty miles distant. Porto Santo, twenty-two miles north-east 
 of its neighbor, is small and barren, chiefly valuable for its limestone 
 quarr}^, a geological phenomenon in the group. Until recently it was also 
 a penal settlement to w'hich convicts from Funchal were transported. 
 
 The lightness of the breeze made our approach very slow, and it was 
 only on the following morning that we drew near Madeira, and, very fort- 
 unately, obtained an uninterrupted view of its magnificent outline, falling 
 at either end abruptly to the sea, with lofty precipi(;es and vast detached 
 rocks of ragged and fantastic shapes and rich volcanic tints, along the 
 whole coast-line ; while from the sea the land arose rapidly to the centre, 
 where a cluster of peaks, closely grouped, deeply grooved and turreted, 
 suggesting the bastions and pinnacles of a gigantic fortress, were cut clear- 
 ly against the sky with the sharpness of sculpture. Passing San Lorenzo
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 95 
 
 Point with a leading wind, we were immediately headed off hy one of 
 the numerous air currents which prevail on the southern side and neu- 
 tralize the north-east trades, and fetched a tack across to the Desertas, 
 three rocky islets belonging to the Madeira group. Very narrow, like 
 a winding wall, they rise to the height of two thousand feet, and are 
 next to inaccessible; while the violent squalls, which spring unawares 
 from the cliffs, oblige the mariner to exercise unusual vigilance in their 
 vicinity. 
 
 Off the end of Chao, the northernmost, is a needle-rock, one hundred 
 
 THE MADEIRA 
 ISLANDS 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 PORTO SANTO 
 
 ''"■'■"^^r 
 
 B* 
 
 <N"^ 
 
 >l 
 
 #A 
 
 ^e^ 
 
 i 
 
 c*- 
 
 cT 
 
 
 '/..ch,- 
 
 ''Point San Zorenzo 
 
 Cllico 
 
 C0>' 
 
 
 nESERTA GRANDK 
 
 Longitude West from Ureenwiih 
 
 Fill t s,r. rr. r. 
 
 and sixty feet high, resembling a ship by the wind, as seen from the stern ; 
 it is naturally called Sail Rock. A handful of fishermen share the Deser- 
 tas with the cats, which liave colonized and overrun them, and gather or- 
 chilla and catch shearwaters by swinging over the precipices. The birds 
 are pickled, while the plumage is reserved for the beautiful feather-work 
 of Madeira. When a supply of these is collected, an immense beacon-hre 
 is kindled on the highest peak to summou boats from Funchal, thirty miles
 
 9G 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 FUNrnAL HARBOR AND BRAZEN HEAD. 
 
 distant. It is more than surmised that smuggling is also successfully 
 carried on at the Desei'tas. 
 
 The port of Funchal is only a slight curve between two headlands, 
 with a sea exposure reaching to the south pole. Yet ships lie here all 
 the year round. During the winter months vessels sometimes have to slip 
 and run for an offing; but the rest of the year the hazard is slight. A 
 brig took out and repaired her main-mast while we were there as fearless- 
 ly as if moored in a dock in a snug harbor. There is no landing-place 
 except the beach, and boats of the most diminutive size venture out into 
 the bay. Nothing so much impressed me with a sense of the mildness 
 of the climate of Madeira as the security of this exposed roadstead. The 
 boats are pointed at both ends, the keel-piece being carried several feet 
 above the gunwale. The stern-post is rounded at the heel, and a rope is 
 passed througli it ; a triple keel keeps the boat in an upright position on
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 97 
 
 shore. When the beach is reached the boat is turned stern foremost, and 
 men bared to the hips rush into the surf, and by the aid of the rope lift 
 the boat up tlie steeply shelving shore. Ships are loaded and discharged 
 entirely by large lighters, which are drawn on the beach by immense cap- 
 stans, called crabs. An army of yelling, bare-legged Ijoatmen is required 
 to land or launch a loaded lighter. The beach of Funchal — crowded with 
 rows of picturesquely shaped, gayly painted boats ; enlivened by the roar 
 of the surf, and the constant landing of boats, and the Babel-like vocif- 
 erations of boatmen and the drivers of ox-teams; and flanked at one end 
 by the governor's residence and a noble avenue of plane-trees, and at 
 the other by a shaded Praca and an okl red fort peaked witli pepper- 
 box turrets, the warm cliffs of Brazen Head rising beliind it, and the soft 
 violet outlines of the Desertas in the offing — presents one of the mo^t in- 
 teresting scenes on the island. Loo Rock and the castle (which seems an 
 integral part of it), dovetailing with the jagged pinnacles of tlie rock, form 
 one of the most effective features of this scene, standing isolated and 
 picturesque against the sky. 
 
 The port of Funchal is often enlivened by steamers and ships touch- 
 ing there from the coast of Africa. Their decks are crowded with crates 
 and cages full of tropical fruits, and parrots and monkeys, the screeching 
 and chattering of the latter being distinctly heard at some distance. This 
 gives rise to many amusing incidents. Boys go off from the beach to
 
 98 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 these steamers in tiny boats, and, clamoring loudly for pennies, dive to a 
 great depth in the clear turqnoise-colored water and fetch up coins. Now 
 and then a shark's tin stealthily and ominously aj)pears on the surface ; 
 but accidents very rarely happen. 
 
 Soon after I arrived the tirst time at Madeira, a Greek polacre brig 
 came in from Sierra Leone, bound for Marseilles with a cargo of peanuts. 
 She had been becalmed in the doldrums, and had been ninety-live days 
 making some tifteen hundred miles. No sooner had she anchored than 
 a negro sailor escaped from her and came on board our vessel. As he 
 seemed determined to stay. Captain Hardy tinally concluded to send him 
 back to the brig, and, as I spoke Greek, asked me to go with the boat 
 and explain the matter to the captain of the brig. 
 
 I found the vessel apparently in the last degree of neglect, the coun- 
 terpart of scoi-es of similar ci'aft I had seen in the Levant. Neither paint 
 nor tar seemed to have touched the hull or rigging since she had been 
 built. Everything was slack and in unmentionable confusion. The pea- 
 nuts fairly bubbled on deck over the open hatches ; and monkeys and 
 parrots snapped or winked at one from their cages or hiding-places under 
 piles of old spars. A curious scene was the deck of that brig, rendered 
 more singular b} the handsome and tidy appearance of the captain, who 
 stood by the companion-way and received me with the courtesy of a 
 prince. lie spoke French and Greek alternately, and witli almost equal 
 facility, and ordered the cabin-l)oy to bring up some Madeira wine, wliich, 
 I regret to say, was of a poor quality. I then gave my message regard- 
 ing the black sailor, who was now sitting on the rail dangling his feet 
 over the water. 
 
 The Greek listened with simulated nonchalance ; but when I had 
 done, his fury exploded. Seizing a calker's mallet, and hurling territic 
 imprecations, he flew at the negro with a ferocity that led me to expect 
 to see his brains dashed out on the instant. Raising the mallet, the 
 Greek brought it down with great violence to within an inch of the 
 negro's skull, and let it stop there. lie then flung down the mallet, and 
 came back as serene as if nothing had happened. But the negro, who 
 had neither flinched nor winked, still remained in his place. After talk- 
 ing with me a few minutes, the Greek captain was seized by another par- 
 oxysm of frantic rage, and, snatching up the mallet again, rushed at the 
 negro with even more violence than before ; but again the mallet stopped 
 within an inch of the victim's head. Here was a blending of frenzy and 
 self-control that was most extraordinary and unaccountable. Coming 
 aft again, with a sardonic smile on his classic but jather piratical feat-
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 99 
 
 ures, tlie Greek called for another glass of wine, and chatted in tlie most 
 unconcerned manner, until a third lit of fury came upon liiiu. This time 
 he was undoubtedly in earnest ; for lie did not take up the mallet, but 
 making a dash at the negro, seized him with a death-like grip, and, in 
 spite of his efforts at resistance, hurled him over the ship's side into tlu; 
 boat, where he struck on the thwarts, severely hurting himself, and nearly 
 breaking his back. Calling away the boat's crew, I now returned aboard 
 the bark. The poor negro deserted again the next day. 
 
 Funchal, seen from the sea, lies on a slope of extraordinary abruj)!- 
 ness, rent into three divisions by two gorges whose sides are ragged and 
 nearly vertical. At the head of these ravines, immediately beliind the 
 city, peaks 4000 to 5000 feet high ap})ear through rifts in the canopy of 
 
 niE SLEDGE-HACK. 
 
 clouds. A gray old castle, perclied on a spur projecting from the moun- 
 tains, whose teeth have been drawn — for its quaint outlandish brass pieces 
 have flashed the grim menace of war for the last time — assists the eye 
 to realize the suddenness of these precipitous ranges, and greatly adds to 
 the effective prospect of the town. On landing, the stranger very soon 
 learns the actual steepness of the place, and finds that your true Ma- 
 deirian walks on three legs, or, in other words, assists nature with a staff, 
 which, by often saving one from a severe fall, becoiues literally the staff 
 of life. The streets are paved with round pebbles, whose natural slipperi- 
 ness is increased by friction, and also by the grease-bags of the sledges, 
 insomuch that they are often -worn flat, smooth as glass, and scarcely less* 
 treacherous. I found myself sometimes clinging to the walls on a steep 
 incline with the tenacious grasp of ivy. The sledges alluded to are the
 
 100 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 nearest approach to a wheeled veliicle used on the island. They are 
 drawn by oxen guided by leathern thongs passed through the tips of the 
 horns. The drays are a mere slab twelve to eighteen inches wide, 
 strengthened by a rim on the upper edge, and are of the same form, 
 whether used by farmers or draymen. The hacks resemble our old-fash- 
 ioned covered sleighs, except that the runners are of wood alone, and a 
 cross-bar rests on the floor inside for the support of the feet when climb- 
 ing or descending the steep declivities. The driver carries a grease-bag, 
 wliich he lays at intervals in front of the runners. One of the most 
 characteristic cries of Funclial is the yelling of the ox-drivers, " Ca, para 
 mi, boi ! ca, ca, ca, ca ! o-o-o-ah !" (Come here to me, O oxen ! here to 
 me ! whoa !) 
 
 The liammock, carried on men's shoulders, is another conveyance pe- 
 culiar to Funchal. While this is of especial advantage to the invalid, 
 men who can reel off their ten miles before dinner without inconven- 
 ience do not disdain to avail themselves of the luxuriant motion it af- 
 fords. Strange to say, the apparently severe labor of hammock-bearer is 
 preferred by the natives to any other form of open-air work. Horses 
 imported from abroad, and generally trustworthy, are also used to some 
 extent, shod expressly for tlie roads of Madeira with spiked shoes, which, 
 in travelling over some parts of the island, have to be renewed as often 
 as once in every three days. But tlie character of the roads, even in 
 Funchal, is so trying to the nerves that many prefer the other modes of 
 conveyance. 
 
 But the coasting-sledge of Funchal must claim pre-eminence over all 
 known forms of locomotion except sailing. I know of no other place 
 in the world where business men slide down hill to their counting-rooms. 
 In summer many gentlemen reside in viHas, wliicli are a continnation 
 of Funchal, reaching as liigh up as the Church of Nostra Senliora. do 
 Monte, 2000 feet above the sea. I rode up one morning to breakfast at 
 the villa of the Austrian consul, Signor Bianchi, situated on a level with 
 the Mount Church. The ride was up a very pi-ecipitous incline ; but the 
 horses were on their mettle, and went up the unbroken ascent at f idl trot, 
 the muleteers running close behind : they rested but once, and neither 
 horses nor men showed shortness of wind. Behind us, at the end of 
 steep streets, s.tretched the ocean, whose dim horizon -line grew rapidly 
 more distant and faint as we rose. On either hand the road was shut in 
 by high walls, overhung with a profusion of purple and scarlet flowers, 
 which loaded the moist morning air with perfume. The terraces above 
 were darkened by the lace- work of wavering light and shade cast by
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 101 
 
 trellises supporting vines weiglited with clusters of Muscatel grapes, " wan- 
 ton to be plucked."" Having partaken the genial hospitality of our host 
 and hostess, we walked across the head of a ravine to a sledge "stand" 
 by the Mount Church, and seated ourselves in a vehicle of basket-woi-k, 
 fixed on wooden runnei'S, with a cushioned seat for three, and a brace for 
 the feet. Tlie attendants, seizing a leathern guiding thong, leaped on the 
 rear end of the runners with one foot, gave the sledge a start, and we 
 were off. With the foot that was free the men controlled their flying 
 sledge as a boy guides a sled, only witli more skill. We dashed down 
 the narrow way at a speed almost frightful, but gloriously exciting, going 
 around abrupt turns with a slide to leeward which only the astonishing 
 dexterity of the guides prevented from becoming a hazardous capsize. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN SLED. 
 
 Soon the increasing nuniber of people in the sti-eet obliged us to slacken 
 our pace ; but toward the end we overtook another sledge, and, ordering 
 our engineer to put on steam, away we went again at prodigious rate, 
 gradually overhauling the chase, until we suddenly turned into a dai'k 
 lane. The sled stopped, and, presto ! the excitement was over ; but not 
 tlie memory thereof. We made something over two miles in eight min- 
 utes and a half. The distance has been done in live minutes, when, ear- 
 lier in the day, there was a clear road. Another time I made the descent 
 at ten o'clock at niglit, when all was darkness aiiead, intensified, if pos- 
 sible, by the lantern we carried at our feet. Tliis sliding into mystery, 
 swiftly slipping through impalpable gloom, down apparently fathomless 
 abj^sses, is wonderfully stimulating to the imagination. 
 
 Fnnchal improves on accpiaintance. As one grows familiar with its
 
 102 'lUIE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 narrow and somewhat intricate streets, he rapidly discovers objects of in- 
 terest which relieve the sameness of the heavy stone buildings. I never 
 was in a town of 20,000 inhabitants so well built, so cleanly and prosper- 
 ous, and so well situated, in which architecture as an aesthetic art had 
 been so entirely ignored as in Funchal. The Se, or cathedral, is a build- 
 ing of some size, and its spire is surmounted by a gilt globe symbolizing 
 the former world-wide dominion of Portugal. It is said to have been 
 designed by Mattheus Fernandez, one of the great architects who con- 
 structed the famous church and cloisters of Batallia. The Se is pleasing 
 in its general plan, while the poverty of the founders probably prevented 
 much elaboration. But the ceiling of the nave and transept, beautifully 
 carved out of junipei", and tinted and gilded, deserves careful attention. 
 The Church of Santa Clara is an interesting old building. It contains 
 the grave of Zarco, the Portuguese discoverer of Madeira. 
 
 On the way to the Mount Church is an old dwelling, whose two front 
 windows, mullioned in stone, are suggestive of Moorish art. But if art 
 has done little for Funchal, nature has done much to atone for this. Many 
 of the solid but unpretentious houses conceal rare attractions within their 
 gates, revealed like magic to him who steps within, nnprepared for the 
 sight, and finds terraced gardens overlooking the ocean and the mountains, 
 and stocked with the profuse vegetation of two zones. The palm and 
 the pine, the cypress and the magnolia, the pomegranate and the banana, 
 the walnut and the guava, the a[)ple and the coffee-tree, the rose apple 
 and the chestnut, intertwine their various shades of perennial verdure in 
 a fi'aternal embrace that seems to nnite different climes as in Eden ; while 
 tiie oleander, the fuchsia, the geranium, the hortensia, the bougainvillia, 
 the heliotrope, the acacia, the jessamine, and numerous other flowers of 
 i)riiliant hues and spicy odors, growing wild in vast quantities, clamber 
 over trellis and wall, and blend tlieir fragrance from one season to anoth- 
 er; for on this enchanted isle neither the frosts of winter nip their buds, 
 nor the rage of the dog-star fades their scarlet and blue. 
 
 The market-place of Funchal is also an object of attraction, although 
 the many varieties of fruits and vegetables displayed in its stalls do not 
 generally reach the excellence of their native climes, excepting the grape, 
 the fig, and the strawberry; the latter lasts all sunnner, and is superior 
 in flavor to our best. The peach is not comparable to a good Jersey 
 })eacli ; apples and pears are hard and tasteless; but the flavorless char- 
 acter of the fruits of Madeira must be owing chiefly to the little attention 
 paid to improving them, for agriculture is conducted in a primitive man- 
 ner, while the mildness of the temperature and fertility of the arable soil
 
 MADEIHA. 
 
 103 
 
 would seein to offer the conditions essential to successful linsLcandry ; but 
 it may be that this very mildness is the cause of this defect in the veg-e- 
 table productions of Madeira. A sharper air in winter, a fiercer heat in 
 summer, may be necessary to complete excellence. The oak, for example, 
 fiourishes here, and its foliage is perennial ; but the wood is soft and com- 
 })aratively valueless. 
 
 Venomous insects and sei'pents, which are one of the scourges of the 
 tropics, are happily almost unknown in Madeira, with the exception of 
 
 CHURCH OF NOSTRA SENIIORA DO MONTB. 
 
 a small species of tarantula, which is not common. Its bite, although 
 very painful, is not often fatal. I once had an adventure with one which 
 afforded me a little exciting sport. I was occupying at the time a small 
 building containing two apartments, standing alone in the vineyard be- 
 hind Holway's Hotel — a very cosy little box, where I passed many a 
 pleasant evening. Frou) the balcony I could overlook the lights of
 
 lU-i THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Funclial or of the sliips at anchor, and listen to the music of the bells 
 stealing up from the town, or the regular beat of the surf on the shore. 
 Often the upward rush of scores of I'ockets, blending their red, blue, and 
 green stars with the stars which spatigle the serene skies, added to the 
 interest of the prospect from my window. Nowhere is there a greater 
 delight taken in fireworks than in Madeira. Every saint's day is cele- 
 brated by the explosion of hundreds and thousands of rockets, and the 
 birthdays of the wealthier citizens afford fresh opportunities for the ex- 
 plosion of these aerial baubles. Every church in the island has also its 
 novana, or nine days'^t'^fe, and during the whole nine days rockets are sent 
 up at intervals by the score. 
 
 Well, on the evening in question I was quietly reading, absorbed in 
 Byron's tragedy of " Werner," when I became conscious, without know- 
 ing exactly why, that there was something in the middle of the floor 
 which had not been there a moment before. On looking around, I saw 
 a tarantula deliberately marching across the room and coming toward 
 me. He evidently wanted my chair, and I concluded to let him have 
 it. As more light on the subject was desirable, I then went into my 
 bedroom and brought out another candle. When I returned, he was sit- 
 ting exactly in the centre of the chair I had just vacated. The cushion 
 was scarlet and he was black, a sort of velvety black, like a large button 
 of that color. But I could not stop to admire the harmony of colors, for 
 he was closely watching my motions ; and as the tarantida is aggressive, 
 and can jump several feet, he is not to be trifled with. I went after a 
 heavy walking-club in the corner of the room, and meantime he hopped 
 on the flap of the table-cloth which was close to the chair. This was a 
 false move on his part. Gently raising the end of the cloth below him 
 with the stick, I gradually coaxed him on to the top of the table, which 
 was exactly where I wanted him. Quietly I removed everything off 
 the table, in order to have a clear field of operations. He watched me 
 intently with his bright, intensely black bead -like eyes, quickly turning 
 around to face me every time I moved. It was a fair game on each side, 
 but he did not improve his opportunities. When all was ready, I took 
 up a volume of Euskin's "Modern Painters'' — a work which has proved 
 itself of great weight, and has demolished more than one reputation — and, 
 takino- deliberate aim, brouo-ht it down with great force on the devoted 
 tarantula. When I took up the book the creature was not there. It was 
 now of the last importance to find out if he had jumped on me. The 
 dark color of my clothes, and the fact that I could not very well see my 
 own back, made it difficult to settle this satisfactorily for some moments.
 
 MADEIRA. 105 
 
 Fui'tlier search, however, showed the tarantula under the sofa in tlie 
 corner of the room. I liurled tlie cl^ub at him, end on, with a fnry which 
 indented the wall, but he briskly avoided the danger; and another hunt 
 revealed him under a chair, this time thoroughly frightened, it would seem, 
 for he allowed me to lift the chair and carry it away. Still confident in 
 the destructive powers of Kiiskin, I brought the volume down once more 
 on the tarantula, and this time his back was broken. I still have faith in 
 Ruskin, at least under certain circumstances. Leaving the tarantula on 
 the field where he had fallen, I then went to bed, thankful to feel that 
 I was rid of a very unpleasant bedfellow. I have known several cases 
 where a tarantula has crept between the sheets unbidden. 
 
 The next morning I arose and went to look at him ; he was still there. 
 I returned to bed and took another nap and a cup of chocolate. But 
 when I looked for the tarantula a second time 1 found that the cockroaches 
 had completely devoured him, excepting the two hard, black, glistening 
 eyes, which lay on the floor like bits of polished jet. 
 
 But Funchal is not the whole of Madeira : it is, in fact, but the vesti- 
 bule to scenes of greater interest and beauty, and it was therefore with 
 much satisfaction that I completed a bargain for a boat-ci'uise along 
 ])art of the southern coast. I had a crew of four stout fellows, and an 
 able boat provided with sail and awning. We started about sunrise, and 
 skirted cliffs standing many hundred feet perpendicularly above the sea, 
 richly colored with volcanic tints, sometimes showing spots of pure ver- 
 milion inlaid with burnt sienna and Indian red. Reeds and grass grew 
 on the ledges, partially draping the nakedness of the pi'ecipices as a cinct- 
 ure of leaves dangles around the tattooed waist of a Feejee warrior. Little 
 boys and gii-ls were barely discernible here and there, skipping like goats 
 fi'oni ledge to ledge at dizz}' heights, gathering grass on these unpromis- 
 ing spots. Passing under the remarkable promontory called Brazen Head, 
 M'e came to Atalaya Rock, which resembles a vast oak riven by a thunder- 
 bolt. We continually met boats bound to Funchal with vegetables and 
 firewood, until, toward noon, we reached Santa Cruz, where our boat was 
 hauled on the beach, and I proceeded on a quiet ramble, finishing up with 
 dinner at the charming hotel. 
 
 Santa Cruz is at the opening of one of the profound torrent gorges 
 which are a distinguishing feature in every Madeira landscape, and affords 
 some fine bits of scenery. A sail of an hour from here took us to Ma- 
 chico, where the boat was beached, and after some search I obtained a 
 room in a private house for the night. 
 
 Anna Dorset was sought in marriage, in the days of Edward III., by
 
 106 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Robert Machin, a gentleman, and they both lived in Devon by the sea. 
 But he was of lower station than the lady — at one time, and, unfortunately, 
 still too often, the accursed cause of much heartache and the separation 
 of souls whom God, if not the priest, has joined. Her friends made 
 haste to patch up a marriage between Anna and a nobleman, whose birth, 
 if not his wits, was equal to hei's. But Machin — and who that has loved 
 can blame him ? — was not of the stuff that can tamely submit to sucli 
 petty tyranny. He persuaded one of his friends to enter the service of 
 the lady's hnsband, and in that capacity become her attendant. By this 
 means it was planned that she should elope to Fi'ance. A galley was 
 procured, and one night the lady fled from her lord's castle, and embarked 
 with her lover at Bristol, forsaking her native land, never to return. The 
 night was wild and dark with threatening tempests, but they had no al- 
 ternative but to put to sea. Scarcely, however, had they cleared the coast, 
 when a north-easter struck the vessel and forced them to bear away before 
 it. Thirteen days they scudded, and at last made land — a strange, cloud- 
 hidden, unknown, and nninhabited land, offering only tremendous preci- 
 pices and surf-beaten rocks on its northern coast; but, on rounding a 
 savage cape, they came to the southern side, and there, at the bottom of 
 a snug little bay, stretched a beach, on which they landed, and found them- 
 selves in a grassy vale, w'ell watered, musical with the melody of birds 
 and streams, and shaded by majestic trees, seemingly sheltered from the 
 boisterous world by lofty mountains. Here Anna and her lovei" rested 
 three days — perhaps, in each other's society, forgetting the land they had 
 left behind and the stormy scenes which had intervened, and hoping that 
 in this paradise they had at last gained an asylum where they might pass 
 their remaining daj^s in peace. But another storm drove the galley to 
 sea, and, overcome by this new calamity, added to her already ten-ible 
 suffering of body and sonl, the lady expired. Five days passed, and Rob- 
 ert Machin, too faithful in his love, also succumbed to the anguish of these 
 accumulated afflictions, and was buried at her side. Their surviving com- 
 rades erected a cross over the grave of the lovers, and then embarked in 
 a rudely constructed craft and were blown to the coast of Africa, whither 
 the galley had already been driven, and lier crew reduced to slavery by 
 the Moors. A companion in their captivity was the Spaniai-d Juan de 
 Morales, who was eventually ransomed and sailed for Spain ; but he was 
 captured on the way by the Portuguese navigator Joao Gonsalez Zarco, 
 who learned from him the story of Machin and Madeii-a. Associating 
 Teixera, an experienced pilot, with himself, and also taking Morales, Zarco 
 sailed in quest of this island. The remains of Machin and Anna were
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 107 
 
 found as described, and a small chapel was erected over tlieni, wliicli ex- 
 ists to this day. 
 
 Such is the one legend of Madeira, a tragedy replete with patlios, the 
 substantial truth of which has been contirnied by recent investigations. 
 Machico and its valley, named after its ill-fated discoverer, seemed to me 
 well fitted to be the scene of a story so tender and affecting. The town, 
 once a rival to Funchal, is now only a humble farming and tisliing vil- 
 lage. A few barefooted, poverty-stricken peasants cultivate the terraced 
 sides of the valley; a few fishing-boats lie on the beach ; an old fort, half- 
 hidden by overhanging plane-trees, points the cobwebbed muzzles of dis- 
 mounted guns, at fleets which pass at a distance and aim at it nothing 
 fiercer than the lens of the perspective glass. The only garrison of this 
 
 grizzly veteran of sieges and b(jmbardments that have never been fought 
 were a whiskered Portuguese and a portly dame, apparently the guardians, 
 possibly the parents, of a maiden whom I saw embroidering in one of the 
 embrasures, singing to herself and tapping an old cannon with her foot 
 — one of the very few really beautiful girls (let it be breathed in a whis- 
 per) whom I was privileged to see on the island. Several quintas are 
 scattered about the valley, and on a spur projecting from the mountain- 
 sides, a mile or two from the shore, are the gray ruins of a nunnery, 
 which the abolition of convents throughout the Portuguese dominions lias 
 left roofless and desolate. It is superbly situated, and commands at sunset 
 a prospect of surpassing beauty and grandeur. 
 
 The long beat of the surf on the shore lulled me to early dreams 
 after a prime cup of tea and a dish of broiled mullets just out of the sea.
 
 108 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 The slionting of the fisliermen starting on their daily trip to the fisliing- 
 ground aroused me at three next morning; and, after a breakfast the coun- 
 terpart of the meal of the previous evening, we shoved off and sailed away 
 with the morning- star for our beacon, the dawning splendor of pearl 
 and gold broadening in the east. We reached Fora Island about eight 
 o'clock. This is a bold cliff at the extreme end of San Lorenzo Cape", 
 over three hundred feet high, and surmounted by a light-house erected 
 but six years since, which is the only guide for the mariner to be found 
 either in the Madeiras or the Azores — a circumstance very disgraceful to 
 Portugal. The keeper of the light-house and his assistant welcomed us 
 with the cordiality of men whose social advantages are Cj-usoenian. As 
 a dingy, greasy copy of Camoens's "Lusiad" was the only sign of print 
 to be seen on the premises, the mental resources of these stylites appeared 
 not less meagre, although good so far as they went. The Connecticut 
 clock in the entrance-hall also indicated that these recluses took " no note 
 of time," for it was one hour and three-quarters slow. Justice requires 
 me to admit that the lantern itself is mounted in a building admirably 
 adapted to the purpose, and is one of the finest Fresnel lights on any 
 coast, revolving twice a minute, and visible thirty miles at sea : it is also 
 kept in excellent order. 
 
 Setting my easel on the terrace at the summit of the Rock, I devoted 
 several hours to putting on canvas a sketch of the Point and the moun- 
 tain ranges in the background. We then lunched, and launched away 
 for Funchal before the fresh north-east trade -wind which carried us 
 rapidly as far as Brazen Head, when a counter-current of air and a calm 
 forced us to lower our sail and try a " white-ash breeze." We reached 
 Funchal at sundown, after an excursion full of novel pleasure and inci- 
 dent, of which the foregoing is but a mere outline. 
 
 On the following Monday I made an early start on a wirj^ gray horse, 
 and attended b}' a burrequiero, or muleteer, for the ascent of Pico Ruivo, 
 the highest point in Madeira. As the road to the summit from the south- 
 ern side, by Avay of the Torrinhas Pass, was at the time impracticable, 
 which is sa^'ing much in Madeira, it was necessary to cross over to Sant' 
 Anna on the northern side, and ascend from there — a very pleasing alter- 
 native, as it proved, for it carried me through some of the finest scen- 
 ery of the island. Dashing directly upward, we soon gained the Mount 
 Clmrch, and passed into the clouds. Kor was it long before we reached a 
 cooler atmosphere and a resting-house at an elevation of 4500 feet. Not 
 very far beyond we came up with the loft}- summit of Poizo on our right, 
 and the gorge of the Ribeiro Frio, or Cold River, a winding caiion, narrow
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 109 
 
 and thousands of feet in depth, clothed with verdure, beautiful with ex- 
 quisite gradations of light and shade, and festooned with lazy mist trailing 
 from crag to crag. Immediately opposite to where we began the descent 
 rose the central range of the island, the sharply pinnacled group of Ruivo, 
 Arriero, Sidrao, Torres, and Canario ; while to the left the ravine of the 
 Ribeira Metade, next to 
 the Curral the grandest 
 gorge of Madeira, lost 
 itself in the heart of the 
 mountains. The rapidi- 
 ty of the descent almost 
 took away my breath ; 
 but I soon became sea- 
 soned to anything no 
 steeper than this, for the 
 whole road to Sant' Anna 
 was very much like go- 
 ing over the teeth of a 
 saw lengthwise. Mount- 
 ing by zigzag roads up 
 the sides of a perpendic- 
 idar cliff, we would reach 
 the ridge only to descend 
 at once on the other side 
 by a road perhaps more 
 precipitous, where a mis- 
 step of the hoi'se would 
 plunge the rider into an 
 abyss. 
 
 Often we passed the 
 peasants at work in the 
 fields, which in Madeira 
 are mere narrow shelves on the mountain-sides, which are terraced as 
 high up as 3000 feet, involving an amount of labor and climbing almost 
 beyond belief. So scant are the level spaces that even the threshing- 
 floors are often mere terraced platforms overhanging the precipices. The 
 lungs of the peasantry must, I am sure, be abnormally developed, for men 
 and women alike travel all day up and down these steep ascents, bearing 
 heavy loads on the head, at much more than the average pace of a good 
 walker on a level road in other countries, and with no other aid than a 
 
 VILLAGE OF CAMA DO LOBOS.
 
 110 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 A THREMIING-FLOOR 
 
 stout staff: and merrilv tliev do it, too, without sia^ns of fatio-ue, and sinw- 
 ing as they go. They are a musical race, challenging each other to im- 
 provise as they meet on 
 the road, or chanting 
 while the oxen are tread- 
 ing the wheat ; but it is 
 a very lugubrious mu- 
 sic, resembling snatches 
 of a funeral dirge very 
 dolefully rendered. It 
 is pleasing to the stran- 
 ger chiefly because it in- 
 dicates a cheerful, con- 
 tented spirit, the practi- 
 cal philosophy of a sim- 
 ple-hearted people who live out the celebrated maxim about the folly 
 of exchanging ignorance for wisdom. To practise philosophy is the lot 
 of those who are too ignorant to understand its meaning ; to analyze and 
 preach, but not to practise it, is the privilege of the few whom the world 
 lias seen fit to i-egard as sages. 
 
 The dwellings of the peasantry on the north side of Madeira are gen- 
 erally thatched cabins rudel}' constructed, liaving but one room, divided 
 by partitions of matting. The people themselves are thrifty, but by no 
 means comparable with the Azoreans in personal beauty. They have, 
 especially in the western half of the island, a large infusion of African 
 blood, for slavery once existed there. Their language is a patois of the 
 Portuguese, subdivided into almost as many shades as there are valley 
 parishes — a circumstance sufhciently strange, considering that Madeira 
 has an area of only 240 square miles. The}' speak with a sin-ill rising 
 inflection and a plaintive, pleading tone, M-hicli gives a ludicrously pa- 
 thetic character to the merest gossip or idle banter. 
 
 Cultivation is largely dependent on iri'igation, for while Madeira is 
 not destitute of streams running at all seasons, the water, at its sources, 
 falls from great heights to the bottom of the ravines which radiate from 
 the central mountain group, and, as the arable land is almost entii-ely 
 along the sides of these ravines, the water would seem unavailable ; but 
 the problem has been solved by the displa}^ of considerable daring and 
 engineering skill. The streams are tapped far up near their sources, and 
 diverted into levadas, or channels, averaging fifteen inches in width, mean- 
 dering along the vertical sides of stupendous precipices, and by easy gra-
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 dutioiis coursing; by all the gardens and terraces of tlie island. Sixteen 
 lion IS in every forty days are allowed each landholder for the use of 
 the current dashing past his grounds, and he must be ready to avail 
 liimself of it whenever notiHed that his turn has come ; so that it is a 
 very common circumstance to see a man in his garden at midniglit groj)- 
 ing, glowworm -like, among the beds with hoe and lantern. One of 
 these currents is drawn from the cataract of Raba9al, where one may see 
 accomplished one of the most daring engineering feats of the age. The 
 water-fall is on the north side, and has a sheer descent of 1000 feet at 
 the head of a narrow o:or2:e ; 
 
 for a large part of the year _=^Ha j^,^ L^Ba^i&i^T:, 
 
 it is rather a meagre stream =-*a^^J 3-' 
 
 slipping down the side of the <m=^; 
 
 cliff. The curtain which heie "' ^ 
 
 divides the northern and south - • j5 
 
 ern slopes is but 1400 feet 
 thick; and a native of tlu ^^ 
 island, an officer of engineei-. -^^_ 
 conceived the idea of catchinu 3^£ 
 tlie water in its descent, and ^S 
 by a tunnel conducting it to 
 the south side, where it A\ate 
 most needed. To accomplish 
 the undertaking, it was nece& 
 sary for the workmen to lowei 
 themselves from the edge of 
 the precipice, and thus, sn'^ 
 pended in the air by ropes 
 400 feet from the abyss be 
 low, and constantly drenched 
 by the cataract, these unie- 
 corded heroes labored at then- 
 fearful task. When blastinir, 
 they would swing out and la\ 
 hold of a bush or a crag, and ^ 
 thus await the explosion. A 
 number were killed before the 
 work was completed. At last 
 a trench was excavated in the haixl rock of the cliff, l)y which means 
 part of the water-fall was intercepted and conducted to the tunnel bored 
 
 A GRIST-MILL.
 
 112 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 through the mountain, and thus reduced to service. It is the old story 
 over ao-ain of Pegasus curbed and harnessed to the plough. 
 
 The parish of Sant' Anna is a large, straggling village spreading over 
 a plateau somewhat less broken than the ridges over which I had been 
 riding. As I entered its limits, the road became wider and less precip- 
 itous, often overarched with interweaving shade-trees, presenting many de- 
 licious nooks, with here and there a picturesque grist-mill overgrown with 
 ivy and moss enlivening the still air with its chattering. The thatched 
 huts were also very pleasing, embowered in the foliage of chestnut and 
 bay trees clasped by the creeping arms of grape-vines, and enclosed by 
 hedges of fuchsia and geranium growing in rank profusion. About 
 3 P.M., I alighted at the hospitable gate of Senhor Acciaoly, mine host 
 of the Sant' Anna Hotel, as well as the respected mayor of the parish. 
 Affable in his address, he has in his day entertained many strangers from 
 abroad who have sought the island for health, science, or pleasure. On 
 the pages of the hotel-book are the autographs of Commodore Hull, Sir 
 Charles Lyell, and other celebrities. The hotel is on the brow of a preci- 
 pice 1100 feet above the sea. From its windows may be seen Ruivo to 
 the south, and in the foreground to the eastward the pointed peak of 
 Courtado, which has a sheer descent of 2000 feet to the surf that dashes 
 below. I found myself rapidly becoming accustomed to look at the most 
 tremendous precipices with the familiarity, but, I trust, not the indiffer- 
 ence, of those native to the soil. 
 
 It rained hard during the night, and the next morning the mountains 
 were concealed in compact masses of cloud, to the last degree unpromis- 
 ing of clear weather on the heights. To undertake the ascent of Ruivo 
 on that day seemed a hopeless task. But, about nine, the clouds began to 
 roll up a little, and, contrary to the advice of all, most especially of my 
 grumbling muleteer, who did not care to make the trip — and I did not 
 blame him — I decided that, at any rate, no harm could come from try- 
 ing, while we might, by a bare possibility, succeed in obtaining the view 
 desired. I had not come so far to give up without at least making an 
 attempt to scale the mountain citadel of Madeira. A guide from Sant' 
 Anna accompanied us. Part of the way we had a steep cattle-path, but 
 the rain had made it very slippery, and the panting horse had to be urged 
 hard up the rapid, crooked inclines, in order to hold his footing, and, after 
 a while, not even a bridle-path was to be seen, but he had to pick his way 
 carefully from crag to crag. The fog, in the mean time, was so thick 
 that nothing was visible beyond the ground we trod on. It was often 
 accompanied by heavy showers, and the guide strongly urged our return,
 
 MADEIRA. 113 
 
 but, determined, at least, to stand on the summit of Iluivo, 1 kept on. 
 An isolated row of basaltic columns, joined in a gigantic wall, served to 
 shelter us from the driving rain as we rested at noon, and somewhat dis- 
 consolately discussed our cold chicken and wine. Occasionally, tantaliz- 
 ing glimpses of ragged cliffs and gorges appeared in the gray mist only 
 to disappear in a twinkliug. An hour later I was obliged to leave the 
 horse with the burrequiero, and, with the guide, climb the remainder of 
 the way on foot. Passing through a cleft in the ridge, we gradually as- 
 cended the precipitous sides of Ruivo, threading a tortuous path among 
 enormous heath-trees of a hoar antiquity, dating, perhaps, beyond the 
 dawn of history. Weird beyond description did these antediluvians ap- 
 pear in the ghostly folds of the dripping mist, their limbs and trunks vio- 
 lently distorted and convoluted in multitudinous grotesque shapes, as if 
 here the Dryads and Ma;nads had heard the cry, " Great Pan is dead !" 
 and had been suddenly lixed while writhing in the despairing agonies 
 of dissolution. 
 
 At length the last rock was surmounted, and the guide impressively 
 said — at least it soynded impressive to rae — " Pico Ruivo !" We stood 
 6200 feet above the ocean. But clouds were overhead and beneath us 
 and around us. Kothing but opaque masses of cloud, frantically driven 
 past us by an angry wind, frore as if directly from the frozen north. 
 Closely wrapped in my overcoat, I waited anxiously for some break in 
 the clouds tliat would at least partially repay me for the trouble of the 
 ascent. Half an hour went by, and I was about to descend, when, far 
 below, the clouds seemed to grow thin, and the shoulder of a peak was 
 seen coyly appearing. After this, glimpses of the landscape became quite 
 frequent; then, of a sudden, as if a curtain had been withdrawn at a sig- 
 nal, the clouds parted above, revealing the clear sky intensely blue, and, 
 at the same instant, Ruivo and its group of Titanic companions nncovered 
 their heads and came forth in all their majesty, heightened, if possible, 
 by the mantles of cloud which gathered, fold on fold, in the gorges, deep- 
 enincr bv contrast the a;lorv of the sunlight which illumined the thunder- 
 scarred faces of the upper cliffs, then suddenly seized by the gusts that 
 swept through the passes, surging upward in curling, roseate columns like 
 the steam arising from a vast caldron in the bowels of the earth. Around 
 Ruivo towered Sidnlo, Torres, Torrinhas, Arriero, Canario, and Pico Grande, 
 at an elevation of from 5500 to over 6000 feet, all within a radius of three 
 miles, and cloven to their bases by ravines of stupendous depth. Around 
 the angle of the vertical wall of Torres, the gorge of the Grande Curral 
 das Freiras was partially visible; to the south-east rose the Lamoceiros 
 
 8
 
 114 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Pass and Penha d'Agnia; in the north, tlie Arco of Sjio Jorge ; and around 
 all, only five miles distant, north or south, rolled the ocean, appearing 
 dark sapphire through rifts in the tumultuous array of clouds which seemed 
 let loose in aerial battle over its apparently boundless surface ; for the 
 horizon -line often blended with the sky, and soared far up toward the 
 zenith. Along the verge of ocean, clouds reposed in ranks, gleaming pure 
 as beaten gold, and resembling icebergs at the pole. Never have I gazed 
 upon a scene equalling in sublimity that awful and ovei-powering specta- 
 cle from the summit of Ruivo — a scene to mould the character and stamp 
 its memory on the soul forever. 
 
 How long I should have remained riveted to that spot entranced I 
 cannot tell, if the clouds had not closed over it as suddenly as they had 
 opened, and in an instant all again became gray and dim, as if what I had 
 just gazed upon were but the wild vision of a brain steeped in the subtle 
 fumes of opium. 
 
 On the following morning I was again in the saddle for Funchal, re- 
 turning by way of the Lamoceiros Pass. From the smiling plateau of 
 Sant' Anna we dived into a narrow but beautiful valley, where culture 
 and natu]-e held united sway, and then scaled the steep side of Conrtado. 
 At the summit, I checked the horse to gaze over the superb scenes we had 
 just traversed ; then, turning liis head, I passed, without warning, through 
 a cut in the razor-like smnmit of the ridge, and came with startling sud- 
 denness upon the edge of a precipice falling 2000 feet, with the ocean 
 directly below, but so far down that the roar of the surf reached the up- 
 per air like the echo of voices long missed but still ringing faintly in the 
 memory. The effect was precisely as if one were to open a door to step 
 fi'oin one room to another at the top of his house, and be arrested on the 
 sill by finding himself stepping into space, and the half of his house pros- 
 trate at his feet. Before us rose the rock of Penha d'Aguia, or Eagle's 
 Eyry, a cube of volcanic stone high as Gibraltar, on all sides nearly 
 perpendicular, and projecting into the sea, where three caiions (the Ili- 
 beira Secco, the Ribeira Metade, and the Ribeira Frio) converge and 
 unite their torrent streams. On one side of the Penha is the village of 
 Faial ; on the other, Porto do Cruz — each on a small bay, almost inac- 
 cessible, however, as a harbor, owing to the vast rollers wdiich tumble 
 in at all seasons of the year. From Courtado Peak to Faial the zigzag 
 road was paved with small triangular stones along the face of the cliff, 
 but it was very narrow and frightfully steep ; in fact, the steepest road 
 in the world attempted on horseback, and entirely unprotected by a para- 
 pet. Gradually picking our way down to Faial and across the stony bed
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 115 
 
 of the three torrents around the basis of the Penlia d'Aguia, we came to 
 the romantic village of Porto do Cruz, after climbing a bit of road so 
 steep and broken, it was only by severe and constant application of the 
 whip that the horse was kept on his feet, while the rider leaned well for- 
 ward to retain his seat, and momentarily expected a dangerous fall. 
 
 From this village to the Laraoceiros Pass was a steady, rapid, zigzag 
 ascent of 2300 feet, but the road was wider and in better order. A water- 
 fall, flashing down the mountain-side near the road, added greatly to one 
 of the most magnificent prospects in Madeira. After gaining the Pass, 
 ■we turned to the south side of the island, across the head of the valley 
 of Machico, descending into the green recesses of a glen upon wliose lush 
 grasses the Lotus-eaters might 
 repose content, and dream years 
 away, lulled by the carol of 
 streams wandering under the 
 rustling foliage of aspen, laurel, 
 and chestnut trees. We lunch- 
 ed by a brook-side, and, climb- 
 ing agaiji, reached the elevated 
 table -land of the Santa Serra, 
 overgrown with broom, and en- 
 tirely different from the scenery 
 we had been traversing. After 
 a while we came again to deep 
 ravines, and ascenditig and de- 
 scending, and deviously wend- 
 ins: * the usual mode of travel 
 in Madeira, came to the village of Camacha, where the charming villas 
 gaze on the ocean far below, through the branches of chestnut-groves. I 
 afterward spent two months in Camacha, and can truthfully recommend 
 it as one of the most delightful sunnner residences in the world, and the 
 nearest approach to an ideal paradise I have ever seen. Farther on, 
 Funchal, gleaming like pearl in the slant rays of the setting sun, burst on 
 our view, thousands of feet below. At this point I found a sledge station, 
 and dashed down to the city, over three miles, in fifteen minutes. 
 
 Another excursion, oftener made than any other, because more acces- 
 sible, is the trip to the Grande Curral. The last time I visited it I was 
 en route to San Vincente, and as parts of the road to be traversed are un- 
 
 PEA^AM» HLl AND PfcASANTs 
 
 * "AvavTU Karavra irdpavrd re. Soxjiid. — Iliad, xxiii.
 
 116 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 travelled by horses, I took a hammock. The hammock was stretched on 
 a pole, and shaded at the head by a canopy. The ends of the pole rested 
 obliquely on the shoulders of two stout bearers, who started off at a swing- 
 ing pace between a walk and a trot, which was kept up most of the dis- 
 tance to the Curral, not less than ten miles, with a rest once in three miles 
 at a venda, when ii pour hoire was expected and sometimes obtained. The 
 men showed little sign of fatigue, although, like all Madeira roads, tliis 
 was always np and down steep grades. Soon after leaving the limits of 
 Fnnchal we came in sight of the village of Cama do Lobos and Cabo Gi- 
 ram, a vertical cliff 2185 feet high, bathing its feet in the sea waves. It is 
 the loftiest sea cliff in the world. Leaving this on our left, we entered 
 the Estreito district, which is virtually the wine-growing district of Madei- 
 ra, the slopes being densely covered with vines trained on trellises which 
 often overarch the road. The little wine raised on the north side and at 
 Porto Santo is of inferior quality, and is changed into brandy, which is 
 mixed with the best Madeira. The vine was first introduced into the isl- 
 and from Cyprus in 1425, and the red volcanic soil gave it a flavor which 
 brought it into rapid repute. The Shakspearian student will remember 
 Poins's allusion to it when he says to Falstaff, " Jack, how agrees the devil 
 and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for 
 a cup of madeira!" Until 1852 this noble wine continued to sparkle on 
 the board of those whose cellars contained the rarest wines. In that year 
 the yield was about 20,000 pipes ; tlien, witliout warning, a blight — a fun- 
 gus on the plant and fruit, called the o'kleum Tuckeri — made its appear- 
 ance, and in 1853 the yield fell to 100 pipes! This has continued until 
 within twelve years. The suffe)-ing resulting from the sudden collapse of 
 the wealth-bearing resources of the island w^as beyond computation. Af- 
 ter a wliile the cultivation of the sugar-cane restored a portion of Madeira's 
 lost prosperity. Still later, a way was found of counteracting the spread 
 of the blight, and partially resuming the production of wine. This is 
 done by blowing the powder of sulphur flowers over both vine and grapes, 
 a very laborious process, as may be easily imagined. Madeira wine,^-»a;' 
 excellence^ is made from the mixture of grapes dark and wdiite, and from 
 a light claret color gradually pales into a topaz hue of surpassing richness. 
 Four other sorts are also produced — Malmsey, Bual, Sercial, and Tinta, 
 all excellent. The first is too well known to require further mention; the 
 last, from the Burgundy grape, is a mild, red wine. 
 
 From the Estreito district our hammock-bearers gayly swung us from 
 heischt to heio-ht, under the shade of ancient chestnut forests. At noon 
 we reached the edge of the woodland, and a few rods of steep climbing
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 117 
 
 brought us suddenly to the briidc of a basin of appalling depth. We 
 stood on the edge of the Grande Curral das Freiras, and gazed upon one 
 of the most sublime landscapes on the face of the globe. The form of 
 the valley at once suggests a crater, but geologists assure us that such is 
 not its character. The bottom of the gorge is 2500 feet above the sea- 
 level, while the average height of its vertical sides is over 2000 feet. At 
 the north-eastei-n end ai-e grouped Ruivo, Torres, Sidrao, Canario, and Tor- 
 
 
 PENHA U'aGUIA. 
 
 rinhas, rising nearly 4000 feet above the torrent which courses along the 
 bottom of the canon and slips away to the sea through a cleft too narrow 
 to permit of a road. The ragged ridges and needle-like pinnacles towered 
 rosy-red against a sky of an azure far deeper than is seen in our climate. 
 In the centre of the Curral, on a small green plateau, stands the white 
 Church of Nostra Senhora de Livramente, surrounded by the thatched 
 roofs of a hamlet, appearing at that depth like mites. Of less extent 
 than the Yosemite, the Curral scarcely yields to that in actual grandeur.
 
 118 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 There is the same abruptness of precipice, the same impressive sublimity 
 in the grouping- of peaks, to produce, within a narrow compass, an over- 
 powering effect; the massing of light and shade is perhaps superior, 
 presenting coiiti-asts of terrific strength as cliffs project into space ruddy 
 as living coals in the blaze of sunset, wliile the ravines recede into un- 
 fatliomable depths of Tartarean mystery and gloom. The local coloring 
 is also varied and rich, affording the artist not only chiaro-oscuro and 
 form, but also color, the mnsical or emotional element in landscape. 
 
 From this spot we proceeded somewhat over a mile farther, until we 
 could look into the goi'ge of the Serra d'Agoa, which, in the form of a 
 right angle, runs from the Cnrral to the sea, and is but little inferior to 
 it in sublimity. Winding along a narrow dike, which separates the two 
 gorges, we came to a place where the dividing rock was not over twen- 
 ty feet wide. On either side was a chasm not less than 2000 feet deep. 
 Among so many astonishing views it is difficult to select the llnest; but 
 after surveying about every striking prospect in Madeira, I am inclined 
 to think, excepting the view from Ruivo, that this one is the most impres- 
 sive ; and as few tra\ellers ever go beyond tlie fii"st halt on the edge of the 
 Curral, I most heartily advise them to push on a little farther, to the dike, 
 and to the rock called " Bocclia dos Inaraorados," in spite of the remon- 
 strances of the ham mock -bearers. Skirting the perpendicular, streamy 
 sides of Pico Grande, we descended into the romantic recesses of the 
 8erra d'Agoa, densely wooded with primeval forests of the grotesque 
 and dusky til^ which is found only on this island and the Canaries. The 
 forms and grouping of the castellated peaks, as seen from the venda, 
 where we halted for agoa diente^ is extraoi'dinarily beautiful. From here 
 we again scaled the ridge wdiich separates the northern and southern sides, 
 and, almost falling down the steep slopes of the Pico das Freiras, plunged 
 into the valley of San Vincente, the finest of the cultivated gorges of the 
 island. It is of considerable length, and the sun had already robed the 
 regular bastions, 3000 feet high, of the eastern side of the valley, in golden 
 light, and shrouded tlie walls of the Paul de Serra, 5000 feet high, on 
 the opposite side, in purple gloom, as we passed from stream to stream, 
 and, amidst the mingled music of peasant -gii'ls and cascades, arrived at 
 the inn. The building stood on the edge of a natural terrace, in the cen- 
 tre of a valley whose loveliness beggars all description. On three sides 
 the closely grouped mountains enclosed this idyllic spot with a tremendous 
 forest-clad wall crowned at one end by the pinnacle-like Pico das Fi'eiras, 
 soaring to a height of 6000 feet. Numerous streams tripped their musi(;al 
 journey down this magical valley, while on the fourth side the ocean was
 
 MADEIRA. 119 
 
 seen close at liantl, through a gate-way in the nionntain barrier, tumbling 
 for evermore on the beach with the ceaseless surf of the trade-winds, and 
 chanting a thunderous monotone, sublime and seemingly as eternal as 
 time. My room ovei-looked the mountains and the sea. The floor was 
 covered with beans spread out to dry, but the sheets of the bed were clean 
 and scented with rose leaves laid between them, reminding me of Izaak 
 Walton's Bleak Hall, where the linen was scented with lavender. But 
 the landlord was half fool, half knave, and, like some men of that descrip- 
 tion in other countries who get office, was also corregidor. His wife en- 
 deavored, with well-meant politeness, to make up for what was lacking in 
 the character of landlord and provisions. The latter consisted chiefly of 
 chickens dressed up in various fashions, all equally tasteless. Like most 
 of the poultry served up to tourists in Madeira outside of Funchal, the 
 chickens aforesaid had hardly leai'ued to peep before they found them- 
 selves in the soup-tiu'een. But the tea was good, as it generally is wlien 
 prepared by the Portuguese. 
 
 The next morning we were off for Seixal. Proceeding down the val- 
 ley of San Yincente, we reached the shore through a narrow passage be- 
 tween lava cliffs, and for a mile or two kept on a level with the sea; then 
 the road assumed another character. The northern coast of Madeira is 
 for the most part a perpendicular cliff, divided here and there by ravines, 
 and occasionally presenting a narrow shelf at the base. Nothing like a 
 sandy beach is anywhere to be seen. Until within ten years, Seixal could 
 only be reached by perilous goat-paths over the mountains, or by boats in 
 summer-time. But the road we passed over has been more recently hewn 
 by pickaxe and gunpowder out of solid rock in the vertical face of the 
 cliffs, at an average height of 150 feet above the sea, while the precipice 
 towers many hundred feet above. The road we found wholly without a 
 parapet, and rarely over Ave feet wide ; in some places, between three and 
 four feet only. Occasionally we came to a water-fall having a plunge of 
 1000 feet or more, and the road was then tunnelled under the cascade. 
 I confess to an " awesome feeling " when we came to an angle in the 
 road so abrupt that the hammock-bearers stood on opposite sides, while 
 the hammock actually, and without exaggeration, hung in mid-air over 
 the surf which thundered far below. After that I concluded to get out 
 and walk. Several fatal accidents have occurred here. The road was 
 interrupted by the Ribeira do Inferno, a highly romantic gorge, and then 
 continued of the same character several miles farther to Seixal. After 
 lunching on the porch of the village church, which commands a glori- 
 ous prospect of land and sea, we returned to San Vincente for the night,
 
 120 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 and started next morning for Funchal by way of Ponta Delgada and 
 Sant' Anna, along the sea. Mnch of the road on this day resembled the 
 road to Seixal, never quite so narrow, however, and generally protected 
 by a low parapet, so that it is passable by horses ; but it is much higher, 
 and at Boa Ventura springs suddenly to the height of near 1000 feet, and 
 one must have a cool head when he looks over upon the ocean below. 
 
 Another most delightful trip is to Calheta, the Rabacal (already al- 
 luded to), and Ponto Pargo, at the western end of the island. One can 
 make the excursion entirely by land ; but it is well, at least, to go one way 
 by water, in order fully to realize the tremendous height of Cabo Giram, 
 and to see some of the remarkable volcanic rocks of the southern coast. 
 One should, however, be careful to choose the weather, and have reliable 
 boatmen, as it is impossible to land anywhere if it sliould blow fresh from 
 the southward. At Ribeira Brava I was obliged to lodge in a peasant's 
 hut ; but the view of the sunset from that spot toward Ponte de Sol is 
 well worth the sacrifice. On my return, with a rashness which caimot be 
 lecommended, I started from Calheta with the wind blowing from south- 
 west, and a high surf rolling on tlie beach ; but we hoped the wind would 
 moderate toward mid-day. It did exactly the opposite. There was noth- 
 ing to be done but to run before it under a rag of canvas, the whole rug- 
 ged coast everywhere presenting an unbroken line of raging breakers. 
 The wind followed ns around into Funchal Bay, and it was with some 
 diiiicnlty we effected a landing. But this was in March. Later in the 
 season there is less liability to southerly winds. 
 
 Every day of my residence in Madeira increased my enthusiasm for 
 the inexhaustible variety, beauty, and grandeur of its scenery and the 
 deliciousness of its climate. Four times have I visited it, once i-emain- 
 ing there six months, and rambling over it and painting its landscapes at 
 leisure ; and the more I reflect upon its scenery, the more do I feel that 
 neither language nor pencil can exaggerate the natural attractions of this, 
 the finest of the Atlantic isles. In climate Madeira may well be reck- 
 oned among the Isles of the Blest, for, in a word, 
 
 " The climate's deliciite ; tlie air most sweet, 
 Fertile the isle, * * * much suipassing 
 Tlie praise it bears."
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 121 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 TO ascend this celebrated peak had long been my ambition, as well as, 
 more recently, to discover if the climate and scenery of tlie Queen of 
 the Canaries were equal, not to say siiperioi-, to those of Madeira. I was 
 glad to find the two islands so different that comparison was unnecessary, 
 while I was, on the whole, not disappointed by what I saw at Teneriffe. 
 Althonsh on a far sjrander scale, it resembles Pico Island in the Azores. 
 r>ut the peak of the Western Islands, although but 7615 feet high, has not 
 only been seen one hundred and ten miles at sea by observation, but is 
 often visible for half or two-thirds that distance; while Teneriffe, 5000 feet 
 more lofty, is rarely seen at a distance, especially from the north, owing to 
 
 PLAZA DE LA CONSTITHCION, SANTA CRUZ. 
 
 peculiar atmospheric conditions, particularly after tlie trade-winds begin, in 
 April. It was therefore almost useless for me to strain my eyes to discov- 
 er it on the voyage, although the weather was fine, for the breezy ides of 
 May were against me. But the light near Anaga Point was visible thirty 
 miles out, and the fearfully ragged and desolate volcanic peaks and cliffs 
 of the south-eastern coast were in plain sight close on the starboard beam 
 as we rounded Anaga in the pearly gray of dawn. Ere long Santa Cruz
 
 122 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 appeared on the shore directly ahead, with the mountains rising behind 
 in ever-ascending scale, and at last the extreme summit of the great cone 
 
 called the Piton towered before us, clearly cut against the azure of the sky. 
 As the snn arose, the yellow pumice-stone and snow of the little peak as- 
 sumed a rich roseate hue. The whiteness of the peak gave to it and to 
 the island its name. Thener ife (the white mountain) it was called by 
 the aborigines of Las Palmas, for so it looked to them sixty-eight miles 
 distant. The Piton is also called the Pico de Teyde, a corruption of 
 Cheyde, the Guanche word for hell — a title whose appropriateness is at 
 once apparent to one who ascends the peak. 
 
 The harbor of Santa Cruz is oidy an open roadstead, whose sole pro- 
 tection is the regular character of the winds and climate, and the nature 
 of the anchorage, which is so steep that a vessel cannot drag ashore, al- 
 though she may be driven out to sea occasionally. But even when it is 
 calm, the water of the port is always more or less agitated by the heavy 
 swell rolling in from the trade-winds blowing outside. The landing-place 
 is within an admirably constructed mole. It was here that Lord Nelson 
 made his attack on Santa Cruz, July 14th, 1794, losing an arm in the tight, 
 but winning knighthood for his gallantry and skill. The traveller, on land- 
 ing, is beset by two contrary emotions, caused by the exorbitant demands 
 of the boatmen and the carters, and the immense and rather unwonted 
 relief at finding no custom-house — no officials in dirty livery to turn the 
 contents of his trunk inside out ; that, in a w'ord, although under the 
 Spanish yellow-and-scarlet flag, Santa Cruz is a free port.
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 123 
 
 In 1852 this island, with those adjoining, obtained permission from 
 tlie Home Government to aboHsh all duties on pjoods entering the Cana- 
 ries, provided that they made up any deticit that might result to the rev- 
 enues of the crown from the adoption of this measure. The commerce 
 of the islands since then has been tolerably prosperous, and the importers 
 have thriven on free trade; but lest the advocates of free trade should 
 cite this as a proof of the trnth of their theories, it is only fair to add that 
 the deticit in the national revenues has never been made up, and already 
 amounts to millions, the possible collection of which is held over the peo- 
 ple as a rod of terror, while the taxes have been so increased in proportion 
 by the Home Government as to cause much grumbling among the landed 
 pro})rietors and peasantry. 
 
 The English hotel, I found, had been recently closed for lack of pat- 
 ]-onage. It was therefore with dread that I turned to the Spanish foncla 
 kept by Durvan, adjoining the captain-general's; but I was agreeably 
 disappointed to lind a comfortable and well-sustained hotel. Santa Cruz 
 is not the only place of that name in the Spanish dominions. There are 
 several in the Canaries alone, including two on the island of Teneriffe ; 
 
 ) tnagaPt 
 
 TENERIFFE 
 
 bnt this one is the most important town of the group, numbering some 
 15,000 inhabitants. Las Palmas, in Gran Canaria, contains a larger pop-
 
 124 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Illation, but it is of less relative consequence. Santa Cruz de Teneriffe 
 is regularly laid out on a gradual slope, flanked by very savage, volcanic 
 precipices and ravines, which are not so near, however, as to justify Hum- 
 boldt's statement that it lies un- 
 der a perpendicular wall of rock, 
 unless his words be accepted in 
 a figurative sense. 
 
 Lest the people should forget 
 the name of their city, a massive 
 marble cross stands at the head of 
 the Plaza de la Constitucion, near 
 the jetty. The houses are often 
 of only one story, and rarely more 
 I than two, though a partial third 
 story is not uncommon in the form 
 I of a tower surmounted by a ter- 
 f, race. The roofs are flat, and offer 
 " a pleasant promenade in the cool 
 of the evening. The two-storied 
 dwellings are in the form of a hol- 
 jii; low square, in Eastern style. One 
 would not suspect this from their 
 appearance on the street. From 
 the outer door, which is always 
 open until late at night, one passes through a passage, corresponding in 
 length with the width of the rooms, to the imier door, which gives into 
 the patio, or court, open to the sky, and frequently planted with bananas, 
 orange-trees, roses, and jessamines. Around the patio on the ground-floor 
 are store-rooms and oflices. The family occupy the next floor, the rooms 
 opening upon verandas overlooking the court. A cluster of small bells is 
 attached to the inner door. When a visitor arrives, he pushes it open ; 
 the bells sound the alarm, and a shrill voice answers above, " Quien ?" 
 (Who is it?) Should there be no bells, the visitor claps his hands. 
 
 As in Las Palmas, there are a number of the lower class who live in 
 caves in the outskirts of the town. The Guanches, or aborigines, were 
 troglodytes. At Gran Canaria remains of stone dwellings still exist ; but 
 the Guanches of Tenerifl^e seem to have been uniformly troglodytes, and 
 the custom of turning the nuraei'ous air- vents, or caves, of this volcanic 
 soil into dwellings has not yet been quite abandoned. Some of them 
 have been improved by face-walls and other " modern improvements," but 
 
 SPANISH SENOltlTA.
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 125 
 
 their essential diameter as cave-dwelliii^s is miclianged. The windows 
 of all the honses in Teneriffe deserve especial mention. A massive frame 
 like a box fits into the aperture, but, unlike an ordinary casement, projects 
 some inches from the wall. The blinds are heavily panelled with square 
 bevels, and in the lower half of each is a smaller blind swinging out from 
 below. This is called the postigo, and plays a most important part in 
 the uneventful lives of the inhabitants, especially the female portion of 
 the connnunity. Is any unwonted sound heard in the street, up go the 
 postigos. Early in the day, women with frowzy tresses and children just 
 out of bed, scarcely awake and entirelj' unwashed, lean languidly on the 
 sill and gaze at the passer-by behind t\\Q postigo. Later in the day the 
 dark -eyed sefiorita, her toilet completed, shoots dangerous glances from 
 behind this convenient ambush, and perliaps drops it suddenly just as one 
 beo-ins to realize the charms it covly reveals. In the eveniuir the lover 
 converses with her, standing under the half -raised blind of the magic 
 postigo, while she, seated on the window-seat, leans her round arm on 
 the sill, and listens to the passionate words he utters in low tones, and 
 perhaps with her fan coquets with another admirer across the street. 
 
 The Plaza de Principe, in the centre of the town, is very pretty, en- 
 closing a fountain, and embowered with plane and pepper trees. It is 
 the great resort on fine evenings, and few others ever occur. A band of 
 music plays very tolerably, although the romantic guitar tinkling in the 
 side streets is more in consonance with the lionr and the clime. One is 
 surprised to see so many handsome 
 ladies in so small a place. They in- 
 variably wear that most graceful of 
 all head -coverings, the mantilla, ei 
 ther black or white, and of lace or 
 silk. The ladies of Teneriffe, having 
 found a graceful costume for the 
 head, are sensible enough to knoH 
 when they are well off, and do not 
 change it. Not until half-past eight 
 does the band begin to play. It con- 
 tinues until eleven, when the " se- 
 renos" take up the cry in turn. This 
 is the humorous sobriqnet applied to 
 the night-watchmen or police, who every half-hour sing out, often very 
 musically, '■'■Ave Mar^'ia purisima P'' then they give the hour, and end with 
 ^'^ Sereno'''' (all serene). Hence the epithet; for so almost invariable is the 
 
 -fr-n 
 
 THE POSTIGO.
 
 126 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 weather, it very rarely occurs tliat it is necessary for the watchnien to 
 alter the cry ; and sometimes when it is actually storming tliey still, from 
 habit, shout '■'• Sereno !'''' 
 
 But to linger long in Santa Cruz when the valley of Orotava is yet 
 unseen and unexplored is unpardonable. An excellent carriao-e-road con- 
 nects the two places, and the distance is about twenty-five miles. Tlie 
 island itself is sixty miles long, and Orotava is on the northern coast. I 
 therefore started one line morning for the valley Humboldt considered 
 the most sublime and beautiful landscape he had ever seen. We began 
 to ascend iuimediately toward the ridge at whose summit, 3000 feet above 
 
 the sea, lies that quaint and 
 sleepy old town, Laguna, of 
 all drowsy places one of the 
 most peaceful and somnolent. 
 It was once tlie capital of 
 the island. Wealth was in 
 its borders. Marquises and 
 counts dwelt there in consid- 
 erable splendor. The ade- 
 Imitado, or first vicero}^, also 
 i-eigned there, and his palace, 
 built over four hundred years 
 ago, still remains. But now 
 the grass grows rank in the 
 streets of Laguna ; the house- 
 leek is abundant, springing 
 from tlie mossy tiles of the 
 dilapidated roofs and the 
 crevices of the foi'saken ja- 
 Irntsies. Statel}' gate- ways are 
 walled up, and " the spider hath woven her web in the palaces of Afra- 
 siab." Yet, owing to her exceptional!}^ cool, moist climate, Laguna con- 
 tinues a resort in summer for those who desire to exchange the parched 
 air of Santa Cruz for a more bracing atmosphere. Even in summer mists 
 and rain are not uncommon there, with abundant breezes; while the cliarm- 
 ing meadow-lands and intervales surrounded by sharp peaks commanding 
 wonderful prospects over land and sea, in the midst of which the little 
 city is situated, afford a limitless variety of charming rambles. But, then, 
 your true Canary Islander is not much of a rambler. A slight infusion 
 of Anglo-Saxon blood is essential to develop the rambling propensity. 
 
 MILK-VENDEKS.
 
 TENERIFFE. 127 
 
 The peasants of Lagniia still retain one of tlie ancient costumes of the 
 island. White drawers cover the whole leg; over these breeches of blue 
 cloth come down nearly to the knee, bound with a scarlet cord, but so 
 slashed or cut away over the hips that the garment really consists of lit- 
 tle more than flaps in front and behind, resembling cuisses of steel armor. 
 Formerly every village had its own costumes, some of them very pictur- 
 esque ; but, exce])ting in the more remote districts, like Chasna and Icod, 
 they are gradually passing away. In sojne of the other islands many cu- 
 rious garbs are still in common use. In Teneriffe the country-women in- 
 variably wear a white cloth over the head and neck, or a shawl extend- 
 ing down the back, evidently to protect the spine from the sun ; over this 
 a straw or felt hat is also de rigueur. The men of the lower classes wear 
 a blanket cloak, that swells out in stiff and unwieldy barrel-like rotundity, 
 and is absurd enough M'hen the mercury is at eighty. The purchase of 
 one of these cloaks is a matter of gi-eat importance, as certain qualities 
 enter into its composition without which it is simply useless to offer it 
 for sale over any counter in Teneriffe. It must be white, white as snow, 
 although immediately after purchasing it the wearer may perhaps fling it 
 into the dirt, and it will never henceforward be other than a ding}' brown. 
 It must have a blue stripe, with a narrower one of the same color on 
 each side near the lower edge ; it must be of uniform thickness — a thin 
 spot would ruin it — and the nap must run one way, and that downward, 
 in order to make it water-proof. These and other conditions are required 
 by the Medo-Persian inflexibility of public opinion among the peasantry 
 of Teneriffe. 
 
 We passed many women carrying on their heads boxes containing 
 the cochineal bug, which they had bought in Santa Cruz, and were taking 
 to the north side to put on the plant. As is generally known, the cochi- 
 neal deposits its young on the leaf of the cactus. The mothers are laid 
 in thin cambric bags, which are then wrapped around the plant and left 
 on until the bug is deposited on the leaf. After reaching maturity the 
 bugs are scraped off, and dried in an oven or in tlie air. Much of the 
 island is covered with cactus, and two crops of cochineal are gathered 
 in many places; but the beauty of the landscape is marred by the un- 
 sightly flelds of cactus bound with M'hite rags. The cochineal, originally- 
 introduced from Mexico by an enterprising priest who suffered much per- 
 secution from the peasants for injni'ing, as they supposed, a i)lant whose 
 prickly pear supplies them with a staple food, became a source of large 
 ])rofit at a time when the disease of the vines cut off the wine crop. But the 
 discovery of aniline colors has greatly reduced the demand for cochineal,
 
 128 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 although they can never altogether supersede the little insect from which 
 are obtained the most exquisite red dyes knowii in modern times. The 
 
 CAMELS AND COCHINEAL-CARklERS. 
 
 deficiency that might result in the commerce of the islands is at present 
 partially made up by an increasing production of onions and potatoes, 
 which ai-e largely exported to the West Indies. The climate allows three 
 crops of potatoes annually. The cultivation of the vine is also in a meas- 
 ure reviving, and perhaps 3000 pipes of various sorts were made at the 
 last vintage. The annual yield was formerly over 30,000 pipes. The best 
 canary is, like most wines of warm climates, strong. It has a rich golden 
 hue and a fine fruity flavor, although inferior to old port or madeira. 
 
 The fig grows in Teneriffe abundantly, producing several excellent 
 varieties. During the season the trees are frequented by the capirote, 
 which nestles in the dense shade, and feeding on the fi-uit, gains inspira- 
 tion for the exquisite strains which the livelong day add the charm of 
 melody to the loveliness that meets the eye at every turn. The notes of 
 the capirote rival those of the mocking-bird and the nightingale in variety 
 and richness, and it can be easily tamed and taught to imitate the notes 
 of other birds ; but this modest, pearl-tinted little songster is so sensitive 
 that all attempts to acclimate it in other countries have failed.
 
 TENERIFFE, 
 
 129 
 
 After leaviiicr Lagniia we saw many palms, sometimes in clusters; but, 
 except at Santa Cruz, they do not produce dates lit to eat. They give an 
 Oriental as})ect to the landscaj^e, which is heightened by the (tamels that 
 one en(;ounters on the road. I>ut camels are less employed in the island 
 than formerly, and, like those of Lancerote, are scarcely tame. It is not 
 nn(;onimon for them to charge furiously upon men, not even respecting 
 their masters. I have heard that people have been killed in the Canai-ies 
 by camels. This certaiidy belies the reputation for meekness that they 
 have earned in Eastern lands. 
 
 Our road beyond Laguna lay by the sea, or rather at a height of 2000 
 or 3000 feet above it, sometimes on the bi'ow of a slo))e ap[)roaching a 
 precipice, or again separated from the deep-blue ocean below by a valley 
 studded with hamlets. At noon we stopped at the village of Matanzas 
 to lunch and bait the horses. Matanza means "slaughter" in Spanish, 
 and the name was given to the place in memory of the severest drubbing 
 the Spaniards ever received, in proportion to the numbers engaged on each 
 side. Jean de Betancourt, a Norman lord, having heard of the distant 
 Canary Islands, and moved by the roving impulse inherited from his an- 
 cestors, s,et out to visit and perhaps conquer them. Finding no French- 
 men ready to accompany 
 
 him, he went to Spain, -=^„ 
 
 where he was joined by 
 a cousin, who induced 
 some Spanish adventur- 
 ers to embark on the gal- 
 leys of Betancoui't. The 
 history of the subsequent 
 conquest by Betancourt 
 and his successors, and of 
 the singular peo})le they 
 found and subdued in 
 those islands, is full of ro- 
 mance and interest. Lan- 
 cerote was the first island 
 seized. Grand Canary 
 was subjugated only af- 
 ter seventy - seven years 
 of heroic defense on the part of a people who M'ere not destitute of some 
 civilization, who displayed many nuignanimous traits of character, and 
 who yielded at last only when their king had been seized by treachery, 
 
 9 
 
 GIlOUl' UV CHIZAS, OK HUTS, NKAlt LAtaiNA.
 
 130 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 and when tlieir numbers were reduced to five hundred. Teneriffe was 
 not even visited until after all the other islands of the group had come 
 under the Spanish yoke. There are grounds for believing that the Fortu- 
 nate Isles, with the exception of Teneriffe, were 
 colonized by exiles of war, expelled from Bar- 
 barj^ in Roman times. Aside from traditions 
 to this effect, there are many dialectic analogies 
 between their language and that of the Berbers, 
 as well as resemblances in customs. But the 
 natives of Teneriff6 differed so much in lan- 
 ii'uao-e and customs from those of the other isl- 
 ands as to throw great doubt on their origin. 
 The colonizing of Teneriffe by such exiles may, 
 however, have been secondary to a previous oc- 
 cupation. In those primitive days communica- 
 tion between the islands was rare, and it is even 
 asserted that boats wei'e unknown there. 
 
 Some stones have recently been discovered 
 in Hierro and Las Palmas bearing S(;ulptured 
 symbols similar to those found on the shores 
 of Lake Superior. This lias led M. Bertholet, 
 the enthusiastic historiographer of the islands, 
 to the conclusion that the first inhabitants of 
 the Canaries and those of the great West were one in race. Although he 
 has arrived at this result rather hastily, as it would seem, when one con- 
 siders the universality of some of the ancient symbols, there is apparently 
 some reason to urge further investigations of the subject. 
 
 Only to the tribes of Teneriffe does the term Guanche apply, although 
 often given to those of the other islands. The island was divided among 
 nine chiefs or kings, and there was a complete organization or feudal 
 system, composed of a wealthy class, and of serfs who took charge of the 
 flocks, which formed the riches of the island. The code of laws, though 
 unwritten, was well defined and strictly administered. One of tlie upper 
 class who so far lowered liimself as to milk a goat was degraded to vas- 
 salage ; but capital punishment was not allowed. Wars were common, 
 chiefly regarding boundaries. The weapons were elaborately carved, and 
 the arrow and spear heads were made of obsidian. The food of all 
 classes was generally gofio^ a palatable mixture composed of wheat, corn, 
 or barley, roasted like coffee. It is afterward ground in hand-mills, 
 and the flour, mixed with water or milk, is then thorouglily kneaded in 
 
 TENEHIFFE COSTUME.
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 131 
 
 a goat-sldii. This dish is still almost universal among the peasantry of 
 Teneriffe. The Guanches drank no cold water for half an hour after 
 eating, to avoid injuring the teeth. After death the Guanche was em- 
 balmed and sewed up in a tanned goat -skin, and deposited in one of 
 the numerous caves with which the island abounds. Four or five mum- 
 mies, one of thera a princess, another the remains of a rjuarnateme^ 
 or chief, of Teyde, in Gran Canaria, are preserved, with a few other 
 Guanche relics, spears, hand-mills, leather pitchers, and the like, in a 
 small private museum which I visited at Tacaronte. But the mum- 
 mies have otherwise been wantonly destroyed wherever found by the 
 peasantrj^, who regard them with superstitious dread. Some were dis- 
 covered in a cave at Santa Lucia while I was at Teneriffe, and were im- 
 mediately broken up. There are mummies still known by tradition to 
 exist in caves on the edges of precipices, especially at Guimar, and inac- 
 cessible unless one chooses to be lowered a thousand feet by a rope. The 
 bodies were thus let down and deposited on ledges in the cave mouth, 
 where they probably remain to this 
 day. 
 
 In 146-1, the Spaniards, under 
 Diego de Ilerrera, lord of Lance- 
 rote, made a landing at Teneriffe. 
 They were peaceably received, and 
 were permitted to remain and con- 
 struct a fort. But the Spaniards 
 having been guilty of a gross breach 
 of faith, the honest Guanches were 
 so irritated that they arose and 
 swept fort and garrison out of ex- 
 istence. Naturally infuriated at the 
 conduct of barbarians so simple as 
 to be exasperated by mere perfidy, 
 Alonzo de Lugo landed one thou- 
 sand men, in 1493, and, as the na- 
 tives were taken by surprise, was 
 able to scour the land as far as Oro- 
 tava. But the chief of that valley 
 
 sent forward three hmidred men under his brother to waylay the Span- 
 iards on their return, while he bestirred himself to rouse the rest of the 
 island. At Matanzas, previously alluded to, the invaders were attacked, 
 and, although armed with mail and arquebuses, they were put to route, los- 
 
 GOAN'CHE MUMMIES AT TACARONTE.
 
 132 THK ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ing not less than six hundred men in the battle, or rather slaughter. On 
 reaching the coast, Alonzo de Lugo was again attacked, and lost one-fourth 
 of his remaining force: he thought himself happ}^ to be able to re-em- 
 bark with oidy three hundred out of the thousand men with which he had 
 landed a few days previously. Nothing daunted, however, Alonzo de Lugo 
 reappeared at Teneriffe with a still larger force; and now the Guanches 
 displayed a counnon sense rare in history. The leading chief of the island 
 reasoned that, although he might be able to cope with tlie army just landed, 
 it must be of little ultimate use; for an enemy who, after such a disastrous 
 defeat, could so soon put a larger army into the field, must by sheer weight 
 of numbers gradually wear out the limited population of Teneriife. The 
 wisest plan, tlierefore, seemed to be to submit while it was still in their 
 power to impose ceitain conditions, of coui'se accepting Christianity, with- 
 out doing which they would all have been roasted. By the influence of 
 this king all the island was brought to submit to the Spaniards. Alonzo 
 de Lugo became adeIautado,\en,y'mg a large posterity to transmit his name, 
 and the Guanches, instead of being exterminated, were absorbed into the 
 Spanish race. But the peasant of the western part of the island still shows 
 the lineaments of a race that peopled tliesc islands before the Goth had 
 issued from the North, or the Saracen from the South, to form, in Iberia, 
 the present race of Spain. Until quite recently, Guanches of purely ab- 
 original blood were still to be found at Chasna. 
 
 While we have been glancing briefly at the history of the conquest, 
 the bony horses, three abreast, and well-nigh devoured by the flies, which, 
 it must be confessed, are sufficiently numerous to amount to a plague in 
 Teneriffe, have carried us past Sausal, where the peak should burst on the 
 sight, revealing its proportions as from no other part of the island. But 
 the peak was concealed in dense layers of the trade-wind cloud, and con- 
 tinued so for ten days after my arrival. This sublime prospect was there- 
 fore reserved for my return, as the final picture in a succession of mag- 
 nificent scenes, which were revealed one by one, during ray sojourn at 
 Orotava. Could I have arranged everything with the purpose of pro- 
 ducing the most effective impression, it could not have been better de- 
 vised. Five hours brought us to the valley of Orotava, although another 
 hour or two was required to complete the journey to the fonda at the 
 puerto^ which could be reached only on donkey or horse back. 
 
 Situated 300 feet above the sea, Mrs. Turnbull's comfortable little 
 boarding-house was perhaps too inconveniently located for transient vis- 
 itors ; but for those who, either for pleasure or health, desire to spend 
 delicious days of poetic indolence gazing on the noble prospect — the
 
 TKNERIFFE. 
 
 133 
 
 mountains and the valley, and tlie sea that lashes the volcanic beach from 
 age to age — a more admirable situation could scarcely have been selected. 
 As regards climate, the temperature at that height cannot be surpassed 
 on this imperfect planet of ours. The trade-winds, which are hardly felt 
 at the sea-level, there impart a reviving coolness to the air of midsummer. 
 Fifty-eight degrees Fahrenheit is the lowest the mercury falls in winter. 
 From sixty-eight to seventy-two degrees is the average height it reaches 
 in summer. In the puerto below, the glass descends to sixty-four in the 
 house in winter, and never rises above eighty. Add to this that the cli- 
 
 ent OJ SAN JUAN OKOIAVA. 
 
 mate is dry — more so than that of the Bahamas or Madeira, both cele- 
 brated resorts for invalids — and the winds moderate. Santa Cruz is gen- 
 erally too warm, although the heat is not so much excessive as steady ; 
 while Lagmia, to which residents of the island resort in summer for a 
 more bracing air, is perhaps too damp and windy for invalids who come 
 from abroad. But Orotava seems to combine all that is desirable from a 
 sanitary point of view for those who are afflicted with pulmonary com- 
 plaints, rheumatism, or neuralgia in its protean forms ; also, perhaps, for 
 those wasting away with that teri'ible malady, Bright's disease, if they can 
 endure the voyage.
 
 134 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 The valley of Orotava is more properly a slope tlian a valley. From 
 the crater of the Canadas a central ridge, called the CuTnbre, runs to La- 
 
 — I gnna, where it is continued by a 
 i-idge of another formation run- 
 ning to Anaga Point. From this 
 ridge, where it meets the Caiia- 
 das, a magnificent bastion, called 
 Mount Tigayga, stretches for sev- 
 eral miles, like a stupendous wall, 
 on one side of the slope, throwing 
 out into the valley buttresses of 
 astonishing grandeur, often near- 
 ly vertical for thousands of feet. 
 On the eastern side another moun- 
 tain, nearly as sublime, bounds 
 the sloj^e. Between these two 
 lateral mountains the celebrated 
 valley of Orotava rises by a very 
 gradual but unbroken ascent from 
 the coast until it reaches the cen- 
 tral ridge, some 7000 feet above 
 the sea. The shore sometimes 
 terminates in abrupt precipices 
 of lava and basalt, or in a rocky beach of slag, whitened for evermore 
 by the surges of the hoarse Atlantic. Three miles from the coast lies 
 Orotava, an ancient-looking town of perhaps 6000 inhabitants. Here are 
 houses quaint with dilapidation and a certain musty air of decayed splen- 
 dor. It is still the residence of several Spanish families of title — counts, 
 marquises, and dons of high and low degree. A church of some architect- 
 ural merit, but incomplete, occupies a prominent position; and some of 
 the gardens of the place are stocked with exotics. 
 
 I observed here a very pretty custom, common in other towns of the 
 island, but seen in its perfection at Orotava. On the fete-days of the 
 Church the streets through which the procession passes are strewn with 
 carpets of flowers. This is done by gathering the petals of various brill- 
 iant flowers into separate baskets. A mould is laid on the pavement rep- 
 resenting the pattern. In one compartment rose petals are dropped, in 
 another marigold, in another violet, and so on. All tlie divisions having 
 been filled w^ith petals an inch deep, the mould is carefully removed, and 
 a most beautiful painting a})pears, magnificent as the richest of stained- 
 
 DRAGON-XREE AS IT WAS.
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 135 
 
 glass windows. Before private houses the ladies sometimes assist in this 
 pious and poetic art, which, as may be easily understood, would be im- 
 possible in a land where Howers are scarce or where the winds are rude. 
 
 In the garden of the Marquis of Sausal stood what was considered on 
 the highest authority to be the oldest known tree in the world, tlie famous 
 dragon-tree of Orotava. Five thousand years was the least age that could 
 be assigned to it. It was over eighty feet high, and of enormous circum- 
 ference, but had been reduced to a mere shell, although still green at the 
 top, and with a possibility of centuries yet before it. The marquis paid 
 no heed to its decrepit condition, and the venerable patriai'ch was left 
 without support. Eight 
 years ago a hurricane 
 swept the island, and in 
 that wild night, while 
 the thunders raged,while 
 the winds screamed over 
 houses unroofed, while 
 ships foundered with all 
 on board, the old dragon- 
 tree that had survived 
 the fall of empires, and 
 the earthquake - shocks 
 and fiery torrents of 
 volcanoes, at last went 
 down. What relic-hunt- 
 ers and fuel -seekers — 
 with shame, be it said — • 
 have left of this patri- 
 arch now lies a mere 
 heap of red bark, and 
 nothing more. The drag- 
 on-tree, so called from 
 its red sap, formerly 
 used as a dye, is com- 
 mon in the Canary Isl- 
 ands, and many very fine 
 specimens of it are to 
 be seen there. 
 
 Below the town is the celebrated botanic garden of Teneriffe, which 
 would be more properly termed a garden of acclimation. Great hopes 
 
 BOTANIC GARDENS, OROTAVA.
 
 186 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 of its usefulness were entertained at its inception ; but a larger experience, 
 and the extensive greenhouses put up more recently in northern climes, 
 have to a degree neutralized its value, although it is still well tended by 
 the intelligent superintendent, Mr. Wilpert. The Puerto de Orotava is a 
 sleepy little place of about the same size as the villa, or upper town, but, 
 on the whole, more cheerful, and with a certain amusing assumption of 
 thrift, not to say bustle, about it during the onion and potato season, when 
 the diminutive mole is piled with the odoriferous bulbs, and the lighters 
 row out through the narrow passage among the rocks, and ride over the 
 heavy swell, upon which the ships pitch and roll in a most uneasy man- 
 ner, mooi'ed by the stern as well as the bow, and with the breakers often 
 just under the quarter. The regularity of the winds makes accidents rare, 
 but I should, notwithstanding, wish a ship well insui'ed if 1 were to send 
 her to Oj-otava for a cargo of onions. The number of ci'osses at the poi-t, 
 in shrines, on the house-walls, or over the gates, is remarkable. 
 
 Three miles to the westward of the port is the Val Taoro, a regular 
 depression of the slope, but with a steeper incline. Ilei-e is the straggling 
 village of Kealejo, very striking and picturesque. The women of this 
 place are more fair and plump than most of the counti-ywomen of Tene- 
 riffe, because, some say, of the wonderful air of the locality, and others 
 because of their Norman descent. In the small church attached to the con- 
 vent of San Francisco there is a carved cedar roof, exquisitely beautiful. 
 
 The flora of Teneriife is said to be exceedingly rich ; this, however, 
 must be taken as implying variety in its botanic specimens rather than 
 such a general luxuriance of verdure as is found in Madeira or Jamaica. 
 The chestnut forests which once covered the valley have been largely cut 
 down to make room for the culture of the cochineal ; and the vestiges of 
 volcanic action abounding on all sides in the form of streams of lava or 
 slag, in dark-brown cliffs and mounds, and numerous walls and huge piles 
 of lava stones, of which the fields have to be cleared before they can be 
 (tultivated, together with long stretches of unsightly cactus or poisonous 
 euphorbia, sometimes give the landscape an air of desolatit)n. But these 
 features are soon forgotten in the grander objects which Oi'otava presents. 
 To appreciate the valley of Orotava, one must give to it weeks and months 
 of passive, reverent observation and reflection. It is not in the minute 
 details, but in its general effect, that it should be regarded, like a painting 
 executed broadly, and leaving the imaginative mind to supply the details. 
 So viewed, the majestic sUipe of Orotava, encircled by the mountains and 
 the sea, wearing on its bosom its cluster of beautiful towns, and robing 
 itself in the vegetation of all climes, offers one of the most remarkable
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 137 
 
 landscapes on the globe, if not indeed the most remarkable. "Whether 
 seen from Icod Alto, on the brow of Tigayga, or from the opposite side, 
 or from the beach, or from the town, it everywhere overwhelms one more 
 and more with its matchless magnificence and sublimity. The last time 
 I saw it from the shore was at sunset. Not a cloud obscured the vast 
 amphitheatre before me. The upper heights were bathed in purple. Be- 
 
 VIEW OF THE PEAK FROM OROTAVA. 
 
 yond Tigayga, far up in the blue, the white cone of the peak towered in 
 regal solitude, a wreath of golden clouds above its head, and seemingly 
 ablaze in the ruddy glow of the sun dropping below the ocean's verge. 
 Purple shadows crept over the lower part of the slope until they grad- 
 ually mantled the ridges of Tigayga and the Canadas. But long after, 
 like a star in the firtnament, the extreme summit of the Piton gleamed 
 alone in the heavens.
 
 13S 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 From Orotava I made a trip to Icocl, distant twenty miles to the west- 
 ward. The road was remarkable onl}' for its rugged, not to say danger- 
 ous, character. We scaled the lower heights of Tigayga, and, passing the 
 
 village of Gnanche, reached Icod to- 
 ward evening. The volcanic desola- 
 tions through which we had picked 
 our way moderated somewhat as we 
 approached the little place, and it was 
 almost with surprise I found myself 
 in a well-built, picturesque town with 
 considerable pretensions to beaut}'. 
 The situation is certainly very fine. 
 The view of the peak is the chief 
 object of interest at Icod, and one 
 who has never ascended it can ob- 
 tain a better idea of the cone from 
 Icod than from the valley of Oro- 
 tava. There is in the garden adjoin- 
 ing the/o7ida, at Icod, the oldest and 
 nol)lest dragon-tree now known to 
 exist. It is in excellent condition, 
 and can hardly be less than 3000 
 years old. Another object of inter- 
 est is the cave of the Gnanches, close 
 to the town. A formidable supply of pitch-pine fagots having been pre- 
 pared, I followed the guide through a crevice so low that one must enter 
 it on his knees. The cave is long, narrow, and winding, generally from 
 ten to fifteen feet high, but sometimes so low that we were forced to crawl. 
 It is also so regular in its width as to seem like an artificial subterranean 
 passage. After walking a third of a mile in darkness, a gleam of light 
 was seen at last, and we reached the other end of the cave. Here it 
 widened to a moderate-sized hall, and remains of mummies were to be 
 seen on the ground and in crevices in the wall. Although there were 
 some dusky rays of light here, there was no exit ; only a low aperture 
 where the light came from, which I was able to reach by creeping face to 
 the ground. I put my head out and found myself directly over a lofty 
 precipice, at the foot of which the ocean dashed with unceasing roar. 
 Burial-place more impressive could hardly be imagined. 
 
 Three miles beyond Icod is Guarachico, which once own-ed the finest 
 harbor in the Canaries, and was a city of commercial importance. But 
 
 -^^ 
 
 PJiASANT SFlNMNO.
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 130 
 
 two centuries ago the town was overwhelmed by volcanic eruptions and 
 the port tilled up with a torrent of lava. A little fishing village now 
 stands where the former port was. Guanche was written on the face of 
 most of the peasants 1 saw in that district. On Corpus Christi Day they 
 were all out, and I had a good opportunity of observing them. It may 
 be added that t\\Q fonda at Icod is very coniforta])le, and visitors are not 
 badly entertained. The return by a lower road along the coast, through 
 the villages of Santa Caterina, La Itambla, and San Juan de la Rambla, 
 was very pleasing. The road, although very rough and stony, offers many 
 .striking views and objects of interest. 
 
 Before leaving Orotava I ascended the peak of Teyde. It was toward 
 the last of May, but still somewhat earlier than it is usnally attempted, 
 and mine was, therefore, the first ascent of the season. The number who 
 go up the peak during the year is always very limited, perhaps a dozen, 
 and generally they are travellers from abroad, who come there expressly 
 for that purpose. The difficulty of the undei-taking and lack of enter- 
 prise deter most of the residents 'from trying it. Tiie muleteer and 
 guide were my only companions. We 
 started at five in the morning. My 
 mule, when I mounted him, acted in 
 a manner that aroused gra\e suspi- 
 cions as to his character, and his snb- 
 seqnent conduct during this and the 
 following day confirmed my suspi- 
 cions. The sumpter-mule generally 
 comported himself with propriety. 
 Not only the mules, but also the 
 horses of Teneriffe, bear a very bad 
 reputation. We passed through Re- 
 alejo up the Val Taora, and for sev- 
 eral thousand feet the ascent was 
 moderate, althongh the road soon de- 
 generated into a rough bridle-path. 
 At a height of 3000 feet we entered 
 the stratum of trade -wind cloud, 
 which continued to conceal all ob- 
 jects from view except those in the 
 immediate vicinity, and at the same time tempered the heat of the sun. 
 This continued up to nearly 6000 feet above the sea, when we suddenly 
 emerged and saw the vast sheet of cloud spread like a snowy table-land 
 
 A PEASANT- WOMAN OF ICOI>.
 
 140 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 between the island and the offing. The entire absence of running streams, 
 and the perfect stilhiess of the air — undisturbed by the music of wood- 
 land water-falls or any other appreciable sound, except now and then the 
 voices of peasants descending the mountain under their loads of brush- 
 wood — became very noticeable soon after we left Realejo. 
 
 Five thousand feet up, we left behind all traces of vegetation except 
 grass and ferns. The ferns kept us company until we reached the stratum 
 of heather, as it may l)e called. After a while the heather became scarce, 
 and the retama began to aj^peai-, until, at a height of 7000 feet, nothing 
 gi'een was to be seen but tufts of retama. The retama is a species of 
 broom peculiar to the Canary Islands ; that of Teneriffe is, again, a dis- 
 tinct kind, found nowhere else, and never there below 6000 feet above the 
 sea. It reminds one alternately of the yew and the cedar, reaching a very 
 good size sometimes, although diminishing in growth as one ascends the 
 mountain. In summer it is covered with clusters of white flowers. 
 
 The approach to the Canadas grew more and more rugged and sterile. 
 Pumice-stone, volcanic rocks, and lava towers became more frequent, until 
 we finally scaled the slope which seemed to keep us still within sight aud 
 sound and reach of life, and entered the vast crater called the Canadas, 
 on the eastern side, where its sides are most broken. The formation of 
 the peak uow for the first time became clear and intelligible to me. We 
 found oui'selves on the floor of a crater ten miles in diameter, thirty miles 
 in circumference, circular, but slightly elliptical, in shape. This floor is 
 covered with yellow pumice-stone, generally level, with here and there a 
 moderate depression, and resembling in barremiess, atmospheric dryness, 
 and concentration of heat a section of the Desert of Sahara. Around it 
 rise the sides of the crater, sufficiently bold to convey the idea of a sur- 
 rounding wall, sometimes springing aloft in splintered perpendicular peaks 
 2000 feet high; the loftiest of them is named Guajara. The soft purple 
 hues of these crater walls and battlements, contrasted with the sea of glar- 
 ing pumice-stone, was very beautiful. Near the centre of the Canadas the 
 gi-eat cone swells abi'uptly with a dome-like outline, suggesting in its pro- 
 portions the peculiar curve of the cupola of St. Sophia, although certainly 
 more steep as seen from some points. The great dome is supported on 
 the east side by the Montana Blanca, a huge mound covered with pumice- 
 stone, rising like a buttress from the Canadas. Yast cataracts of brown 
 and black lava, solidified into permanent forms, corrugate the sides of the 
 peak. The peak or dome rises over 4000 feet above the Canadas, and 
 terminates in another ci'ater, called the Rambleta. Out of the Kambleta 
 rises the little peak of Teyde, or the Piton, COO feet higher, conical, and at
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 141 
 
 an ano-le excessively steep, terminating in a point and a third diminutive 
 crater, above whicli we discerned very distinctly, against the blue sky, 
 thin columns of white vapor shooting up with an uncertain motion, like 
 tongues of white flame from a smouldering tire. 
 
 Such was the scene before us as we entered the Canadas, majestic, 
 solitary, desolate, beyond the power of language to describe. It seemed 
 best, before going farther, to fortify ourselves for the additional labors of 
 the day with a substantial lunch; and in the absence of other shade we 
 took shelter in the shadow of one of the great rocks which strew the Cana- 
 das— a mystery to scientific experts, although nothing seemed plainer to 
 
 PEAK OP TENEKIFFE, AS SEEN ON APPROACHING THE LARGE CliATER. 
 
 me than that they nnist have rolled down from the lava torrents on the 
 slppe of the peak. 
 
 A long and hot, but not tedious, ride over the Cafiadas and the Mon- 
 tana Blanca at length brought us to the foot of the peak, and to a seri- 
 ous consideration of the task yet to be accomplished. Rugged Plutonian 
 ridges of black lava, warmed here and there by brown slag or gleaming 
 in the sun like glass, where a mass, breaking off, had left a smooth surface, 
 rose above us like some Titanic fortress. A very severe climb brought 
 us to the Estancia de los Ingleses, over 10,000 feet above the sea. Here 
 are some rocks so clustered as to afford a shelter, so that it is generally 
 the spot where travellers halt for the night. It has been called after
 
 142 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 the English, because thev furnish the lai-gest number of visitors to the 
 peak. 
 
 As daylight was vet abundant, I concluded to abridge the labors of 
 the morrow by ascending a thousand feet higher and spending the night 
 at Alta Yista, a plateau two or three acres in extent, occupied by Profes- 
 sor Piazzi Smyth when engaged in taking astronomical observations at 
 Teneriffe, in 1856. He spent several weeks on Guajara, and then removed 
 to Alta Vista, where he pursued his labors for a month. The numerous 
 corps of attendants at his disposal enabled him to erect two little huts 
 there; but few vestiges of these now remain to indicate that human beings 
 ever occupied that lonely height. The retania, which had been growing 
 more and more scarce, ceased, together with all other signs of vegetation, 
 soon after we left the Estancia, and we were obliged to carry up bits of 
 dry Tetania to our halting-place for the iire, which Avas indispensable. A 
 fragment of one of Professor Smyth's walls afforded a partial shelter; on 
 the other side a black mass of slag contributed its aid, but i-oof, of course, 
 there was none. The lire was soon going, but the water the muleteers 
 had brought was so muddy that we should have been poorly off for tea if 
 there had not been a bank of snow within a dozen feet of the fire. With 
 melted snow a delicious cup of tea was brewed very soon, but it was 
 noticeable how rapidly it cockled at that height. 
 
 Below us lay the yellow floor of the Cailadas ; beyond that, the stra- 
 tum of trade-wind clouds; and below these, the sea fading into the sky. 
 Around us circled masses of lava presenting an astonishing, singularly 
 gj'otesque variety of form; here a j'idge of Moorish battlements; there 
 a gigantic goat, standing against the sky as if startled and on the alert; 
 then it seemed to be a dragon or a griffin sculptured out of lava that 
 met the eye. As the \'iew was unobstructed toward the east, we saw the 
 shadow of the peak thrown across the sea at sunset, and reaching up to- 
 ward the zenith as the sun declined. The color of the shadow was of the 
 most exquisite purple, delicate and elusive at the edges, but at the same 
 time very impressive. Twilight was soon over, and the full moon sud- 
 deidy appeared. A low wind from the eastward now began to blow, in- 
 creasing until it became a gale, boisterous and gusty, the blasts coming 
 sometimes from every quarter at once, as it seeined to us. This wind con- 
 tinued all night, intensely searching and violent. The muleteers tended 
 the ffre, and bent over it wrapped in their huge mantles. Two blankets, 
 two coats and an overcoat, two pairs of pantaloons, and a carpet under 
 and over me Avere insufflcient to drive away the sensation of cold, and I 
 slept not a wink all night. Soon after 3 a.m. we took some tea, and by
 
 TENERIFFE. 143 
 
 the light of a hintern started for the suiiiiiiit, We entered immediately 
 on the Malpays, which can only be described as a mass of lava blocks, 
 from one to twenty feet long, but generally not above live feet sqnai'e, 
 of all shapes, hea[)ed together like ice hummocks in the most inconceiva- 
 ble manner. Often there were cavities between them, into which one 
 might easily fall sevei'al feet. The stones were piled one over the other 
 to an unknown depth, and great caution was required in springing over 
 them, especially with only the dim glimmer of a lantern to guide us. 
 After climbing up a thousand feet over this volcanic debris, we came 
 again in sight of the little peak, and, passing some vents, thi'ough which 
 issued jets of vapor, emerged on the Rambleta, or second crater, which 
 is covered with pumice-stone. We were soon across this, and grappled 
 with the Piton, which is not less steep than the largest of the Pyramids, 
 but probal)ly contains twice the number of cubic feet. It is about 600 
 feet in height, chiefly of pumice-stone, with bits of rock projecting here 
 and there, and serving as resting-places for the climber. When we were 
 half-way up, the sun burst suddenly above the sea, apparently out of in- 
 stead of beyond it. The variety and beauty of the tints in the lower sky 
 at the time were very remarkable. The peculiar golden -yellow glow- 
 thrown by the sun on the ti'ade-wind clouds directly under it, which lasted 
 for two hours, was such as I have seen under no other circumstances, nor 
 does it appear to have been observed by other travellers. 
 
 This part of the ascent was very fatiguing. Humboldt said that Tene- 
 riife was, with the exception of JuruUo, in Mexico, the most difficult moun- 
 tain he had ever ascended. He did not exaggerate the difficulties. Pro- 
 fessor Smyth rather takes him to task for this statement, unreasonabl}^, as I 
 think, for the professor did not himself undertake it until he had seasoned 
 his lungs to the rarefied air on Guajara for six weeks. He then spent 
 some days at Alta Vista ; and after a capital night's rest, without having 
 wasted his energies on the previous day in climbing, went up to the Ram- 
 bleta. There he ate a hearty breakfast before attempting the little peak, 
 and then, after all this preparation and training, he undertakes to assure 
 us that Humboldt, a veteran mountain climbei", overestimated the difficul- 
 ties of Teneriffe. 
 
 While we were still over one hundred feet from the summit, a gust of 
 wind suddenly wafted the fumes of sulphur so strongly from the crater 
 that for a moment I \vas almost overcome by it ; but as we neared the 
 top, the oppression grew less— a phenomenon I find it difficult to explain. 
 The crater which fitly terminates the celebrated peak of Teneriffe is per- 
 haps seventy yards in diameter, with a rim abrupt and sharp, but rather
 
 144 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 lower on the western side. It appears to be gradiially filling up. Pro- 
 fessor Smyth, twenty years ago, observed that it was more shallow than as 
 described by Humboldt or Van Buck, and the floor seems now^ still more 
 elevated ; I say elevated, for that must be the process, since there is noth- 
 ing from outside to account for the decreasing depth. The different tints 
 of the stones in or on the edge of the crater are varied and beautiful ; 
 but the prevailing colors which strike the eye are the straw-yellow and 
 pale-green of the sulj)hur, which lies in separate masses, or covers the 
 rocks with moist sulphur crystals. Yapor constantly arose from the bot- 
 tom of the crater, and the soil was warm, 
 although a little snow still lingered in the 
 crevices. The wind was keen and violent. 
 The sky above was unclouded, and of a 
 deep azure. This intense hue of the heav- 
 ens has been the subject of philosophical 
 speculation ; but it was not as dark and 
 opaque as I have repeatedly seen it at the 
 top of Pico Puivo, and other mountains of 
 Madeii'a, which have only half the altitude 
 of Teneriffe. Several thousand feet below 
 us the impenetrable curtain of trade-wind 
 cloud was spread like a frozen land at the 
 pole, and like the sea dovetailing with the 
 land, filling every bay and inlet, and dash- 
 ing surf- like against the cliffs, yet calm 
 and noiseless, altering its forms so slowly 
 as to be imperceptible. The higher vidges 
 towered above it like islands, while here 
 and thei-e slopes could be seen below it, 
 but veiled in a dark purple gloom that seemed to isolate them from the 
 rest of the world forever. Beyond this cloud-land arose the edge of the 
 ocean, joining the sky by an invisible line. The trade- wind caused a 
 haze, which concealed several of the Fortunate Isles ; but Grand Canary, 
 Ilierro, Gomera, and La Palma, with its astonishing outline, containing the 
 deepest crater on the face of the globe, were quite distinct. The extent 
 of ocean visible from the Peak of Teneriffe is nearly 300 miles in diam- 
 eter in very clear weather, or about 900 miles in circumference. In win- 
 ter, when other winds prevail, the whole group is distinctly seen ; but few 
 have ever cared to ascend the Peak when deep snows envelop it with 
 almost arctic austerity. 
 
 COSILMK OF PEASANT.
 
 TENERIFFE. 145 
 
 On rehiniing; over tlie Malpays, avc stopped to examine the ice-cave, 
 where, alone on the mountain, snow and water can l)e found at all times 
 of the year. It would seem to be a sort of vent, or air-bubble, in the lava, 
 made when it was at its hottest. On i-eaching our bivouac, we breakfasted 
 as well as the circumstances M'ould allow, and then pa(^ked up the "traps'" 
 and prepared to go. 13ut the unexpected conduct of the mules delayed 
 us for nearl}^ two hours, incredible as it may appear. Tiiree times my 
 mule kicked off his saddle, which, after the girths were torn to pieces, was 
 M-itli great difficulty made fast by a bit of rope. To mount the brute was 
 about as difficult as to saddle him. The sumpter-mule also astonished us 
 by suddenly laying back his ears, throwing up his heels with a snort that 
 was quite satanic in its tone, and, without the slightest provocation, flinging 
 the basket of crockery and provisions over his head. Plates, bottles, and 
 cups were demolished in the general wreck. In order to mount, I had to 
 approach my nnde from his head, and seize my chance when he seemed 
 exhausted with his diabolical efforts. lie might have repeatedly flung 
 me a thousand feet in the air as we descended the precipices of Tiga}-- 
 ga, and eftectually prevented the writing of this veracious record. As 
 he did not thus take advantage of me when I was on his back, it is onlv 
 fair to suppose he had a little conscience left, and he should have the 
 beneflt of the doubt, since I Anally succeeded in i-eaching Oi'otava with- 
 out further mishap than a face burned almost beyond recognition by the 
 winds of the Peak and the scorching sun of the Canadas. 
 
 10
 
 146 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 EARLY in August, I took passage in the little English brig-schooner 
 Clara, for St. Johns, Newfoundland. It was a pleasant morning 
 when we cast off from Long Wharf, and dropped down the harbor be- 
 fore a light breeze, which gradually famied the deeply laden craft out- 
 side of Boston Light. The wind freshened, and everything promised fair 
 until after nightfall, when the heavy curtain of gloom which overhung 
 the land behind us, from whence issued ominous flashes, and the low growl 
 of distant thunder indicated a severe storm travelling along the shore. 
 It was evident after a while, from the increasing vividness of the light- 
 ning and the mist that was encircling us, that we were not to escape a 
 touch of the storm. About midnight the wind struck us with the force 
 of a heavy squall from the south-west. The storm was moving in a circle. 
 We were now past Cape Cod ; so the brig ran for an hour under easy sail 
 before the gale, when, finding the w-ind likely to hold. Captain Byrnes 
 hove to under close-reefed foretop-sail, and fore and main staysails. The 
 sea was rising fast ; but the Clara rode like a duck, dr}' and easy on the 
 seething waters, and about sunrise the force of the gale blew itself out. 
 An observation at noon show^ed us to have been driven, by wind and cur- 
 rents combined, to the south of the " Georges." All sail was now made, 
 and I then had an opportunity to take a quiet survey of the ship's com- 
 pany. 
 
 All on board were natives of Newfoundland, excepting the captain, 
 who was a native of Dublin; a Prussian before the mast — the best sailor 
 on board; and the writer; and all, with two exceptions, w'ere of Irish 
 descent, and good "Romans." I shared the diminutive cabin with four 
 seal-hunters and sailors, who had turned junk-dealers for the nonce, and 
 had just disposed of a cargo of junk in Boston, and were returning with 
 an assorted cargo, part of which — a deck-load of apples — contributed to- 
 ward making the brig roll hard, and so overcrowded the deck that it was 
 a ticklish operation passing fore and aft in bad weather to shorten sail,
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 147 
 
 when blocks and sheets were snapping furiously, and she was laying her 
 scuppers under. A young mechanic, with his wife and another young 
 woman, completed the list oi jirst-class passengers. The young wife was 
 very pretty, but she had a temper rougher than a file, and a sea-voyage 
 did not improve it. To say that the accommodations were of the most 
 limited and primitive character, and that the fare was far inferior to 
 
 THE SPOUT OFF CAPiS BROYLE. 
 
 what is furnished to seamen in the forecastle of American ships, is no 
 exaggeration. Salt junk of the very worst description, and pilot -bread 
 highly seasoned with the flavor of the kerosene oil and tar in the run, 
 formed our diet, with a few potatoes, which soon gave out, and some to- 
 matoes, intended for the owner, but served out to us in small rations as 
 fast as they decayed. The unfailing good-humor of Captain Byrnes, whose 
 broad face presided benignantly at the table which he and the owner had
 
 148 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 conspired to furnish so meagrely, and the Attic salt and Irisli wit of the 
 junk-dealers, were of some avail in covering the deficiencies of the Clara's 
 lockei's. Nothing conld exceed the garrulonsness of these worthy island- 
 ers; and only the flashes of genuine humor and wit which enlivened their 
 talk made their everlasting chatter endurable. Early and late they main- 
 tained the wordy Donnybrook, the endless discussions on questions sug- 
 gested by their own experience regarding salvage, invoices, the riglits of 
 ships as carriers, quirks of marine law, the treatment of wives, and the 
 like — all stale and prosy enough, but rendered novel by the animation, 
 earnestness, dogmatism, and occasional shrewdness displayed, and the 
 strongly marked individuality of the speakers. The debates were always 
 sj)iced by the sallies of Johnnie Feene, who, though usually on the wroTig 
 side of an argument, often, by a neat repartee, threw unexpected confusion 
 into the ranks of the opposition. Amidst a number of pithy sentiments 
 which passed at random from one side to the other, two or three struck 
 me as meaning more than, perhaps, the speakers themselves realized at the 
 time. Said one of the disputants, "Ay, but remember, sur, that New- 
 foundland is two cinturies behind the times;" a strange admission from 
 an old sea-dog, and a Homan Catholic at that, who boasted elsewhere of 
 the influence of Romanism on the island. 
 
 Another said, " Maybe ye're right, but thin there's a gi'eat diiference be- 
 tween justice and law." So there is, my man, thought 1; and bad luck to 
 them that have wrought this divorce between right and intellectual might! 
 
 A third, in reply to the observation, " Shure, but ivery man defers to 
 his own opinion," i-eplied, "And of coorse; for ivery man's mind is a king- 
 dom to him." Now, here was a man who could not be accused of ever 
 having read "Percy's Reliques," or any extracts therefrom, giving utter- 
 ance to this idea in words almost identical with the first line of the beau- 
 tiful piece well known to all lovers of English poetry, " My mind to me 
 a kingdom is." The fact is, that the same thoughts in sinailar language 
 often occur to different minds without collusion, in different ages and 
 countries ; and what critics who have not studied their own or others' 
 mental phases choose to stigmatize as plagiarism, is of much less frequent 
 occurrence than they represent. Indeed, I am inclined to think that very 
 often this charge is made simply that the critic may display his own ac- 
 quaintance with the passage he cites, in pi'oof of the charges so lightly 
 adduced by his officious pen. 
 
 But if there was one topic more discussed hy these junk philosophers 
 than another, it was the supernatural. Eushnell would have found them 
 in full accord as to the reality of the supernatural and its relation to nat-
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 149 
 
 lire; and Robert Dale Owen's "Foot-falls on the Boundary of Another 
 World " contains notliini^ more startling than the weird, mysterious yarns 
 which were nightly told from actual personal experience in the little 
 crowded cabin of the Ckira ; told, too, in earnest tone to listeners who 
 heard with bated breath, and, on occasion, corroborated the truth of the 
 most impossible incidents. By attending with becoming gravity and an 
 air of implicit faith, which, sooth to tell, almost turned sometimes into 
 actual belief, I was permitted to hear the story of many a rare adventure 
 or encounter with the powers of darkness. 
 
 As I listened one night by the smoky lantern, with the gravity of a 
 thorough believer, the captain asked me in a whisper how I could keep 
 
 ENTKANCE TO THE UARBOR OF ST. JOHNS. 
 
 such a sober face, for lie knew I did not believe a word that was said, and 
 he did not believe more than half of it himself. 
 
 "Ah ! but don't you see," 1 replied, " that if I were to laugh, or appear 
 incredulous, it would shut them right up? And I like to hear a good yarn 
 as well as any man." 
 
 One of the narratoi's had fought an hour with the body of a deceased 
 friend ; another had been stopped on the public road to Waterford Bridge 
 l>y a "sperrit" in the shape of a black dog; another had been within an 
 ace of recovering hidden "threasure" from a foundered frigate; while a 
 foui-tli had assisted in drawing "an irron chist of threasure" to the water's 
 edge, M'hen the ghost of a man, who had been killed and buried with it to 
 keep watch over it, suddenly appeared, and, giving him a blow in the face, 
 spirited the chest away, nevermore to be seen by mortal eye.
 
 150 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Johnnie Feene, of course, had his quota of marvels to relate, all of 
 them sufficiently entertaining. One of his stories recounted the experi- 
 ence of a friend who, four years previously, had left his family starving 
 at Bay of Bulls village, and gone to St, Johns in search of employment. 
 Failing of this, he started for home, and was met after nightfall by a 
 black dog, who addressed him, and then assuming human shape, informed 
 him that he was an enchanted person lixed by a spell in a subterranean 
 cavern near the Bay of Bulls, and that his enchantment could only be 
 abated by the entrance of some one sufficiently bold to brave the guar- 
 dians of the cave and cany thence the riches it contained. 
 
 Overjoyed at the suggestion, the fisherman gladly volunteered to accom- 
 pany the enchanted stranger, who accordingl}^ introduced him to a sub- 
 terranean hall, vast, and goi'geous with Oriental magnificence, where the 
 wealth of the Indies lay appaiently at his disposal, and he had it in his 
 power not only to relieve the poverty of his condition, but also to become 
 the most opulent of Queen " Victhoria's" subjects. But suddenly he was 
 assailed by a troop of un\vholeson)e ghouls, who so disturbed his resolu- 
 tion that he fled to the upper air, renouncing possession of the riches in 
 his grasp, and leaving the enchanted man enchanted there forever. 
 
 Very naturally, I was led to conclude that a more behaunted, be- 
 witched, and ghost-ridden country nowhere exists than this same New- 
 foundland, wliich seemed to be an outlying station of Pandemonium, as 
 full of hidden treasures as the old haunts of Captain Kidd, as beset with 
 enchantments as the brain of Don Quixote, as packed with ill-omened 
 spirits as Alloway Kirk. The imagination of these prosaic, storm-beaten 
 old fishermen of Labrador teems with the feverish fancies of a nervous 
 child. The black dog figures in most of their legends, and is evidently 
 the htte noir of the Newfoundlandic imagination. 
 
 But all this time we were sailing toward our destination slowly, but 
 steadily. The dashing tide-rips indicated that we were on the " Georges," 
 " the graveyard of Cape Ann," as those shoals are rightly regarded, and 
 the fishing-schooners dotting the offing showed we were on the fishing- 
 grounds. It is very strange that no light-ship has ever been stationed on 
 these dangerous shoals: many a ship must have met her fate on Cultiva- 
 tor's Ledge, where the depth is but three feet at mean low tide. It is not 
 too late for Government to put np a beacon there, and thus mitigate the 
 perils of one of the sailor's M'orst foes. A south-wester took us toward 
 Sable Island, but the currents seemed to combine with calms to set us 
 nearer a direct line with that island than was comfortable. Somehow the 
 brig failed to make the desired northing, and two successive observations
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 151 
 
 did not allay the difficulty. It happened about this time that I took a 
 trick at the wheel. We were running with the wind just abaft of the star- 
 board quarter, and I noticed that the vessel, being too much by the head 
 and carrying too weather a helm, from the pressure of her large main-sail, 
 ''griped" — that is, had a tendency to fly into the wind — which rather aided 
 in giving us a drift to starboard. On informing the captain of this, he 
 immediately took in the main-sail and gaff-topsail, and kept the vessel away 
 two points. The next observation indicated a very decided improvement 
 in the ship's course, and on the following day we had the satisfaction of 
 seeing in the southern horizon the low globular clouds called wool-packs, 
 which in clear weather hang over the island and show where it lies when 
 too distant to be visible. 
 
 ASCENT TO A " FLAKE." 
 
 Sable Island is the bugbear of the mariners coasting in its vicinity. 
 It is so low that it cannot be descried until close at hand ; and is besides 
 enveloped in dense fogs half the time, and so beset with swift tides and 
 currents as to make it a very treacherous spot. Simply a sand-bank scarce 
 elevated above the ocean level, its sands are constantly shifting and alter- 
 ing its shape ; so easily, in fact, are its sands blown to and fro, that ship- 
 masters who are wrecked there are recommended to make no effort to 
 escape, as the sand will at once begin to gather around the grounded ves- 
 sel and form a breakwater that will enal)le the crew to escape at their 
 leisure. So soft and yielding is the beach that, some years ago, on a quiet 
 moonlight night, a vessel went ashore there so easily that none of the crew- 
 were aware when it happened ; the watch were asleep, including the man 
 at the wheel ; the captain was in his bunk. And there she lay until day-
 
 153 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 light ; tlien the master went on deck, and behold ! his vessel was hopelessly 
 aground on Sable Island ! He afterward received another ship, but con- 
 trived to leave her ribs also bleaching on the same unlucky spot, and it is 
 almost needless to say was not again intrusted with a command. The 
 island is inhabited only by a corps of Government wreckers, who commu- 
 nicate with the main-land once a month, and two or three hundred wild 
 ponies, bred from a stock wrecked there in colonial times. 
 
 From Sable Island we beat up abreast of Canso, and made Scatari 
 Light, at the extreme eastern end of Cape Breton, on the tenth evening. 
 Louisbnrg, or what grass-covered mounds remain of that once famous for- 
 tress, lay hidden in the gloom to leeward, even its light being invisible. 
 The light-keeper had probably gone off to a dance. It was a black night, 
 and unpleasantly calm considering the proximity of the shore, and that 
 the tide was swinging us helplessly toward the rocks, against which we 
 could hear more and more distinctly the deep rote of the long ocean swell. 
 But about nine we heard a wind rushing over the water, which soon filled 
 our sails, and sent us plunging toward Cape Race, three hundred and iifty 
 miles away ; and a race indeed we had of it, running before a stiff breeze 
 under press of sail, rolling gunwale under in the heavy following surges, 
 the porpoises playing around the foaming bow with phosphorescent trail, 
 and not rarely a huge whale starting up and spouting along-side. One 
 line morning a school of eight whales — good-sized fellows — passed close 
 astern, remaining at the surface and tossing smoke-like jets of spray into 
 the air for some time. 
 
 Those who voyage in steamboats, while they gain in comforts suitable 
 to the invalid, lose, on the other hand, much of the zest and flavor of sea- 
 life. Not for them is the adventurous sensation imparted to one who 
 roughs it in a sailing-vessel, and enjoys the variety and excitement which 
 come with the trimming of sails and the management of a ship in a blow. 
 In addition to this, the constant grumble of a steamer's machinery prevents 
 a full appreciation of the solemn grandeur of the ocean, deadening the wash 
 of the waves and the sublime chant of tlie wind in the rigging. For the 
 vovager on the sailing-vessel is reserved that most weird of ocean sounds, 
 the nnittering and shrieking of Mother Carey's chickens — those wandering 
 gypsies of the sea — floating over the water through the gloom of a dark 
 night, like the eldrich laughter of lost spirits. Only on a sailing-vessel 
 can one realize in any degree what the navigators of other days have en- 
 dured, and imagine, as he tosses on tlie buffeting surges, that he is bound 
 with the intrepid Vasco to discover the Indies, witli Columbus seeks to 
 evoke land from an unknown void, with Magalhaens is encircling the
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 15i 
 
 globe, or with Ralcii;'h or Sir Ilninpln-cy Gilbert is traversing the endless 
 spaces of waves to discover El Dorado or quaff at the fountain of youth. 
 On the thirteenth day out we sighted Cape Mary's, and stood all 
 day along the southern coast of Newfoundland. Small fishing-schooners 
 were niiinerous, noticeable for their black sails, dyed in oil and tar to 
 make them durable, which entirely ruins the picturesque appearance usual 
 to fishing craft, and aids to give a melancholy aspect to a shore that is 
 already sufficiently barren and dismal. No other signs of life were visible 
 from dawn until nightfall, except two or three fishing huts, and the light- 
 houses on Cape Pine and Ca23e Race. Having a leading wind^and no 
 fog, we passed within half a mile of the latter, so famous for its ship- 
 
 CAPE RAT. — TELEGRAPH HOUSE. 
 
 wrecks. It is altogether a very cheerful spot, invested with the most 
 agreeable associations. In Trepassy Bay, close at hand, for example, four 
 ocean steamers have been lost, two within a year, with all on board ; and 
 just beyond, scarce a mile north of the cape, is the graveyard on the cliff, 
 where those are buried whose bodies were recovered by divers from the 
 Anglo- Saxon, which struck in a fog, and went down at the foot of the 
 beetling crags. The City of Philadelphia was wrecked not far from the 
 same spot, as well as many other ill-fated vessels. 
 
 Under press of sail we glided up the eastern coast of the island, which 
 welcomed us with a succession of chilling squalls from the high land, 
 which, with but one or two exceptions, is the formation of this part of 
 Newfoundland. There was nothing inviting in the prospect. The rocky 
 shore was like a huge wall falling sheer down most forbiddingly, seamed 
 here and there by deep gulches, at the bottom of which two or three fish-
 
 154 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ernien's huts might be discenied at long intervals. Midway between Cape 
 Race and St. Johns we passed Cape Broyle, a forbidding headland, which 
 is pierced by a cavity called the Spout. In easterly gales the rush of the 
 sea forces the water up like a whale -spout, with a sound of thunder. 
 When we rounded Cape Spear, wliose light is 370 feet above the sea, the 
 scene only became more grand and desolate. Before us, in the north, 
 towered Sugar Loaf, like a stupendous bastion of some sea-fortress ; and 
 as we sheered to the westward, the houses of St. Johns were visible as 
 through a telescope at the end of a deep gulch or channel, scarce two ca- 
 bles'-length in width, guarded on either hand by vast perpendicular cliffs. 
 Signal Hill, on the north side of the entrance, soars to a height of 730 feet. 
 A wheezing little tug came out and towed us through the channel into 
 the snuggest pocket of a harbor in the world, and laid us along-side the 
 wharf of the United States consul, the owner of the brig. 
 
 St. Johns is a place of about 23,000 inhabitants. It straggles rather 
 aimlessly along the water and up a slope, and is a cross between an Irish 
 and an English seaport, and, except as it thereby repi'esents an anomaly 
 belonging rather to the Old than to the New World, offers nothing especi- 
 al W worthy of note. The streets abound with dogs almost as if it were a 
 Turkish city, generally of mongrel breeds, and burdened by a billet of 
 wood hung to the neck, which renders them harmless. So numerous are 
 dogs in the habited regions, and so mischievous to the flocks, that the 
 laws of the island permit any one to shoot them at sight. But while other 
 curs are so common, individuals of the genuine Newfoundlandic stock are 
 scarce, and fetch from eighty to one hundred dollars. The breed is con- 
 sequently guarded with great care, but seems, nevertheless, to be dying out. 
 Kg dog that is not entirely jet-black, and has not the web-foot and dew- 
 claw, is of the unmixed Newfoundland breed. 
 
 The port of St. Johns is small, but, as before observed, well sheltered, 
 and presents in summer-time a bustling appearance, being crowded with 
 vessels of all nations. On entering the passage to the harbor a pungent 
 "ancient fishy smell" informs the stranger what is the trade of the island. 
 The energies of the islanders are devoted to the seal and cod fisheries. 
 Early in March the seal-hunters, as the sealing-vessels are called, put to 
 sea, cutting a way out through the ice if necessarj^, and strike directly 
 for the ice-fields in the Straits of Belle Isle, where the seals congregate 
 in great numbers. From fifty to seventy -five men go in a sealei', their 
 bunks being ranged gallery-like along the hold. Half the proceeds go to 
 the crew, half to the owner or planter. Thirty pounds are a fair average 
 per man, thirty-six pounds being occasionally made in one trip ; and two
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 155 
 
 trips are soinetiines taken in the season, which lasts until May. The 
 sealers are usually brigautincs, and are somewhat wedge-shaped in the 
 
 floor, so that when nipped by the ice, they are raised up instead of being 
 crushed, slipping back into the water when the ice parts. Nevertheless, 
 serious mishaps not rarely occur. Latterly a few screw-steamers, carry-
 
 156 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ing 150 to 200 men, have been introduced; their crews share only a third 
 of the receipts, but the increased rapidity of locomotion enables them to 
 gain equal profits with the other crews. 
 
 The best seals are those called whitecaps, harps, and hoods ; the lat- 
 ter are so named because the males, when attacked, protect their faces by 
 a cartilaginous visor, hard as India-rubber and impenetrable to the spear. 
 Two men are requisite to kill these — one to divert the attention of the 
 seal, while the other thrusts the lance through the throat. The men em- 
 ployed in this business wear snow-spectacles, formed of blue glass, and 
 protected on the sides by a fine net-work of wire, but even thus do not 
 always escape a touch of snow-blindness, which is very common and pain- 
 fully acute. 
 
 The cod-fisheries of Newfoundland are even more profitable than seal- 
 catching. Not only do her fishermen resort to the Banks, but all along 
 the shore in her spacious bays they " till the farm that pays no fee," and 
 the stages and "fiakes," or platforms, for diying the fish are to be seen at 
 every hamlet, crossing above the street like vine trellises in Italy, bearing 
 a fruit less fragrant and graceful, but not less useful — codfish destined 
 for the nourishment of good Catholics the world over, so long as Tuesdays 
 and Fridays and Lent continue sacred to cod. It is interesting, when 
 walking in the suburbs of St. Johns of a pleasant day, to see the women 
 and boys, who cure the fish while the men are gone to sea, driving cai-ts 
 into town from Quidy Vidy, Empty Basket, and other little fishing ports, 
 drawn by diminutive ponies and laden with salt fish ready to be shipped 
 to distant lands. In other countries the peasantry flock to the shire-town 
 with vegetables and fruits, the product of the gardens and vineyard. 
 In Newfoundland it is codfish that the peasantry carry to the market- 
 town. 
 
 And yet, although the profits of the seal and cod-fishei'ies are large, 
 and all on the island are in some way connected with what is virtually its 
 sole business, poverty of the most abject character is the rule among all 
 but a very few. This business is under the control of monopolists, and 
 presents, by the way it is managed, an instructive example of what may 
 result when the sense of mutual interest which should bind capital and 
 labor is forgotten. Twelve men, most of whom reside in England, and 
 carry on the business through agents in Newfoundland, furnish the capi- 
 tal on which the fisheries are conducted ; consequently a large portion of 
 the profits does not remain in the country, but is taken abroad to be dis- 
 tributed elsewhere. But this is a minor evil compared with the iron 
 clutch by which these capitalists hold every fisherman, as it were, by the
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 157 
 
 throat, scarcely permitting liim to draw breath without their leave. Tlie 
 truck system, so powerfully rebuked in Parliament, and working disas- 
 trously in some of the Pennsylvania mines, is in full force in Newfound- 
 land. The capitalists, in return for the iish, pay the fishermen in kind ; 
 that is, furnish tlicm with all the supplies for supporting their famihes 
 or carrying on their vocation, so managing as to oblige them to draw 
 in advance of the profits of the still ungathered crops of fish or seals— a 
 draft on the future— and contrive that the account shall always so stand 
 as to leave the poor fisherman, already rendered improvident by this prac- 
 tice, always in debt, and thus always in the power of the capitalist. In 
 addition to this, the capitalists or their agents meet in a club or Board 
 
 CLEANING FISH. 
 
 of Trade room at stated periods, and arrange among themselves the val- 
 ues to be placed on the supplies furnished to the fishermen in their em- 
 ploy, and from these prices, be they never so high, there is no appeal, 
 nor, from the situation of affairs, is there any remed}^ to be provided 
 against the repetition of the extortion. Gradually, but surely, has this 
 tremendous tyranny gained strength on the island, and, so long as they 
 remain under the present Government, shuts out all hope or power of 
 improvement or progress in the condition of the islanders, or of the devel- 
 opment of the mineral and agricultural resources which Newfoundland 
 undoubtedly possesses in a remarkable degree. 
 
 The island has nearly the superficial area of New England, and yet with 
 a population of only a trifle over 150,000 ; and these, with the exception of
 
 158 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 St. Johns and Harbor Grace, are doled out along the singularly indented 
 and irregular coast in little settlements of half a dozen cabins, widely sep- 
 arated from each other; and even this meagre civilization is confined to 
 the seaboard. Immediately on sticking inland, one comes to the primeval 
 forests of spruce and pine, which are about as destitute of ti'aces of the su- 
 preme Caucasian race as if Columbus had never been born. Half a cen- 
 tury ago, one white man, with an Indian guide, crossed from the eastern 
 to the western coast, and wrote a valuable account of his trip and of the 
 interior wilds ; but no one has followed in his track until within five or 
 six years since, and the deer still migrate unmolested from north to south 
 with the change of the seasons. The few Micmac Indians reniainino- live 
 chiefly along the northern shore. The time is not far distant when a rail- 
 road will traverse the island from Cape Kay to Trinity Bay or St. Johns, 
 connecting with a line of transatlantic steamers. From Cape Ray to Cape 
 North, on Cape Breton Island, it is only forty miles, and travellers afraid 
 of sea-sickness or pressed for time could thus reduce the distance by water 
 between New York and Liverpool 1200 miles. 
 
 The Roman Catholics have, in former time, been in excess of the Prot- 
 estants of the island, and, as elsewhere, have characteristicalh' secured the 
 most commanding site in St. Johns for their cathedral, which is the first 
 object that meets the eye on entering the port, its imposing Italian archi- 
 tecture suggesting similar scenes in the Mediterranean, and its size and 
 position leading a stranger to infer that opulence and numbers are mo- 
 nopolized by the Romanists ; but the exterior is far more showj^ than the 
 interior, which is cold and barn-like, finished off with crumbling stucco, 
 and poorly ornamented with cheap copies after the Masters. 
 
 The last census, however, showed that the Protestant element is gain- 
 ing, and is now in a respectable majority, chiefly of the Church of Eng- 
 land, but including a fair proportion of Scotch Presbyterians and Wes- 
 leyans. The Anglican Bishop of Newfoundland presides over the most 
 extraordinary diocese in Christendom. The see may almost litei-ally be 
 termed the sea ^ for while it is the largest in limits in the world, it is 
 almost entirely composed of water, and the good prelate discharges his 
 episcopal duties by much traversing of the boisterous Atlantic. New- 
 foundland and the " vexed Bermoothes," with all the waters wide that i-oll 
 between, are comprehended in this episcopate of many miles and few 
 souls, imless we include soles that in the sea do dwell. A schooner-yacht 
 is owned by his reverence, who in the summer visits and confirms his 
 Northern flocks, a third of the coast of Newfoundland being thus circum- 
 navigated by this ghostly yachtsman once a year. The fourth summer
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 159 
 
 he rests from these maritime visitations, and the winters he devotes to 
 the spiritual necessities of the Bernnidas, who evidently receive more than 
 their share of spiritual nourishment. A suffragan bisliop resides at St. 
 Johns, and missionaries, as they may well be called, are set over the fishing 
 hamlets. They take charge of several each, and go from one to the other 
 in fishing-boats, faithfully and patiently doling out the scant store of re- 
 ligion to the poor islanders, and, as one of their number observed to me, 
 " endeavorino; to make ffood Christians of them, or at least good Churcli- 
 men." 
 
 It is supposed by many in the United States that Newfoundland be- 
 longs to the Is^ew Dominion, while others, better informed as to that, but, 
 as would seem, against the best interests of our country, which already 
 embraces all the territory we can take care of for the present, have en- 
 deavored to create a movement in favor of the annexation of that island 
 to the " States." For Newfoundland, at least, it would doubtless prove 
 an advance on her condition as it is now, split by rival factions and 
 under the control of monopolists, who repress the energies of the people 
 and prevent the improvement of the vast mineral resources of the island. 
 Tliere are two political parties there, strongly divided on the question 
 of confederation with the New Dominion, a measure which could only 
 result to the ultimate advantage of the islanders. So it is properly re- 
 garded by the best citizens, but they are unfortunately still in the minor- 
 ity ; and such is the ignorance of the masses, that they are, of course, nn- 
 der the guidance of pestilent demagogues, those curses inevitably attend- 
 ant on democracy in all ages, who, for the accomplishment of their selfish 
 ends, give currency to the most amazing stories against Canada, so incred- 
 ible that I refrain from repeating them here, yet not too incredible for 
 the credulity of those for whose benefit they are manufactured. The 
 elections are attended by much excitement and corruption, and the intel- 
 ligence and integrity of the Legislature are not above suspicion. Lowell's 
 "New Priest of Conception Bay" gives a vivid idea of certain phases of 
 life in Newfoundland. The lower classes are generally a very rough set, 
 especially on the southern coast, and, if we may trust the statements of 
 some of the clergy, an infusion of practical Christianity into the morals of 
 the people is one of the demands of the island. 
 
 There is some attempt at popular education on the part of the Gov- 
 ernment, but, judging from the intelligence of the popular mind, wisdom 
 will not die with the Newfoundlanders. Tliere is a reading-room at St. 
 Johns, for the free use of which I here tender my grateful acknowledg- 
 ments; but communication with the outside world is at best but scanty.
 
 160 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 The United States press is represented in the book-stores by tlie most 
 vii]o-ar of the New York weekhes, which may account for the not unrea- 
 sonable opinion expressed to me by a usually well-informed clergyman, 
 that he supposed " the United States was governed entirely by mob law." 
 Tlie papers of St. Johns are of a contemptible character; the telegraphic 
 news they contain is much garbled, and, what seems extraordinary, con- 
 sidering the near vicinity of Heart's Content — the terminus of the cable — 
 is obtained by way of Boston and Halifax, several days after date ! Mail 
 communication is maintained with Halifax, and the rest of the world 
 thereby, once or twice monthly by steam-packet. Considering how rarely 
 the mails have to be made up and distributed, the post-othce might almost 
 seem a sinecure, and yet it will excite a smile to learn that the postal 
 ofhcials have been known to complain of overwork ! 
 
 After all, 1 found it pleasant to be quiet a while, and free from the 
 turmoil and confusion, the constant hurry of events, the swift-recurring 
 rush of telegrams, the fever of life in the nineteenth century, and to live 
 over a bit of "still life," somewliat as it was" in some retired English sea- 
 faring town seventy years ago. And while one can hardly consider New- 
 foundland, with its pale sunliglit and sere plains, solitary forests and in- 
 frequent mails, altogether the place to live in, yet it is well worth a visit. 
 Its aboriginal scenery, unexplored wastes, quaint capital, curious fishing- 
 ports, frowning coast, legendary lore, hospitable folk, and blooming lassies 
 with eyes of brinnning blue, cheeks mantling with the roses of health, 
 plump, trim figures, and elastic step, and its unusual fishing and hunting 
 advantages for sportsmen, present a variety of attractions adapted to in- 
 terest and please the stranger, and store his memory with delightful recol- 
 lections.
 
 THE BERMUDAS- 
 
 IGl 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 SEVEX hundred and seventy miles south-east from New York, in the 
 Latitude of Charleston, and the other side of the Gulf Stream, to 
 which we are indebted for a variety of ill-natured weather, lies the cele- 
 brated cluster of islets called the Bermudas. Having been long desirous 
 of seeing them, I was duly exultant when I at last held in my hand the 
 ticket of the " Quebec and Gulf Ports Steamship Company," entitling 
 me to a berth in the steamship Canima. We left the wharf on a Thurs- 
 day, at 3 P.M., and made the land on Monday morning at 3 a.m. Steer- 
 ing around the southern side of the islands, we entered the narrow chan- 
 nel north of St. George's, and, passing inside of the reefs, meandered among 
 islets and hidden shelves until we 
 came to Hamilton, by one of the 
 most tortuous and difficult channels 
 ever attempted by a vessel. 
 
 Once within the basin forming 
 the port of Hamilton, we found our-
 
 162 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 
 selves in a lovely, landlocked lake, girt with a diadem of miniature isles, 
 and the white-roofed and latticed cottages and palms of the little capital 
 straggling dreamily to the waters edge at the bottom of a fairy-like bay. 
 Dropping an anchor and mooring to it, the Canima was gradually warped 
 to some forty feet from the quay, which she could not reach on account 
 of a shallow, that might be dredged out with a moderate sum and a tri- 
 fling amount of enterprise. The great events in life at Hamilton, aside 
 from the yacht-races and paper-hunts, are the arrivals and departures of 
 
 the New York packet. Accordingly, 
 the pier was thronged with people, black 
 and white, showing on the glaring, 
 calcareous soil like pawns huddled in 
 disorder on a chess-board. Tliere they 
 stood, aristocrats and plebeians, with a 
 sjndnkling of redcoats and jolly men- 
 of-war's-men, chattering and chafting, 
 while we on board also leaned expect- 
 ant on the bulwarks, wondering how 
 we were to get on shore. To land in 
 boats when we were but a dozen yards 
 off seemed preposterous; but no other 
 visible means of getting to land with 
 dry feet seemed to offer. A bustle in the crowd soon indicated a solu- 
 tion of the problem. Ropes flung from the ship were caught on shore 
 and made fast to the outer end of long timbers, which were now pushed 
 out into space by ebony 'longshoremen, until by means of the ropes the 
 oscillating ends were drawn on board, thus causing the timbers to rest 
 one end on shore, the other on board. Immediately a swarm of shining 
 blacks, grinning and yelling, bestrode these beams, holding crossbars, whicli 
 they lashed to the underside of the timbers. It was a novel sight, the 
 double row of litlie, half-clad, darkies, clinging with bare feet to the logs 
 flfteen feet above the water. When the frame had been pi-opcrly lashed 
 together, planks were laid over it, and thus we passed from deck to land. 
 A crane, 1)}^ which a bridge (^onld be lowered, or such a bridge on wheels 
 "as we nse in New York, would be perfectly feasible, and perhaps less cost- 
 ly in the end; but, were any suoli iimovation to be introduced, a riot 
 might result, to which the emeute excited by Demetrius the coppersmith 
 would be trifling, the negroes who put up and take down this rude bridge 
 bawling with " damnable iteration," " This our craft is in danger to be 
 set at naught !"
 
 THE "BERMUDAS. 
 
 103 
 
 I never witnessed a 
 more thorouglily laughable 
 and ridiculons incident than 
 a palaver between a half- 
 breed and a full-blooded 
 Congo on Hamilton Quay, 
 about a cur which the lat- 
 ter had pushed into the wa- 
 ter on a certain steamer- 
 day. Such grandiloquent 
 language, perpetually mis- 
 pronounced, such mock 
 dignity and high sense of 
 personal honor, such ab- 
 surd gestures and rolling 
 of the eyes, such barbaric 
 eloquence about nothing, 
 would bring tears of laugh- 
 ter to the eyes of the Car- 
 .diff Giant. 
 
 The Bermudas received 
 their name from Juan Ber- 
 mudez, who, when driving 
 past in a gale of wind, first 
 sighted them in 1503 ; but 
 no attempt to profit by the 
 discovery seems, to have 
 been made until 1552, wlien 
 Philip II. concluded to as- 
 sume formal possession of 
 the group, and Ferdinand 
 Camelo sailed for Bermu- 
 da with a band of colo- 
 nists. A rock bearing the 
 initials of Camelo, the date 
 of landing, and a cross, still 
 stands near the centre of 
 the island. No other i-elics 
 of this Latin colony exist ; 
 but Henry May, an English 
 
 i
 
 164 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 seaman, wrecked there in 1593, relates that he found an abundance of 
 wild-hogs, a relic of this colony, which have long since been extermi- 
 nated. In 1009, Sir George Somers was on the voyage to Virginia, and 
 was wrecked on the Bermudas, where he died in 1611, and the group is 
 sometimes called after him. At some earlier period, the ubiquitous Cap- 
 tain John Smith, who turns up in all the American colonies at intervals, 
 landed at the Bermudas, and made some startling statements regarding 
 the aboriginal spiders he found there. In the words of an old chronicler: 
 " They could not find by any observations that they [the spiders] were at 
 all pernicious ; yet they are of a very large size, but withal beautifully 
 colored, and look as if they were adorned with pearl and gold. Their 
 webs are in color and substance a perfect raw silk, and so strongly woven 
 that, running from tree to tree, like so many snares, small birds are some- 
 times caught in them. This Captain Smith reports, upon whose credit 
 as greut an improbability as this may be ventured to be related." No 
 such magnificent spiders now inhabit Bermuda, and we must say Captain 
 Smith's testimony on the subject is hardly sufficient to satisfy the scepti- 
 cism of this faithless and unbelieving generation. But some large-sized, 
 although harndess, spiders are there still, which have an uncivil habit of 
 entering one's bedroom without leave and dropping down on the pillow 
 from the ceiling after the light has been blown out for the night. 
 
 Kepresentative government was organized in Bermuda in 1020, the 
 year the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. As the first permanent settlers 
 of the islands were Puritans, impelled thither in search of an asylum for 
 religious freedom, the coincidence is rather remarkable, and worthy of 
 more attention than it has received from the historians. These settlers 
 were for a while great sufferers from a memorable plague of rats as 
 numerous as the swarm which devoured Bishop Ilatto on the Rhine. 
 They were everywhere, and destroyed everything, even swimujing from 
 one island to another. Cats and dogs were of little use in combating the 
 vermin, which fiiuilly disappeared almost as mysteriously as they had come. 
 The cats natui-ally began to pine after that, and they do not seem to have 
 got over it j^et, for a more woebegone, rough-haired, angular, crop-eared, 
 and bob-tailed set of quadrupeds than these felines is not to be found out 
 of Bermuda. 
 
 But, while having nominally a government of their own, with a minia- 
 ture legislature chosen from a few property-holders out of a total popula- 
 tion of 12,000, the Bermudas are in reality a naval station of Gi'eat Britain, 
 under the charge of a military governor appointed by the crown. A gar- 
 rison of two regiments is permanently settled thei'e, and the most advan-
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 1C5 
 
 tageons points bristle with fortifications. On Ireland Island an artificial 
 port has been created by a breakwater, and an extensive arsenal exists for 
 repairing ships-of-war. There is to be seen the famous floating-dock, 
 towed from England in 1SG9. It is 381 feet in length over all. 
 
 Tlie reputation of Bermuda is owing largely to the circumstance that 
 no similar gronp of islands has been visited and sung by so many writers 
 of note. Influenced, perhaps, by the narratives of Captain Smith and 
 Henry May, Shakspeare laid the scene of "The Tempest" on a desert 
 island, and gave a birthplace to Ariel in the "still vexed Bermoothes." 
 
 FLOATING-DOCK. 
 
 Later, Edmund Waller came to Bermuda with the Earl of Warwick, in 
 order to get over his disappointment regarding the Lady Dorothy Sidney. 
 He wrote a spirited poem, entitled " The Battle of the Summer Islands," 
 describing a combat between the Bermudians and certain Ayhales. Amidst
 
 1G6 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 TltlNITY CHURCH, HAJllLTON. 
 
 considerable bom- 
 bast there are a 
 few good lines in 
 the poem ; but 
 the poet gave rein 
 to his imagina- 
 tion, and pictured 
 scenes whose like 
 can only be found 
 amidst tlie rank 
 growth of trop- 
 ical vegetation. 
 Andrew Marvell, the well - known 
 secretary of Oliver Cromwell, has 
 also done his share to bring Ber- 
 muda into prominence by his ex- 
 quisite lines, " The Emigrants in 
 Bermudas," which show that the 
 Puritans were able to compose ad- 
 mirable poetry as well as give "apostolic blows and knocks." In this 
 century, Tom Moore, the jolly bard who translated Anacreon, drifted 
 over to these isles with a commission to the Vice-admiralty Court in his 
 pocket. There was nothing Puritanic about Moore. As soon as he 
 landed, he went to making love and weaving amatory couplets, which 
 were probably no more sincere than most of his verses; for, his poetry 
 to the contrary notwithstanding, he records in his prose that he found 
 the ladies more susceptible than beautiful, while the husbands also came 
 in for a share of unfavorable criticism. He adds, " The philosopher who 
 held tliat in the next life men are transformed into mules and women 
 into turtles might see this very nearly accomplished at Bermuda." The 
 house where Moore lived, the dripping cavern he frequented, and the 
 ragged calabash-tree under which he composed his verses, continue to be 
 objects of rational curiosity. 
 
 Without making comparisons, whicli are said on good autliority to be 
 odious, it may be trutlifully afhrmed that the scenery of Bermuda, althougli 
 never overcoming one with enthusiasm, is, however, alwa3'S pleasing, and, 
 like a choice work of art or a quiet but thoughtful piece of music, has 
 the inestimable quality of improving on acquaintance. Its charms are so 
 subtile that, before one is aware, it has stolen an enduring place in one's 
 affections. I -liave seen islands far more striking and magnificent, which
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 167 
 
 have gained scarcely so stroiii^ a hold upon my memory, or seemed to 
 invite the stranger to return with such singular magnetism. The pome- 
 granate grows abundantly, and its brilliant green foliage, starred with 
 the flame-like splendor of scarlet blossoms, forms one of the most char- 
 acteristic features in a Bermuda landscape. The same may be said of 
 the fiddle-tree and the geranium; while the oleander, growing in lofty 
 groves, and festooned with wonderful masses of crimson-and-white flow- 
 ers, often imparts regal beauty to the rui-al roadside. Variety is also 
 given to the flora by the interweaving of the tamarind, the red cedar, the 
 century-plant, the Surinam cherry, the grape-fruit, the banana, and, wav- 
 ing majestically over all, the queenly palm, a bronze-like shaft lithely 
 swaying in the sea-wind and crowned by an undulating crest of emerald 
 plumes. The mangrove is abundant in the coral coves, its snake-like 
 
 
 ^l^k^^M-^^ 
 
 ^ckA'' _ , 
 
 mooue's calabash-tbee. 
 
 branches twisted together most inextricably over the water, and foi-ming 
 green coves, where the dreamer may suppose sea-fairies dwell, if he be so 
 minded. 
 
 The scientist would probably tell us that there are no such things as 
 fairies, that this scenery and these trees have higher uses than to please.
 
 168 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 and would direct us rather to turn to a serious consideration of the inter- 
 esting geological phenomena of the islands ; and, as he has got us by the 
 
 VII- W FIfOM LK.IIl 111)1 Nt 
 
 button-hole, and, like the Ancient Mariner, is bound to repeat his story, we 
 must listen a few minutes while he tells us that the soil is very thin, and 
 of a red color; that it is already overworked, and constantly demands fer- 
 tilizers ; and tliat it is but a sparse stratum, deposited in the course of long 
 ages on a limestone basis. The most notewortliy characteristic of the Ber- 
 mudas, in the opinion of the afoi'esaid scientist, is their formation. Orig- 
 inally they were nothing but reefs of coral. Gradually the central portions 
 arose above the sea, and then the surf, beating on the outer coral ledges, 
 M'Ore them into sand, M'hich was washed up on the higher parts. Exposure 
 to the weather of an ocean celebrated for the inhospitable treatment it 
 extends to those who court its acquaintance had a hardening tendency, 
 such as the human character undergoes when lashed by oft-repeated, long- 
 continued adversity ; and these heaps of loose sand became indurated into 
 limestone. Nor is the process yet complete ; it is still going on along the 
 southern coast, where limestone in the various stages of formation may 
 ])e seen, from hard rock to softer masses like cheese, and mere shifting 
 hills composed of the disintegrated coral washed up by tlie latest storm.
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 1C9 
 
 These islets number one Imndred, with a large flock of nameless rocks. 
 The main group forms a chain shaped like a fish-hook, from St. George's 
 Island to Ireland Island, and connected by causeways. On tlie northern 
 side they are liedged in by a remarkable coralline reef extending in a 
 semicircle completely across, subtending the arc of the bay lying between 
 these two islands, a distance of twenty-five miles. It is worthy of remark 
 that the Bermudas are in the highest latitude in which coral insects buihl 
 in tlie form of rocks. In heavy weatlier this immense barrier is cruelly 
 terrible, beaten by an unbroken mass of raging breakei-s. As there is but 
 one passage by wliich it can be entered, it serves as an impenetrable che- 
 
 COTTAGE AND GARDEN IN HAMILTON. 
 
 val-de-frise against all ships of the enemy. There is a fine light-house on 
 Gibbs Hill, 362 feet above the sea, and visible twenty-five miles. They 
 need another one, and came to that conclusion a long time ago. But as
 
 170 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 time is the cheapest thing going in a place like Bermuda, it is well to em- 
 ploy a good supply of it in everything that is undertaken there. It costs 
 
 A STREET SCENE IN HAMILTON — THE WHARF. 
 
 nothing, while linrry, money, labor — these things cost; and therefore this 
 additional light-house will not be erected, probably, before the year 1900. 
 
 The islands, in a direct line, are but hfteen miles in length, and never 
 over two miles broad, and generally very nnich narrower, and excessively 
 cut up with creeks and bays ; and yet they gi\e an impression of a much 
 larger area— to such a degree as almost to come within the definition of 
 an illusion. The surface, nowhere over 250 feet high, is always undulat- 
 ing ; and thus one will often find himself in a little sylvan hollow sur- 
 rounded by hills so steep as to give the impression of considerable eleva- 
 tion : they are clothed with cedar groves. On the intervening meadow- 
 lands lies perchance a little pool surrounded by attractive farm-houses and 
 gardens, and a chnrch-spire. One could easily imagine himself in some 
 New England vale hundreds of miles from the sea, w^ien a turn in the 
 road reveals the ocean only a few score yai'ds away ; and the illusion is 
 heightened by the numerous admirable roads running in every direction. 
 A penal settlement existed until recently in Bermuda, and the convicts 
 were employed to hew out of the rock 120 miles of carriage-roads. The
 
 THE BEEMUDAS. 
 
 171 
 
 question is, " If these men had not sinned, would these roads have been 
 constructed; and what would the islands be without these roads?" " Wliat- 
 ever is, is right," says Pope. Not a bit of it ! But in Bermuda let us 
 throw casnistry and physic alike to the dogs. 
 
 Hamilton is a charming little town, doing its best to emnlate otlier 
 English colonies by maintaining an insular aristocracy, and feels as im- 
 portant as if it had twelve hundred thousand instead of twelve hundred 
 souls. Better than all, there is a poetic element, a narcotic property, in 
 the air which invests it, that makes one forget that New York is so near 
 at hand, struggling under the burdens of the nineteenth century. The 
 pretty cottages in the neighborhood, embowered in flowers, are very invit- 
 ing, and seem to offer a nearly perfect combination of rural and domestic 
 attractions. 
 
 Of St. George's I cannot speak so favorably. It seems to present 
 the decay without the picturesqueness, the decrepitude without the re- 
 spectability of old age, and the neighboring shores are less inviting. On 
 St. David's Island, in the port, people are still found who have never been 
 
 sTKEET SCENE IN ST. GEOKGE ; 
 
 off that little islet, and have never seen a horse except in a picture ! Don- 
 keys they have seen, for the good reason that dwarf donkeys are found
 
 172 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 everywhere in Bermuda, trotting in front of niiniatare carts. St. George's 
 was a noted rendezvous for blockade-runners during our civil war, and 
 the depression into which it has fallen is proportioned to the feverish pros- 
 
 
 THE DEVIL 
 
 perity of tliat period. It may be added here that the oft-repeated story 
 of the enterprising hero wlio made several trips from Charleston to Ber- 
 muda, carrying a ton of cotton across each voyage in an open boat, has 
 no foundation in fact. 
 
 The two pleasantest spots in Bermuda are Harrington Sound and 
 Fairy-land. The former is a salt-water lake, or estuarj', surrounded by 
 cavernous shores, and over its delicate green water hovers the poetic pin- 
 tail, reflecting on its downy white breast the emerald tint of the sea. The 
 Walsingham and Joyce caves in the vicinity are well worth visiting, al- 
 though the beautiful pendant stalactites hanging from the Gothic vaults 
 are gradually falling before the blows of visitors, and blackened by the 
 smoke of the bushes burned to light up the gloom of the interior. The 
 Devil's Hole is also a spot where, for an extravagant fee, one may have 
 his curiosity relieved by looking into a pit filled with sea-water through 
 a subterranean channel. • It is surrounded by a high stone wall, carefully 
 protected by a vast quantity of broken glass, although it is difficult to
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 173 
 
 imagine any one so infatuated by curiosity as to try to scale a high wall 
 in order to look into a pool. But there is no glass wasted in Bernnuda. 
 The walls are everywhere so plentifully guarded by a frightfully jagged 
 edge of broken bottles as to lead the stranger to think it must be a very 
 insecure place to live in. It must be admitted that the color of the water 
 at the Devil's Hole is of the most exquisite cobalt hue, shading off into 
 emerald and brown in the shadows, and the azure angel-fish it contains 
 are equally beautiful. 
 
 Fairy-land is topographically the most attractive spot in Bermuda, and 
 should therefore be visited last. Art has done little for it, and Nature a 
 great deal. The main island is here cut up most marvellously into cove 
 and bay, isthmus and peninsula, like the bits of a puzzle-map, and the 
 coves are in turn studded with green islets, reposing in magical beauty on 
 a summer sea. I know of no country villa more admirably situated than 
 the residence of Mrs. Stowe, who courteously allows visitors to walk over 
 lier grounds. Near Fairy -land is Spanish Point, a picturesque rock, with 
 a very fine bit of marine foreground, complete and lovely of its kind ; and 
 beyond this point is a sea-cave reserved as a bathing-house for the ladies 
 of the governor's family. It seems hollowed out on purpose for Amphi- 
 trite and her Nereids. 
 
 CAVES ON THE COAST. 
 
 The admirable facilities for boating at Berniuda naturally cause great 
 interest in yachting. There is a yacht-club, and the Bernmda yachts have
 
 174 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 more than a local reputation. The boats are, however, built on principles 
 that have been exploded by the latest practice. They are a curious com- 
 bination of some of the opposite qualities of English and American yachts 
 
 RAVINE ON SOUTU SUOllE, BEUMUUA. 
 
 at the time of the famous international race in 1851. They have great 
 beam, but it is forward of the centre ; and great di'anglit, but it is aft ; 
 and the keel runs up toward the stem. At the same time they depend 
 altogether upon ballast for stability, and are so heavily sparred that they 
 have to be loaded down with a great weight. Tlie mast is also set so far 
 in the eyes, and has such a rake, that it buries the bow in running, and 
 even wlien close-hauled, thus checking the speed. The only quality in 
 which they seem to me to excel is in going to windward. It is affirmed 
 that some of them can look up within three points and a half of the wind ; 
 but our best sloop-yachts can do the same thing. They are Ijuilt entirely 
 of red cedar, scraped and varnished, and certainly look very coquettish 
 and sauc}'' when under press of canvas. The main-sail is triangular, and 
 boats in racing-trim set masts tw^ice the length of the deck, and carry bow- 
 sprits little short of the length of the keel. They have an absurd rule in 
 racing that the main-sail shall be laced to the mast, and, blow high or 
 blow low, that sail shall not be reduced. As many craft actually go bet- 
 ter sometimes in a sea by a judicious reef or two, even if they can bear 
 more canvas, this system makes racing in Bermuda chiefly a question of
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 175 
 
 foolliardiness, rather than of judgment founded on a knowledge of what 
 each yacht can do under given circumstances. 
 
 I saw a race in the Great Sound. It had been announced for a long 
 time. The two semiamiual yacht-races are great events, and my expecta- 
 tions were proportionately elevated, especially as the Bermuda Yacht Club 
 is under the distinguished patronage of his Royal Highness the Duke of 
 Edinburgh, and the vice patronage of the governor, four major-generals, 
 two admirals, and a vice-admiral. It seemed, therefore, rather a coming 
 down to find that, although every craft that could float was on hand, and 
 almost every one in the town turned out to see the sport and picnic on the 
 islands, there was to be notliing in the race measuring over ten tons, and 
 only seven entries for the first and second races, while only five yachts 
 actually competed, and two of these were but sixteen-feet length of keel. 
 As usual, also, in Bermuda, there was so little punctuality showai in getting 
 on the ground, or rather on the water, selected for the race, although there 
 was a fresh and favorable breeze, that the second race had to be postponed. 
 
 PITTS BAY. 
 
 The quay of Hamilton looked very lively as party after party came 
 down to the water, followed by negro attendants bearing baskets of pro- 
 visions and suspicious-looking bottles, to embark in the jaunty boats wait-
 
 176 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ing impatiently, with streamers flying and main-sails set, chafing like spir- 
 ited steeds. One by one tlie boats received their live freight, the jibs were 
 hoisted, and heeling over to a spanking breeze out of the west, they shot 
 down the bay, their swelling sails gleaming snow-like on the purple sea as 
 they threaded the tortuous channels among the islands, like a long proces- 
 sion of swans. The racing yachts really looked like things of life, newly 
 scraped and varnished, spreading a cloud of new canvas, and burying their 
 lee-rails as they started off with a bone in the mouth. They were, howev- 
 er, not sailed by the owners, but by negro skippers and crews, the owners 
 looking on from other boats, which seemed to me very much like dancing 
 in the Orient, the dancers being professionals hired for the occasion, while 
 the host and his guests look on, instead of dancing themselves. After the 
 racers had started, all the other boats landed their parties on the neighbor- 
 ing islands to dine. A more lovely day or a more charming scene could 
 hardly be imagined. The sea-wind inspirited one like an elixir, and, as 
 we sat under the trees taking our luncheon, listening to the musical play 
 of the surf on the beach, and the breeze in the leaves overhead, and gaz- 
 ing on the reach of lovely azure sea beyond, and the sails dotting the dis- 
 tance, we did not in the least envy the lotos-eaters. When the racers were 
 on the home-stretch to the stake-boat, every one turned out again to see 
 them come in. The scene, as they gibed and rounded the goal, was very 
 exciting; for there was a stiff breeze, the shifting ballast had to be carried 
 over very rapidly, and the danger of capsizing with such a press of canvas 
 was very considerable. The third yacht yielded to the sudden pressure, 
 as she took the wind on the starboard quarter, and gracefully but rapidly 
 lurching, filled and went down like lead, with six men on boai-d. But one 
 by one they bobbed up again like burnt corks, and, grappling with other 
 boats, were soon out of danger of waves and sharks. 
 
 Many varieties of birds frequent the Bermudas, generally such as are 
 found in our woods — the cat-bird, the robin, the bluebird, the scarlet tana- 
 ger, and the brown thrush. The beautiful Virginia cardinal-bird is also 
 very common. The variety and number of singing-birds is indeed one of 
 the most pleasing characteristics of the island. But game-birds, or game 
 of any sort, are too scarce :for mention. The sport -loving Englishman 
 finds this a hardship which he overcomes by artificial means. The reader 
 may remember Hughes's description of the game of hare-and-hounds in 
 his " School-days at Rugby." Something of this sort is the fashion in Ber- 
 muda, and is called a " paper-hunt." Hurdles, intended to be very formi- 
 dable, are laid here and there in the otherwise smooth fields and slopes, and 
 men are sent in advance to scatter a trail of bits of paper. The ladies and
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 177 
 
 gentlemen privileged to belong to what may be called the Bermuda Hunt 
 assemble at a concerted rendezvous, mounted on steeds which are certainly 
 not excelling in the points of a thorough-bred, and then, hurry-skurry over 
 Imrdles and hedges, dash the hunters, following the pai)er trail, until they 
 all finally meet at a selected spot, where a grand bancpiet is served to fin- 
 ish up the bloodless sport. Miss Lefruy, the daughter of the governor, is 
 the Di Vernon of Bermuda. 
 
 The question of meat and drink is one which absorbs even more at- 
 tention at the islands than it does elsewhere. People nmst have liquids; 
 
 INDIA-RUBBER-TREE. 
 
 but, as there are neither streams, wells, nor springs there, fresh water must 
 be caught from the skies ; and every roof in Bermuda is, therefore, en- 
 listed into the service by being tiled with limestone and whitewashed, and 
 the rain-water runs from them into ample cisterns. The houses are con- 
 structed of the soft limestone of the islands, wdiich can be readily cut into 
 blocks with a handsaw when first quarried, but hardens after a few weeks 
 of exposure to the air. Beer is largely imported from England, and once 
 a serious calamity seemed to overhang the devoted islands, when long 
 head-winds kept back a cargo of malt liquors. Daily, with long faces, the 
 
 12
 
 178 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 care-worn Bermiidians came down to the quay to inquire anxiously if the 
 Sarah Jane liad arrived yet. A while since, a universal remedy at the 
 islands for all the ills that flesh is heir to was brandy and salt ; but it is 
 more than suspected that the salt too often came out of the sugar-bowl. 
 
 Bermuda potatoes have a wide reputation with us ; but if the visitor 
 to Bermuda wishes to eat them there, he must carry a barrel of them with 
 him from New York, for they are all exported to that city and Phila- 
 delphia, and sold at high prices as early potatoes, while others are im- 
 ported from New York at a lower price. Meat is also imported fi'om our 
 continent, and when the transport loaded with beeves arrives it is a novel 
 sight to see her land them. Mooring opposite the cattle-yards some lit- 
 tle distance from the shore, an inclined plank-way is placed on the deck 
 reaching to the bulwarks. One by one the oxen are let out from the stalls 
 on deck, or hoisted from the hold, and permitted to walk up this inclined 
 plank. With immense satisfaction that gives almost a human expreseion to 
 the bovine eye, the poor animal looks out once more on green fields, with 
 curiosity toned by placid content, when suddenly a rope is tightened be- 
 hind him so violently that, nolens volens, and without the slightest chance 
 of resistatico, he is hurled into the sea. When he comes up at last, almost 
 suffocated with the salt-water he lias swallowed, lie is towed on shore by 
 two men in a skiff. Some would call it an entertaining spectacle to see 
 a couple of hundred oxen treated in this way. It Mould be ^•ery amusing 
 if we could only be sure that they do not suffer, or that they are destined 
 to some compensation for the torture which they endure in tliis world, 
 under the operation of the inscrutable laws of tlie infinite wisdom. 
 
 I returned to New York in the Bermuda steamer. We encountered 
 very heavy weatlier, and one morning four men were washed off the main- 
 boom when reefing the main-sail. Almost by a miracle they all contrived 
 to grasp hold of some rope or spar, and were saved. The steamer was 
 loaded with tomatoes and onions ; and as the skyliglits and companion- 
 way had to be tiglitly closed, the smell of the onions became almost over- 
 powering, and it was therefore with unwonted relief that I hailed the sight 
 of land.
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MEK. 
 
 179 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BELLE IS LE-EN-MER. 
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MEK is so called, probably, in order to distinguish 
 it from a village in the interior of Brittany, which, for some strange 
 reason, is called Belleisle-en-Terre. Very few besides Frenchmen have 
 heard of this little island, and fewer still know much about it, which is 
 sufficient cause for giving a chapter to it here. It is an islet about ten 
 miles long, off the coast of Brittany, 
 and my attention was drawn to it 
 when I was at Auray. Every one 
 said to me that I ought by all means 
 to visit Belleisle, and as this advice 
 tallied exactly with my passion for 
 islands, it required only about five 
 minutes' deliberation to decide to go 
 there. 
 
 A miniature steamer of forty tons 
 plies daily between Anray and Belle- 
 isle, winds and weather permitting, 
 which is a very important proviso 
 on that bleak, rock-bonnd, fog-hid- 
 den, and tempestuous coast, and, con- 
 sidering the extreme violence of the 
 sea sometimes, especially in the win- 
 ter season, which was exactly the 
 time when I took my trip. It was 
 a gray, sad morning as the boat left 
 the pier at Auray, which is surrounded by groups of exceedingly pictu- 
 resque old buildings. We glided down the Auray River into the Sea of 
 Morbihan, a large landlocked bay, which receives the broad estuaries of 
 Auray and Vannes, and is studded with barren, but picturesque and leg- 
 endary isles. The scenery on the river-banks pleased me more than any 
 
 FISH-WOMEN OF THE MOKBIUAN.
 
 180 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 landscape I saw in Brittany. Oak woods, mossy and venerable, and un- 
 touched by the axe, gave a bit of antique forest-land quite unusual in 
 Northern France. It was entertaining to see the fishing and market boats 
 rowed and sailed by women, rough, stout, and rosy, sometimes a httle 
 touched with liquor, and proportionately jolly, and with only one man at 
 most on board. 
 
 I may mention here that throughout Brittany, owing to the conscrip- 
 tion, the exodus of young men to Paris, or other causes, the women 
 may be seen in the majority everywhere, and in almost all departments 
 of trade. What we call women's rights have been practically adopted 
 in France for centuries, the constant wars having drained the supply of 
 men. The result has been not so much what it is claimed it would be 
 
 
 CiEoAR's TABLE, OR TABLE OF THE MERCHANTS, LOCMARIAQUER. 
 
 if women should obtain what some are pleased to call their rights — that 
 is, the general refinement and improvement of society — but rather the re- 
 verse. I do not blame women for having to labor in the fields, or fishing 
 and digging for oysters, or pursuing any honest means for gaining a live- 
 lihood ; but I always feel sorry for them wlien they are forced to adopt 
 vocations purely masculine, which destroy the natural refinement and 
 beauty that are the peculiar traits of womanhood. 
 
 We passed by Locmariaquer, where some of the most stupendous 
 remains of the Druids still exist, remarkable even in a country which 
 abounds with them like Brittany. One of the largest of these is a dol- 
 men called Caisar's Table, or Dol-ar-Marc'liadourien, which means the 
 Table of the Merchants in Celtic. After passing out of the Sea of Moi"- 
 bihan, we encountered a stiff sou'-west wind, but for some distance were 
 protected by the long, narrow peninsular spit called Quiberon, and the
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MER. Ibl 
 
 adjoining islets of Honat and Iledic. Quiberon extends into the Atlantic 
 like a breakwater, and is exposed to the fall brant of all the gales wliich 
 beset that melancholy coast. It has acquired a terrible celebrity for the 
 events of which it was the scene daring the French Ecvolation. TJiere, 
 June 27th, 1795, an English fleet landed a corps of emigres composed of 
 the best blood of France, spared thus far by the guillotine. They were 
 commanded by D'llervilly, and latterly by Sombreuil, who was the brother 
 of her who quaffed a goblet of human blood daring the massacre of the 
 2d of September in order to save her father's life. Sombreuil arrived 
 with re-enforcements toward the close of the ill-fated expedition, in season 
 to take command, and sacrifice his life for a cause and an army already 
 doomed. The chouans, or peasantry, flocked to the royal standard, and a 
 force of ten or twelve thonsand men was soon collected, which would have 
 swelled to a large array but for the incompetency of D'llervilly. Much 
 precious time was wasted, and when the royalists were at last ready to 
 move, Iloche, the ablest general of the Eevolntion, appeared, and, by a 
 series of masterly movements, hemmed in the invading army, and forced 
 them back on Quiberon, wliere they were caught as in a trap. The fail- 
 ure of concerted movements, caused partially by lack of confidence in the 
 royalist general, resulted in tlie defeat of the emigres near Fort Penthievre, 
 after heroic efforts. Treachery did the rest. Fort Penthievre, the key 
 to Quiberon, was given up by traitors, A heavy gale was blowing when 
 Iloche made tlie final attack, which drove the ill-fated royalists to the 
 extremity of the peninsula, and while some were able to escape to the 
 English fleet, many perished, dashed against the rocks, in that fearful 
 nio'ht when nature seemed to combine with man to increase the horrors 
 of fratricidal war. Nothing was left but to surrender or fight to the 
 last man. Sombreuil, who was in command after the fall of D'llervilly 
 and the dastardly flight of Puisaye, the next in command, advanced be- 
 yond the lines and held a parley with Iloche. A surrender was agreed 
 upon. 
 
 Tallien, the member of the Assembly who had been detailed by the 
 Government to be present to give his sanction to the proceedings at the 
 expected surrender, then returned to Paris with General Iloche, after 
 having given his acquiescence to counsels of mercy. But there the coar- 
 age of both these men gave way in face of rumors concerning their luke- 
 warmness or infidelity to the cause. "With a perfidy which is but partially 
 palliated by the state of affairs, when to be suspected was to be condemned, 
 they both abandoned the prisoners of Quiberon to the tender mercies of 
 the Jacobins, Tallien even descending so low as to suppress an appeal
 
 182 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 he had made in favor of mercy, and to urge the execution of the whole 
 number. The Assembly sent orders that all over sixteen years of ao-e 
 should be shot. The executions were superintended by a tiger named 
 Lamoine, and took place simultaneously at Vannes, Auray, and Quiberon. 
 Every day at noon, for thirty days, the unfortunate captives were taken out 
 by thirties and by forties, ranged facing a deep trench, and shot, and as 
 they fell in the trench they were left, whether alive or dead, and the dogs 
 were allowed to pick their bones. Many atrocities accompanied these 
 wholesale executions. The number murdei-ed is not certainly known, but 
 it was not less than three thousand, and by some it has been placed much 
 higher. 
 
 On getting abreast of the Teignoiise Light, in the channel between the 
 rocks on which it is perched, and the reefs which skirt the little islands 
 
 LE PALAIS, BELLEISLE. 
 
 of Ilouat and Iledic, we encountered a most tremendous and irregular 
 sea, for which this spot is noted when the tide, undertow, and sea-waves 
 conflict with each other. A very stiff breeze was blowing, and the little 
 steamer, although buoyant, buried herself in a w^ay astonishing to behold. 
 They made sail on her as soon as possible to keep her steady, and stood 
 away to the eastward, taking the sea more abeam, until we got under the 
 lee of Belleisle, when we came to on our course, and arrived at Le Pa- 
 lais, the chief place, toward night. I stepped ashore with the proud con- 
 sciousness of being, so far as I could learn, the first American traveller 
 who ever landed on the island. 
 
 When I reached the Hotel de France, I was charmed to find a neat, 
 cheerful hostel, and that an excellent dinner was on the point of being
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MER. 183 
 
 served. The landlord, a man of fair average iutelligenoe, but ignorant, 
 like most Frenclimen, of any other country besides his own, gave me a 
 cordial reception, and said to me, 
 
 "Are you an Englishman V 
 
 "No," I replied, " I am an American." 
 
 "Ah, indeed! And how did you come from America? Did you 
 come by rail ?" 
 
 " No, the railroad is not yet built," I answered ; " so I had to come by 
 steamer." 
 
 tie did not* seem at all abashed by my reply, feeling probably, like 
 many of his countrymen, that what he did not know^ was not worth know- 
 ino- ; in fact, he did not seem at all aware what an absurd question he had 
 asked. Nor was I surprised that he should ask it, as it is the most com- 
 mon thing in the world to find astonishing ignorance among Europeans 
 regarding America, even on the part of educated people. 
 
 Le Palais is situated on a long, narrow port, protected by a mole, and 
 inaccessible at half tide ; but the inner port is always provided by flood- 
 gates with water for vessels of moderate size. The entrance and the 
 whole land side of the town are admirably fortified by massive walls and 
 bastions, designed by Yauban. Ships of any size can ride in the roads 
 in the heaviest weather. Le Palais is entirely a modern town, having 
 been built chiefly during or since the time of Louis XIII. But the island 
 has a history dating back to the earliest periods. It was originally cov- 
 ered with forests, and governed by the Druids, wlio left important monu- 
 ments, most of which have been destroyed. At one time Belleisle was 
 an appanage of Fouquet, the famous prime minister of Louis XIY. 
 
 The chief business of the island has always been the fishery of sar- 
 dines. During the season, which is in summer, many fishermen from the 
 main-land flock to the island, and near a thousand boats, large and small, 
 are engaged in laying the nets. The fish are, for the most part, cured 
 at Le Palais. Besides these boats, a number of extremely picturesque 
 chasses-niarees, or two-masted luggers, admirably efi^ective, whether on the 
 gray-green sea of the Bay of Biscay or in a marine painting, are owned 
 at Belleisle, and are engaged all the year round in dragging for turbot 
 and lobsters. The ship-yard at the head of the port, where these luggers 
 are built, is attractively picturesque, under a hill, and shaded by a grove 
 of lindens, leading to a public promenade. 
 
 Everything here is in miniature, and there is little of tlie very strik- 
 ing or impressive character belonging to many of the Atlantic isles. In 
 a week one can see it all, and yet there is a certain nameless charm about
 
 184 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 it which is both novel and piquant, while the cliffs on the southern coast 
 are often very wild and grand. The climate in winter and spring is 
 milder even than that of tlie main-land of Brittany, besides being more 
 free from fogs, more sunny, more bland. For an invalid nothing can 
 be imagined more agreeable or soothitig than some of the cheerful sunny 
 days of charming little Belleisle during two or three seasons of the year. 
 The prevalence of easterly or land winds and absence of shade in sunnner 
 make it rather warmer than is generally the case on islands, although 
 quite bearable in that latitude, while the line beaches on the north-eastern 
 coast aiford excellent bathing -places, much resorted to by those from 
 France whose means or tastes lead them to avoid Boulogne or Biarritz. 
 
 The island is divided into four parishes: Le Palais, Port Philippe, 
 Bangor, and Locmaria. Each of the three country parishes has a nucleus 
 where the parish church stands, and collects around it tlie peasantry on 
 fete-days and Sundays. Besides this nucleus, the houses of each parish 
 are scattered in little knots, or hamlets, of five to ten houses, a quarter to 
 half a mile apart ; I counted at one time fourteen within a radius of a 
 mile and a half. Port Philippe alone numbers thirty-five of these minia- 
 ture villages. At this place is a harbor with a mole and light-house. A 
 beautiful valley continues across the island from tliis little port to Point 
 Stervrose, a small peuinsula,with a narrow bay on one side, called the Port 
 Vieux Cluiteau, where the largest ships can ride at any tide, but evidently 
 more impracticable in our day than in the time of the Roman conquest, 
 owing, possibly, to a change in the prevailing winds. The plateau of this 
 peninsula has from very early times been called the " Camp of the Ro- 
 mans." Before the invention of cannon it could afford an impregnable 
 position for 5000 or 6000 men — say, a legion. On the sea side tlie cliffs 
 fall vertically over 100 feet everywhere, while the land side is protected 
 by a rampart and trench extending entirely across, perl laps 200 yards; it 
 is excellently preserved, and there is little question of its Roman origin. 
 The coast-line from Point des Paulins westward to Locmaria on the east is 
 very impressive, generally perpendicular, presenting some very remarkable 
 rocks and cliffs, and a notable soiiffieuse near Vieux Chateau. The isl- 
 anders graphically call the south-western shore, where the surf breaks all 
 the year round on the cliffs, " La Mer Sauvage." Mr. Ruskin has some- 
 where inveighed sevy severely against such artists as have dared to present 
 a precipice as actually vertical, or sometimes overhanging, asserting, in 
 his usual dogmatical and vehement manner, that such cliffs never occur, 
 and are impossible in nature. Those who know his style can easily im- 
 agine to what depths of infamy he consigns the artist who has been thus
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MEU. 185 
 
 o-uilty of what this critic considers falsehood. Often have I thought of 
 this passage in my wanderings, when I have seen instances which prove 
 that in this case, as sometimes in others, Mr. Ruskin's statement must be 
 taken as having more rlietoric than truth in it. With a perpendicuhir 
 line for comparison, I have repeatedly proved that it is possible for cliffs 
 to be both vertical and overhanging. At Belleisle I saw the head of a 
 sea precipice overhanging its base in several places, notably at the Port 
 Vieux Chateau. 
 
 In Bangor, near the edge of the cliffs, stands a light-honse, soaring 165 
 feet from the ground and 302 feet above the sea, constructed in the most 
 massive and careful manner, and lighted by a Fresnel- light of the first 
 class. The lantern is tinished on tlie interior with polished slabs of varie- 
 gated marble. It is worth a visit to Belleisle to see this light-house, 
 which is probably the finest in existence, unless we except, perhaps, the 
 one at Cordouan, at the mouth of the Gironde, built by Henry IV., if I 
 remember rightly. The French coast is everywhere very finely lighted. 
 
 The largest and most elegant homestead on the island is owned by M. 
 Trochu, brother of General Trochu, whom he strongly resembles. They 
 are both natives of Belleisle. The house stands a little out of the town, 
 surrounded by a picturesque wood of evergreens. The courteous and 
 hospitable proprietor is interested in agricultural progress, and devotes 
 his energies to raising early market crops. 
 
 My rambles about this choice little isle were chiefly in a rather primi- 
 tive two-wheeled carriage, accompanied by a chatty, good-natured driver, 
 who seemed to know every one we met, and was able to call them by 
 name. The peddler, with his leather leggings and pack of cloths and 
 ti'inkets suited to the wants and tastes of the country women, seemed 
 to be ubiquitous. I met him on the highway, or by the shore, or in the 
 cabaret, and found him, like peddlers generally, garrulous, long-winded, 
 and not likely to die for lack of cheek. When unfolding his goods to 
 a bevy of rosy, black-eyed girls, his unlimited flow of words was often 
 seasoned with flattering remarks and jokes just broad enough to make 
 them blush and giggle in the most entertaining manner. I met him once 
 when I stepped intO' an aiiberge in Bangor to snatch a bit of lunch. The 
 landlady, a buxom widow, had two daughters, whose intense black eyes, 
 raven tresses, and warm brunette complexions, tinged with red, would set 
 an artist raving. They were all having a very merry time of it, bantering 
 over the goods contained in the peddler's pack. lie was rolling out his 
 grandiloquent periods and fluent falsehoods with extraordinary volubility ; 
 but when I called for a bottle of wine and the necessary adjuncts of a
 
 186 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 " pennyworth of bread " and meat, lie developed a sudden and remark- 
 able interest in me. Wliile the widow was spreading the table, he left 
 his goods and came and sat himself down opposite me at the table. 
 " Monsieur, if I mistake not, is a traveller in our fair little island ?" 
 " So it seems," I replied, distantly. 
 
 "An Englishman, perhaps, who, having the leisure and the means 
 denied to so many, wisely devotes his intelligent observation to travel ?" 
 
 I shrugged my shoul- 
 ders, as much as to say, 
 " Have it so if you like." 
 " Now, if you are 
 looking about Belleisle, 
 monsieur, allow me to 
 assure you that I am 
 your man if you wish 
 a competent guide, who 
 kno-svs every legend, and 
 every nook and cranny 
 from one end to the 
 other of the island." 
 
 " I am already pro- 
 vided with a guide. 
 Jean, the driver, knows 
 all I want to know about 
 Belleisle, and he does 
 not talk too much ; he 
 is un brave garcon." 
 
 Not abashed by this 
 rebuff, he fetched a glass 
 unasked, and tasted of 
 my wine. " That is very 
 fair for a vin ordinaire," 
 he said. " I was afraid madame might not have given you her best wine." 
 Finding I could not very well get rid of a varlet-who had made np 
 his mind to lunch at my expense, without causing " a coldness in the 
 meeting," and rather enjoying his impudence, and willing to please the 
 hostess, who seemed to be kindly and polite, I called for another bottle 
 of wine and a plate for the peddler, and soon the conversation became 
 general and very entertaining, the widow and her daughters and my 
 driver joining in the gossip, and a peasant or two who were going by, sit- 
 
 1 Li-iAM-GIKL, BELLtlsLt
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MER. 187 
 
 ting Oil the doorstep or looking in at the window, and contributing their 
 share to the palaver. I noticed in them all, as in the peasantry of Europe 
 generally, simplicity and cunning, gross ignorance, and a quaint, crafty 
 shrewdness clashing, and curiously contrasted. One thing I feel quite 
 certain of, and that is, that country folk are not as such more honest than 
 other people, although honesty and rusticity are often thought to be in- 
 terchangeable terms. 
 
 But the day came which I had set to leave Belleisle-en-mer. I was 
 called before dawn. It cost me a struggle to keep to my resolution, for 
 it was storming furiously out of the south-west. The wind was howling 
 over the roofs of the little town, and the rain was pelting the window- 
 panes ; nor did the prospect seem more cheerful as I went down to the 
 quay in tlie dripping dimness of tlie early morning. Two steamers and 
 several ships were lying in the roads, having run in there to ride out the 
 storm under the lee of the island. Our little steamer was at the mouth 
 of the port. It was not for her to consult winds and weather, when the 
 wind at least was fair, for she carried the mails. We rowed out to her 
 in a small boat, and were soon under way, and the little island was 
 rapidly hidden from us in a dense curtain of gray mist. And now we had 
 a race with the tide. The sea was running from the south-west, and, so 
 long as the tide went with it, was comparatively regular, although high; 
 but just so soon as the tide should turn, the sea would become tumultuous 
 and dangerous, especially in the narrow passage by the Teignouse Light, 
 where numerous reefs and islets tend to make the waves more broken. 
 We crowded on all sail and steam, and passed the Teignouse a few 
 minutes before the tide turned. The tremendous breakers, rolling just 
 under our lee on the savage, bristling reefs, or dashing, high and ghostly, 
 up the sides of the light-house, were terrible and sublime ; but once in- 
 side of the rocky barrier, we found the water comparatively smooth, and 
 glided rapidly toward Auray,
 
 ISS THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 THE Caroll packet steamed away from Tea Wharf, Boston Ilai-bor, 
 one glorious noon -time in August, bound to Charlottetown, Prince 
 Edward Island. Having paid ten dollars in gold to the International 
 Steamship Company, the writer was graciously permitted to occupy a 
 state-room in the after-cabin. Board, which was "fair to middling," was 
 extra — a wise provision in favor of sea-sick passengers, but a doubtful 
 economy in my case, as I never yet lost a meal at sea. Early on the sec- 
 ond day we sighted and passed near to Sambro' Head, a cruel, iron-gray 
 mass of granite off the entrance to Halifax, crowned by a light- house 
 whicli is celebrated in naval annals. The port of Halifax is very spacious, 
 being really the widening of an estuary, which, after winding some twenty 
 miles, loses itself in the woods of Nova Scotia. This is a noble sheet of 
 water, admirably situated for yachting, to which some attention is given 
 by local yachtsmen. The view of the harbor from the fort behind the 
 city is both extensive and beautifid ; and from the opposite village of 
 
 sambro' LTGHT. — ENTRANCE TO HALIFAX HARBOR. 
 
 Dartmouth, Halifax presents an effective and pleasing picture, as seen 
 in profile on a hill-side sloping to the water. But a close inspection of the 
 city does not add to the visitor's interest in Halifax. It is one of those 
 places which residents assure us improve on acquaintance; but it certain-
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. iSO 
 
 ly does not leave a very favorable impression on tlie stranger. Judging 
 from my own experience, he who has seen it once never wants to see it 
 
 ENTRANCE TO STRAIT OF CANSO. 
 
 again; and he whom a mysterious Providence has directed hither a second 
 time, wonders wliat sin may have caused him twice to realize the meaning 
 of the amiable exclamation, " Go to Halifax !" 
 
 In the afternoon we steamed out again, and headed eastward for Can- 
 so. Down the savage, reefy coast of Nova Scotia we scudded before a 
 sou'- westerly gale, accompanied with lightning, and passed through the 
 river-like strait of Canso on a fine breezy morning, that enabled us to see 
 to best advantage a really beautiful sheet of water. We touched at Port 
 Hawkesbury a few moments — a village of small houses, generally devoid 
 of paint and destitute of verdure, and scattered about the naked hill-sides 
 without order. Cape Porcupine, on the left, is a bold headland of con- 
 siderable height. After passing this, we came out on the broad blue wa- 
 ters of the St. Lawrence, arriving at Pictou at noon-time of the third day 
 out. A lovely bay is the bay of Pictou. As one enters. Prince Edward 
 Island skirts the northern horizon, a low, pale line ; nearer rises Pictou 
 Isle, red-cliffed and wood-tufted. On the left is the spit lying in front 
 of the port, sustaining a striped light -house. In the distance, gray and 
 dream}^, a mile or two down the bay, are the spires of Pictou topping the 
 slope of a range of hills. From the summit of these hills the traveller 
 who climbs them is rewarded by one of the most beautiful and extensive 
 water views on the continent: the broad bay of Pictou, invading the land 
 with many steel-hued winding arms and creeks, and studded, in turn, with 
 islets; the flashing surf on the bar; the green rolling land fading in a 
 golden haze inimitably toward the setting sun ; the dark-purple Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence spreading as inimitably toward the east, with roseate cliffs 
 skirting the ofling like phantom islands — all contribute to compose a
 
 190 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 picture inexhaustible in its variety and the satisfying character of its at- 
 tractions. 
 
 Pictoii is the seat of coal-mines, and large quantities of tlie mineral 
 are exported. Here our steamer coaled for tlie trip. A tunnel of iron 
 
 HALIFAX, FROM THE CITADEI,. 
 
 plates was fitted to the forward hatcliway, and a platform was lowered 
 over the liold. The cars were rnn out on this, and through a trap-door 
 in the bottom of the car the coal was dropped into the vessel. In a few 
 hours we had taken a hundred tons of coal on board, and about three in 
 the morning left Pictou for Charlottetown. At sunrise we lay in Hills- 
 borough Bay in a dead calm. A light, low fog hovered on the w^ater di- 
 rectly across the entrance to the poi't, and we were forced to wait for tlie 
 sun to dispel it. We were surrounded by the red cliffs of Governor''s, St. 
 Peter's, and Prince Edward islands, mirrored on the glassy surface of the 
 bay with absolute fidelity, or half lifted in the air by a partial mirage. 
 Here and there a schooner lay idly over the quivering reflection of its own 
 spars and sails. Overhead, the sky was cloudless azure, specked only by 
 flocks of wild-fowl, and no sound disturbed the magical stillness of this 
 peaceful scene but the far-i-eaching, quavering cry of the loon throbbing 
 over the water. 
 
 On the clearing away of the fog we glided by the light -house on 
 Rocky Point and the wreck which lies close therebj', and Charlottetown, 
 witli the broad estuaries that branch away from it for many miles in three
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 191 
 
 directions, under the names of Noi'th, East, and "West rivers, was revealed 
 to us in the slieen of the morning sun. Charlottetown, in Queens Coun- 
 ty, the capital of the island, is a city of 9000 inhabitants, on a tongue of 
 land between North and East rivers. The city was founded about 1765, 
 on a regular plan. The streets are of great width, and are laid out at 
 right angles to each other on parallel lines. .The houses are generally 
 small and unpretentious in their appearance, but neat; while in some parts 
 of the city, along the esplanade and inland, past the Government buildings, 
 dwellings of considerable taste and elegance, and embowered in shrubbery, 
 are growing more numerous every year. The residence of the governor 
 is a neat building, admirably situated at the head of a close-shaven lawn, 
 which slopes down to the water, and flanked by the sighing pines of the 
 primeval forest. The present occupant, Sir William Hodgson, is the first 
 native governor placed over the island. He is a hale old gentleman of 
 eighty-six — genial, courteous, and capable. The other Government oifices 
 are situated on Queen's Square, in the centre of the town, and surprise the 
 visitor by the completeness and elegance of their construction and arrange- 
 ment. They consist of a state-house, in which are included the halls for 
 the Upper and Lower Houses of the Legislature, and other offices ; of a 
 court-house, just completed; and of a post-oftice which will compare favor- 
 ably with many of the post-ofiices in our larger cities. Of the manage- 
 ment of the postal department, I cannot speak in the same terms. 1 
 found the clerks at all the island offices unnecessarily inquisitive, and ca- 
 pable of incredible blunders. There is also inexcusable laxness in the for- 
 warding and care of letters and mail-bags, insomuch that I never felt sure 
 of receiving letters addressed to me, at least not for long after they were 
 due, or that mine would reach their destination after I had posted them. 
 
 LIGHT-HOUSli. — ENTRANCE TO FICTOU PORT. 
 
 That this was not my own experience alone was evidenced by the fre- 
 quent complaints against the department constantly appearing in the local 
 papers. This defect in the administration of the Government supervision
 
 192 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 is one of serious and increasing importance, and demands immediate re- 
 form. It is said that, until within a very few years, such was the high- 
 handed authority assumed by the self-styled upper classes of Prince Ed- 
 ward Island that it was by no means uncommon for letters to be seized 
 
 GOVEKNMENT UOUSE, CIIAULOTTETOWN. 
 
 and examined by them with no other right than that of the strongest. 
 Under the modifying influences of the Dominion and increasing inter- 
 course with the United States, many customs suggested by a colonial state 
 of things are gradually passing away as obsolete ; bat the divisions of 
 caste, so strong in England, and preserved with so much more intensity in 
 all her colonies, are still maintained in Charlottetown with a rigor that, 
 if it were not pernicious and prejudicial to true social progress, would be 
 ridiculous ; for whatever palliation there may be for it elsewhere, there is 
 none in a place where the richest are but moderately well off, where in- 
 tellectual culture is at a low ebb, where no men of such superior ability 
 have yet arisen as to found even the only aristocracy for which there is 
 any plausible excuse, the nobility of moral and mental supremacy. 
 
 The market, in Queen's Square, is a noteworthy building. On market- 
 days — Wednesdays and Fridays — the fai-mers come in from the country 
 with provisions of every sort : provender for cattle, fish from the rivers 
 and the sea, homespun goods, game, confectionery, and the like. These 
 are arranged in stalls in the interior, and the towns-people assemble to 
 purchase a stock of food to keep them alive until the next market-day. 
 Around the building wagons and carts are collected, loaded with hay or 
 lobsters. It is quite a lively and interesting scene, deriving picturesque- 
 ness from the ruddy complexions and flaxen or coal-black tresses of the 
 buxom Scotch and French country lassies, and the tawny, unkempt Indian 
 squaws from Rocky Point, 
 
 The churches of Charlottetown have little to boast of. The ritualists 
 have begun a chapel with a slant to the roof so excessively steep as to
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 193 
 
 come witliin the term " loud." Tlie zeal of the congfegation is in excess 
 of their funds, and the building is at present like a chapter to a serial 
 story whose author is at a loss to furnish material for the next chapter. 
 The Kirk are erecting a neat, commodious edifice to replace the present 
 sanctuary, which, it is pleasant to report, is too small for their enlarged 
 congregation. The Methodists have the handsomest church in the city, 
 and are in a flourishing condition. The Roman Catholics worship in a 
 large, barn-like structure of wood. They are active, and are spurred on 
 to increased architectural efforts by the bishop, who, considering that ap- 
 pearances have great weight with a large portion of unreflecting mortals, 
 has devoted his episcopal labors ta the increase of the brick and mortar 
 owned by the Church, A costly residence for the bishop of that com- 
 munion and extensive buildings for convents and schools have also been 
 erected recently at Tignish and Charlottetown, and one is to be reared 
 soon at Souris. The population of the island is 9^,021, of whom about 
 42,000 are in Queens County. The number of Roman Catholics is 40,765. 
 The average increase in Protestants during the last seven years has been 
 IS.S per cent. ; the increase in Roman Catholics has been 13.7 per cent. 
 The present free-education act was passed in 1852; a Board of Education 
 exists, and the entire cost of public instruction is defrayed out of the gen- 
 eral revenue. 
 
 METHODIST CHURCH AND PAST OF CHAELOTTETOWN — EAST BIVER IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
 A subject which has seriously agitated the island for nearly a cen- 
 tury is the land question. The island, which is 140 miles in length and 
 34 miles wide, was discovered by Cabot, w^ho called it St. John ; and 
 it still retains that name among the French to this day. As the Eng- 
 lish failed to take possession of it at the time of discovery, Verazain 
 
 13
 
 194 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 claimed both the discovery and possession of it for the French in 1523, 
 and it was granted by them to the Sieur Daubet, who, with a company 
 of adventurers, estabhshed several fishing stations there. When the Aca- 
 dians emigrated from Nova Scotia, in 1713, many of them settled on the 
 Isle St. Jean, and a garrison was stationed at Port la Joie, now Charlotte- 
 town, By the Treaty of Fontaine- 
 ff bleau, in 1763, the island was ceded 
 to Great Britain, and received its 
 present name. The victorious Gov- 
 ernment immediately decreed a care- 
 ful survey of the island, and vari- 
 ous plans for settling and dividing 
 the lands were proposed. Lord Eg- 
 mont, then First Lord of the Ad- 
 miralty, devised a Utopian scheme 
 to this end, which was supported by 
 powerful influences. It was based on 
 the theory that the perils from the 
 Indians and other foes were much 
 niore formidable than they actually 
 were. His memorial prayed for a 
 grant of the whole island, holding the 
 same as a flef to the crown foi'ever. 
 The two million acres, more or 
 less, which the island was estimated 
 to contain, were to be divided into 
 fifty parts, called baronies or hun- 
 dreds, forty of these to be granted to as many men with the title of Lords 
 of Hundreds, owing feudal allegiance to him as Lord Paramount. These 
 baronies were in turn to be subdi\ided into manors of two thousand acres 
 each. Five hundred acres from each barony were to be set apart for 
 a township. Fairs were to be held in each baronj^ four times yearh', 
 and market twice weekh'. Many other feudal regulations relating to 
 the judiciary, and tlie building of numerous castles and other matters, were 
 included in this extraordinary memorial, which was intended to transfer 
 to this side of tlie Atlantic a sj'stem better suited to the state of affairs in 
 the times of King Alfred and William the Conqueror, on the supposition 
 that the island was a place " where the settler can scarce straggle from 
 liis habitation five hundred yards, even in times of pe'ace, without risk of 
 being intercepted, scalped, and murdered ;" the fact being that the Mic- 
 
 AVENUE LEADING TO GOVEKNMENT HOl'SE.
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 195 
 
 macs, never very nnmerons, were quite inoffensive, and it is doubtful if a 
 white man ever lost his hair on the island, except in the natural way. 
 
 Lord Egmont's plan failed of acceptance ; but another scheme for di- 
 viding the lands, which was adopted, was also open to grave objections, 
 as proved by subsecpient results. The island, with some reservations for 
 fortifications, churches, and other public purposes, was divided into sixty- 
 six lots. One lot was reserved for the crown ; the remainder were in one 
 day awarded by ballot to as many grantees, who had merited reward for 
 military or political services. Quit-rents were reserved on all these lots, 
 payable at the end of ten years, it being also stij)ulated that each town- 
 ship should be settled within that period by at least one person for every 
 two hundred acres, and, failing fulfilment of the conditions by the gran- 
 tees, the land to be forfeited. On a petition b}'' the proprietors, the colony 
 was granted" a local government of its own; but the governor was ap- 
 pointed by the king. Captain Walter "Patterson was the first governor, 
 and the quit-rents were made payable at the end of twenty years. 
 
 The conditions accepted by the grantees, or those to whom they sold 
 their rights and grants, were in many cases unfulfilled, and they thus law- 
 fully escheated to the crown. The acts of Governor Patterson under the 
 circumstances, the action of the home government, the long struggle, re- 
 sulting in a draw^n battle between all concerned, form an intricate story. 
 
 MAKKET BUILDING, CHARLOTTETOWN. 
 
 too long for repetition in these pages. But long since the recall of Patter- 
 son, during the present generation, new difficulties have arisen, resembling 
 the famous anti-rfint wars of New York. Those w'hom the planters have 
 invited or permitted to settle on their lands for certain rentals have, in
 
 196 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 many cases, claimed that the rents were in excess of the vahie of the 
 lands, or that they had already paid enongh to entitle them to hold the 
 lands they occnpy as freeholds. The problem was partially solved by the 
 2)urchase of some of the territory under dispute by the colonial Govern- 
 ment, and selling it over to the farmers under more favorable conditions. 
 Since the island entered the Dominion, on the 1st of July, 1873, the ques- 
 tion has again come up, and a royal commission was appointed for the 
 appraisal and purchase of the large estates still remaining in the families 
 of the original owners, the sum of $800,000 having been appropriated for 
 this purpose by the Dominion as one of the conditions on which the island 
 joined the confederation. Thus far the appraisals seem to have been fair 
 and impartial, although, from the nature of the case, inevitably giving rise 
 to considerable discontent and hardship in some instances. It is one of 
 those questions on which much niay be said for each side, and with regard 
 to which the public good would appear to require an act of seeming bad 
 faith on the part of the Government. The best good of the largest num- 
 ber is a right to be exercised with great caution, and the moral question 
 involved in the consideration of the rights of the minority is not often re- 
 garded with sufKcient attention by a ruling majority. 
 
 Since Prince Edward Island joined the Dominion, it has taken a fresh 
 start in the march of improvement, and evidences of this are everj^where 
 seen in its increasing commerce, the growing value of the fisheries, the 
 many new buildings going up in Chark)ttetown and the environs, and the 
 new railroad, measuring 167 miles in length, and completed in the year 
 1875. It is run on a gauge, so narrow that only three persons can sit in 
 the cars abreast, the seats being for one and for two persons alternately on 
 each side of the car. The rolling stock was made on the island, and is 
 very creditable. The car windows are not washed quite often enough, 
 however. Ship-building is also in a very thriving condition. In the vari- 
 ous ship-yards of Mount Stewart, Summerside, and Souris, I counted six- 
 teen vessels going up, from seventy-five to twelve hundred tons, in size, and 
 I heard of others building at Fortune Bay and elsewhere at the same time. 
 The new tonnage built for export for the fiscal year of 1874-'75 amount- 
 ed to $632,440 in value. The total value of the exports dui-ing the same 
 period was $1,940,901, of which lumber was $105,407; agricultural prod- 
 ucts, $787,070; live stock, $94,047; and fisheries, $308,037. Of the last 
 item the United States took $272,620, and the total exports to the States 
 of the products of the island for the year reached $365,352. It is worthy 
 of mention that the fisheries of the island and the commerce in the same 
 are chiefly in the hands of two enterprising Americans, Messrs. Churchill
 
 riUNCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 197 
 
 and Hall. For the same period the total value of the imports of Prince 
 Edward Island amounted to $1,973,222, the balance of trade showing an 
 increasing demand for foreign goods. It should be added that the foie- 
 going data are given on a gold basis. 
 
 But one who has been in Charlottetown a week or two is not satisfied 
 only with the evidences of insular prosperity furnished at the Government 
 offices by the courteous and efficient servants of Her Majesty, or by the 
 pleasant glimpses of farm, and river, and sea gained from window and 
 roof. These very charming bits of nature only serve to tempt the visitor 
 to sally forth, and, in carriage or boat or by rail, to view for himself the 
 exquisite beauty of the island, and the proofs offered on every hand of 
 its thriving condition, as well as the manifold attractions it offers to the 
 tourist and invalid — in summer and fall, should be added with emphasis. 
 In winter, which begins with November and lasts until May sometimes, 
 Prince Edward offers special inducements to those who enjoy six months 
 of snow, and unlimited opportunities for sitting by the fireside o' stormy 
 nights and listening to the furious din of sleet and hail beating against 
 the ringing panes. Northumberland Strait, which separates the island 
 from the main-land, is frozen over from December to April, or, rather, it 
 is filled with floating ice, which sometimes freezes together in a compact 
 mass. Where the strait is but nine miles wide, the mail is carried across 
 
 CARRYING THE MAILS ACROSS NORTHUMBERLAND STRAIT IN WINTER. 
 
 every day on the ice, sometimes at great hazard. A boat on ruimers is 
 used to carry the bags, serving, as the case may require, either as boat or 
 sledge. The labor of going over the ice-hummocks is often excessively 
 laborious. Travel is, of course, almost entirely stopped for the season. I
 
 19S 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 heard of one lady wlio went across on the ice to attend by the bed of her 
 dying son. But in summer the weather is moderate and equable — more 
 equable than that of the adjacent continent. Vegetation springs forwaid 
 
 SCENE ON HLNTEU UIVEU. 
 
 rapidly after the winter has fairly passed away; and the verdure on the 
 fields, including wild flowers, continues later than in the New England 
 States. Fogs, which are common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the 
 Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, are very rare on and around Prince Ed- 
 ward Island ; and hay fever, that distressing complaint, avoidable only by 
 change of locality, is unknown on that lovely isle. 
 
 Steamers ply up the East and West rivers, and an afternoon spent on 
 each of these takes one through beautiful scenery, and gives a fair idea 
 of the characteristic beauty of the island. Never over five hundred feet 
 high, the landscape is rarely monotonous, for in the interior it is much 
 broken and undulating, while it falls away toward the sea and the bays 
 into gentle slopes which terminate in abrupt red cliffs fifty to seventy 
 feet high. The brilliant tints — vivid orange and Indian red — of the new 
 red sandstone, still in a formative state, harmonize admirably with the rich 
 ultramarine of the water and the white trunks of the birch Avoods, or the 
 emerald of the natural lawns which gradually slope to the water, in front
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 199 
 
 of neat, cosy farm - lioiises, kept in good condition, and sheltered from 
 the winter gales by clumps of primeval fir, pine, and spruce. Nowhere 
 very striking, the scenery of these rivers is charmingly rural and pictu- 
 resque, everywhei'e })leasing, and offering quiet little bits tliat the artistic 
 eye might transfer effectively to canvas. On Kocky Point, opposite Char- 
 lottetown, is a settlement of Micmac Indians, who live by fishing, hunting, 
 and barter. They are inoffensive and indolent. But the largest settle- 
 ment of Micmacs, the only tribe now on the island, is at Lennox Island, 
 in Richmond Bay, which is reserved for them, and there they hold their 
 annual powwows. Their number is gradually decreasing, and does not 
 now exceed three hundred and live. They are in charge of a special 
 commissioner. 
 
 A delightful excursion may be made to Rustico from Chai-lottetown. 
 Going by rail to Hunter River Station, one finds himself at once in a 
 beautiful region among hills, and glens, and wooded streams. Thence a 
 carriage carries the traveller over farming country resembling some of 
 the most beautiful portions of old England, by way of Wheatley River 
 to Rustico Bay. On the road I passed a country school-house at recess- 
 
 FISU-IIOUSE AND STAGE, AND FlSllING-BOATS, RUSTICO. 
 
 time. The children were playing in the road, but when thej' saw the 
 carriage approaching they ranged themselves in a row, and as I went by 
 the girls courtesied low, and the lads bowed in the most respectful manner.
 
 200 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 It was a quaint and pleasing sight, and might be imitated by our school- 
 children with advantage. Passing by the French settlement and Roman 
 Catholic church at Riistico, we jogged along to the end of a peninsula that 
 
 FISHING-BOATS BEATING INTO RUSTICO HARBOR, BETWEEN THE BAR AND THE SPIT: BATHING-HOUSE IN THE FORE- 
 GROUND. 
 
 is near the month of the ba}-. The last part of the way was over a kelp- 
 strewn beach which is covered at high tide. There, on a bluff, I found 
 the Eustico House, admirably situated on the edge of the spruce woods. 
 Facing the bay, like a breakwater, lies a sand-spit tufted with long salt 
 grass. Opposite the hotel is the entrance into the bay. The flashing roll- 
 ers of the St. Lawrence Gulf break on a bar across the mouth, and be- 
 tween the bar and the shore is a narrow, shallow channel. Through this, 
 twice daily during the season, the little fishing-schooners of the port pass 
 out to fish for shore mackerel and herring. It is a very pretty sight to 
 watch a fleet of these white-sailed fishermen dodging in and out about 
 the bar. The fish are landed on stages built out over the water inside 
 the port. Outside of the spit, on the sandy beach, there is excellent surf 
 bathing, and bathing-houses are also furnished to visitors, who enjoy, in 
 addition, good boating facilities ; and, of course, capital sport is afforded 
 for those who love the rod and the line. The mackerel fishing outside
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 201 
 
 is exciting and novel, while the Hunter and Wlieatley rivers in the im- 
 mediate vicinity offer numerous attractions to sportsmen, especially in sea- 
 trout fishing. The sea trout is a fish peculiar to the waters of Prince Ed- 
 ward Island, living in rivers or arms of the sea which, influenced by tlie 
 tides, are alternately salt and fresh. It is the size of the lake trout, with 
 silvery skin, and pink flesh like that of the salmon. It is caught with the 
 fly, and is game for the best sportsmen. The season for this fish is chiefly 
 during June and July, and East River, near Charlottetown, Dunk, Mo- 
 rell, Winter, Hunter, and Trout rivers are the streams in which it is most 
 abundant. Salmon is also common in these streams; but shad is scarce. 
 All the rivers of the island were restocked in 1876, and the Dominion 
 fishing laws enforced. Lobsters are very abundant, and large canning 
 factories have been established at Alberton and Souris. Duck, snipe, teal, 
 plover, quail, and other game are sufficiently abundant to make hunting 
 attractive, and dogs trained for sport are common. Wolves and deer, for- 
 merly plenty, are now all but extinct ; but a few beaver and otter are still 
 found: and in the tangled depths of the primeval forests, which still exist 
 here and there, black bears are quite numerous, hibernating undisturbed 
 in winter, and creeping forth sometimes in summer to try a fat slice out 
 
 FISHING PAMY. 
 
 of a teijder young heifer. Oysters of the finest quality abound in the 
 bays of Prince Edward Island. They are not as large as our largest, but 
 they make up for size in flavor and lusciousness. Bedeque oysters from
 
 202 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Richmond Bay are already famous, and are sliipped in large quantities to 
 Great Britain and other parts of the Dominion, 
 
 The agricultural products of the island are of less relative importance 
 than those of its waters, yet they are noteworthy. The woodlands, con- 
 sisting of beech, birch, maple, spruce, and tir chiefly, are gradually thin- 
 ning out, while the product of grain, and hay, and vegetables, especially 
 jjotatoes, is increasing. Fruits are in a backward state, and must always 
 remain more or less so, owing to tlie lateness of the summers. The apples 
 are hard and sour at best. Apple-pies there must be made according 
 to a receipt furnished by a sprightly young lady of the island : " Put 
 in sugar as long as your conscience will allow ; then shut your eyes and 
 throw it in by handfuls." Rich pasture is seen everywhere, and the land- 
 scape is dotted in all directions with cattle and horses. As one rides along 
 the roads and sees the beautiful horses and colts galloping or grazing on 
 every farm, he is reminded of the Homeric period when Thessaly was 
 famed for its steeds, and the heroes of the Trojan war were styled owners 
 or tamers of fast horses. 
 
 Returning to Hunter River Station over the higliest land on the island 
 by the very cliarming road tlii'ough Xew Glasgow, the toui'ist can take 
 tlie cars to Souris, at the north-eastern end of the island. The railroad 
 in this direction passes through a more level country, but more savage 
 and melancholy, because less inhabited, and presenting waste moorlands 
 abandoned to the rabbit, the grouse, and the bear. At Mount Stewart 
 a branch of tlie road turns off to Georgetown, on Cardigan Bay, a sleepy, 
 aristocratic, nnenterprising town. Souris is quite the reverse. Originally 
 a French settlement, and receiving its name from a swarm of Held-mice 
 which once invaded it, the little place, since the raili'oad has reached it, 
 has sprung into a new existence. Houses are rising in every direction, 
 and its ship-yards ring with the merry, tumultuous din of calkers' mal- 
 lets. The port is exposed to southerly gales. Some years ago twenty- 
 three schooners went ashore there in one day. But the Dominion has 
 appropriated $60,000 to continue the breakwater across part of it, and 
 this 'will give a fresh impetus to the prosperity of one of the most thriv- 
 ing towns I have seen in the Dominion. The neighborhood of Souris 
 is very attractive. Tlie drives are of the most pleasing character, the land- 
 scape quiet, home-like, and yet stimulating to the imagination. At Go wan 
 Brae, the late residence of John MacGowan, Esq., is a hillock which bears 
 nnmistakable evidences of being artificial, and it is most probably the 
 funeral mound of an Indian chief of other days. 
 
 Malpeque, or Richmond Bay, near the west end of Prince Edward
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 203 
 
 Island, is a large and beantiful sheet of water. The island is here but 
 three miles wide, for Bedeque Bay makes a deep indentation on the south- 
 ern shore. On the latter lies Sunimerside, a town which scarcely had an 
 existence twenty years ago. It has not grown quite as rapidly as Chicago ; 
 but within five years it has greatly gained in commercial importance, 
 and in that respect ai)pears to be in advance of any other town on the 
 island, except Cliarlottetown. The steamer which connects Prince Edward 
 with the railroad on the main-land plies daily between Summerside and 
 Shediac, thirty-five miles distant, on the opposite side of the strait. On 
 each side the cars run out on a jetty to meet the boat. This, of course, 
 adds greatly to the business activity of Summerside. In the bay, a mile 
 from the town, and at the mouth of the Dunk River, is Indian Island, 
 on which Mr. Holman, one of the enterprising men of Summerside, has 
 erected a hotel called the Island Park Hotel. This islet is jnst one mile 
 in circumference, and is overgrown with picturesque primeval woods. 
 These have been very judiciously intersected by rural drives and walks. 
 The building itself, which is after the American plan, faces the harbor 
 and the town ; and bath-houses, billiard-tables, bowling-alleys, and other 
 decoys to attract the traveller in search of health or pleasure, are provided. 
 At low tide the strait on the south side can be easily forded, and the drives 
 on that part of Prince Edward Island are charming. 
 
 Of the people, so far as personal observation goes, I can speak favora- 
 bly. Among them are many descendants of loyalists of our Revolution, 
 who are generally more opposed to the United States than others. The 
 general feeling toward our country is, however, apparently friendly, and, 
 until quite recently, the desire for a reciprocity treaty was very strong. 
 But underneath is, I am convinced, an undercurrent strongly English, 
 notwithstanding that the people are really more like Yankees than Eng- 
 lishmen in their habits and language. There is just difference enough 
 between their ships, their houses, their vehicles or agricultural tools, their 
 papers and their colloquial diction, for a careful observer to note that he 
 is not in the United States ; but often the difference is nearly impercep- 
 tible. It is in their value of time that I discovered the greatest dissimi- 
 larity. The phrase "Time is money" is certainly not true on Prince Ed- 
 ward Island, however true it may be with us. No one is on hand when 
 he should be. Everything is done with a leisure that would imply lon- 
 gevity rivalling that of Methuselah. Punctuality in the hours of meals 
 at the hotels is a thing not dreamed of, resulting in great waste of time 
 and cold food. Nor did I see any evidence anywhere or in the character 
 of any one that indicated that the word has any meaning on Prince Ed-
 
 204 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ward Island. This taking life easy is a very delightful thing under some 
 circumstances, but it will not do in this age and in the Western World, 
 in the wholesale manner in which it is practised on that beautiful island, 
 for those who desire to rise in the world. And herein seems to be partly 
 the reason why the British Provinces of North America have not pro- 
 gressed as rapidly as their neighbors south of the Great Lakes. 
 
 Of the hospitality of the islanders I can speak in high terms; and 
 to Mr. Campbell, author of a forth-coming history of the island, and 
 many others, the writer is indebted for numerous acts of courtesy, which 
 aided to render the pursuit of knowledge in the Gulf of St. Lawrence a 
 fascinating pleasure excursion. I returned by way of Summerside, She- 
 diac, and St. John, New Brunswick, arriving at the latter place in ten 
 hours from the island. From St. John, Portland can be reached by rail 
 or steamboat, and the tourist who does not like travelling by water can 
 thus go to Prince Edward Island entirely by land, excepting the thirty- 
 five miles in a strong boat across Northumberland Strait.
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 205 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 ABOUT seven miles from the coast of New Hampshire lie the Isles 
 of Shoals. Their situation is admirably planned with a view to har- 
 monizing the sometimes conflicting wants of guests and landlords, of tour- 
 ists and invalids, and of the proprietors of hotels. They seem to be a 
 
 SlIAO AND 
 
 KS, L)L<K. ISLANll. 
 
 cluster of nuggets conveniently dropped off our coast where they can be 
 turned into current coin by enterprising hotel-keepers, artists, poets, and 
 scribblers of a thrifty turn. 
 
 Often had I passed by these islets, in all times and weathers, and 
 welcomed the gleam of the friendly light on White Island, which warns 
 the mariner to give them a wide berth in heavy weather. But the first 
 time I ever landed there was on a yachting cruise a year or two ago. 
 Once before had I started for the " Shoals" in my little sloop, the Zephyr, 
 but we so loitered on the way, fascinated by the many curious attractive 
 nooks along the coast, that when we at last stood across toward the islands 
 we were overtaken by a gale of wind and forced to put into Newbnryport, 
 and sailed thence directly for home. But at length it was destined that I 
 should reach the islands, having been invited to make one of a party in a 
 small sloop-yacht, and assist in navigating her. 
 
 It was a charming morning in July. Various express wagons brought
 
 206 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 loolMl 
 
 ^ 
 
 Londoner/i^.^ 
 
 to Webb's Wharf, in 
 Salem, panniers of 
 provisions, bundles 
 of bedding and cloth- 
 ing, a breaker of wa- 
 ter, and a medley 
 of all sorts of arti- 
 cles liable to be 
 needed in a yacht- 
 ing crnise. And af- 
 ter everything was 
 in readiness, Frank, 
 the hired hand M-ho 
 was to help about 
 the yacht, and do 
 such odds and ends 
 of work as we were willing to shirk, made his appearance. 
 He had served on a crack yacht, and claimed to be able 
 to do all that is required of an able seaman. His pro- 
 fessions were found to be I'ather in advance of his ca- 
 pacit3\ This, however, is so common a trait tliat it 
 hardly placed him at a disadvantage in comparison with 
 other mortals. Frank rowed us out to the yacht, and 
 we immediately made sail, and, casting off the moorings, 
 fell off before a southerly breeze. 
 
 The wind was light, about sou'-sou'-west, but with 
 the aid of the gaff-topsail and jib-topsail we fanned along slowly. After 
 passing Kettle Cove the breeze began to freshen, and when we came abreast 
 of Gloucester the " kites" were taken in. Standing out past Cape Ann and 
 Milk Island, we sailed around Thatcher's Island, whose twin light-liouses, 
 towering one hundred and thirty feet, seem placed there like giant sentinels 
 to guard the approach to the coast. The wind, as the day wore on, became 
 very stiff, with quite a " lump of a sea ;" but as the yacht was faiily " shoot- 
 ing" like a frightened steed, we hoped that we should be able to reacli 
 the Shoals before the wind should grow much stronger. The probability 
 was that it was oidy a summer breeze, which might shift to the west- 
 ward M'ith a thunder squall, as it often does on the Xorth Atlantic, and
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 207 
 
 go down with the sun. If that proved to be the case, we could run for 
 Portsmouth or Newburyport, for these sliifts of the wind are generally 
 well announced to the experienced eye. 
 
 When we were about half-way between Cape Aim and the Shoals, 
 we all went below to take some refreshments, leaving Frank in charge 
 of the helm. Nearly the whole of the centre-board was up, and the 
 sloop steered a little wildly ; but with a safe hand, there was no reason why 
 she could not be left to his care alone, unless the wind should freshen. 
 Notwithstanding the breeze, the day was warm, and it was wisely decided 
 to prepare a mild brew suited to the occasion, and largely flavored with 
 the pure juice of the lemon. 
 
 "Now, this is what I call jolly," said Varney, with enthusiasm, reclin- 
 ing on the cushion and affectionately regarding his glass. 
 
 " It reminds me," said Bent, " of what Mohammed, father of the late 
 Sultan, used to say when he qnaffed lemonade in the gilded halls of the 
 Seraglio. Holding up his jewelled goblet, brimming with lemonade cooled 
 with the snows of Olympus, he would exclaim, "As I am the King of 
 kings, so this is the king of drinks !" 
 
 " Well, he knew wliat's good, that's evident," said Jim. 
 
 " It reminds me," said Varney, " of when I was in the army. It was 
 a blistering hot day ; we'd had a brush with the enemy the day before, 
 and a rather lively time of it, as you may guess, for my horse was shot 
 under me, and I had a ball through my hat that grazed mj- hair. Well, 
 that's neither here nor there. What I was going to say was, that the 
 colonel said to me, ' Varne}', what do you say now to — ' " 
 
 Varney did not finish his sentence, for on the instant the yacht, with- 
 out the slightest warning, gave a tremendous lurch to starboard, lying 
 over almost on her beam ends, the sea boiling furiously on deck, and 
 pouring through the open dead-light of the trunk into the cuddy. Down 
 went glasses, plates, and, in fact, everything movable in the cabin, in a 
 broken and confused mess to leeward ; while Varney, w^ith outstretched 
 arms, pitched headlong into Joe's stomach and nearly squeezed the breath 
 out of his body, Jim plunging in turn, with all his huge size and weight, 
 on the three others. 
 
 As soon as this crushed, mauled, and puffing pile of hnmanity could 
 return to its individual parts, I scrambled to the companion-way, and, in 
 the mildest terms that the circumstances would allow, demanded of Frank 
 what he was trying to do with the yacht. 
 
 "Oh, nothin'; I just thought I'd let her jibe, that's all," he answered, 
 sulkily.
 
 208 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ■WHALES-BACK LIGHT. 
 
 "You just thought youM let her jibe, did you? You mean that you 
 were not minding 3'our business; that's what's the matter. Any lubber 
 could tell you that to jibe a sloop like this under such canvas, in such 
 a breeze and such a sea, is just the way to carry away your main-boom 
 or capsize the sloop." 
 
 " If you think you can steer her any better, just you take the helm 
 yourself!" Frank retorted, rising surlily and going forward. He was 
 too conscious that it was sheer carelessness that had brought us so near 
 a serious accident to say anything more in his defense. 
 
 The Isles of Shoals were now rising rapidly, blue and beautiful, in the 
 north. Another hour brought us close to them, and, rounding a reef on 
 which the sea was breaking with vast masses of flashing foam, we stood 
 in for the cove between Appledore and Star Island, where a number of
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 209 
 
 yachts were lying. We also would have gladly selected a berth and come 
 to anchor, for it looked very inviting on the islands. But the sky to 
 windward was now very threatening. A grim thunder-storm was rolling 
 up in the west, and all the yachts at the " Shoals" were making sail to run 
 for a safe harbor at Portsmouth. Our yacht was therefore brought around 
 on the port tack, and headed in the same direction, with the wind just 
 abeam. It was a lively sight as we approached Whale's-back Light, sail 
 after sail converging toward the month of the Piscataqua, and the black, 
 scowling mass of clouds from the westward, streaked with lightning and 
 muttering deep th.unders, overarching the whole sky. The tide and cur- 
 rent, both running out against the southerly sea, made quite a high, abrupt, 
 and irregular chop; but the yacht, still under whole main-sail and jib, 
 behaved beautifully. She was fairly under the lee of the land when a 
 blinding flash and a deafening peal broke overhead, while a pelting sheet 
 of rain and a powerful squall of wind struck the fleet of yachts. We were 
 just in time; letting go the halyards, we rounded to and dropped anchor 
 in a snug cove, in the midst of a crowd of small craft, and then ran below 
 to escape the deluge which poured down. In half an hour the squall 
 had gone off to leeward, the setting sun came out brilliantly, and a noble 
 rainbow spanned the gloom of the retreating storm. 
 
 On the following day the barometer foretold a gale of wind ; and so, 
 with the other yachts, we concluded to run farther up to Portsmouth, 
 where we should find more to entertain us while waiting for good weather. 
 The sloop easily stemmed the tortuous, eddying, rushing waters of the 
 Piscataqua, and, successfully passing Pull-and-be-damned Point, where the 
 currents and eddies are peculiarly trying to an unsanctified temper, we 
 anchored in Portsmouth harbor, opposite the Navy-yard at Kittery. 
 
 Some sixty or seventy yachts, many of them among the finest craft 
 afloat, were clustered there, and it was a very brilliant sight, a spectacle 
 full of inexhaustible interest, to one who has a passion for naval archi- 
 tecture, and is smitten with the yachting fever — a passion which is born 
 with a man, and leaves him only when he goes to a world where yachts 
 and yachting are unknown. The ancient, storied, little city swarmed 
 with yachtsmen in characteristic rig, and the coming race was a topic 
 which afforded a common ground on which all could meet and talk until 
 the wee sma' hours. To your true sailor, a love for ships and the sea 
 affords a common bond of union not unlike that of freemasonry. The 
 subject he has at heart is Sanscrit to the landsman, and the sea terms he 
 uses are but unintelligible gibberish to all out of the guild. 
 
 The gale of wind lasted two days, and was followed by a mild west- 
 
 14
 
 210 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 erly breeze, and as fair a snmmer's day as ever shone on New England's 
 shore. Nearly one hundred and forty yachts, large and small, collected 
 at the Shoals, many of them drawn thither to witness the race which 
 came off during the day. Of course, the Islands were thronged with vis- 
 
 ''tZ> i z?^ 
 
 DDCK ISLAND, FROM APPLEDOBE. 
 
 itors, and it was indeed a gala-day at sea. One may well say " at sea," 
 speaking of this cluster of islets, for they are all so small, the effect to one 
 who lives on them is quite that of being " at sea," in the ordinary sense 
 of the term. They are all mere rocks, none of them rising exactly to the 
 dignity of islands, but they are generally placed so near together that sev- 
 eral of them give the impression of forming one island. Were they more 
 isolated and distinct, their minute dimensions would be more apparent. 
 Their total area is less than one square mile. 
 
 These islets were first discovered b}^ Champlain, and later by Gosnold. 
 Probably the first white man who visited them was Captain John Smith, 
 who called them Smith's Isles, and so they appeared on the old charts for 
 a while. Although much cannot be said in favor of the beauty of the 
 name, it seems a pity that this indefatigable wanderer and explorer should 
 not have had the satisfaction of attaching his name permanently on some 
 one of the many spots he visited during his romantic career. The pres- 
 ent name of the islands seems, in the absence of any definite information 
 on the subject, to have been suggested by the clustering of so many rocks 
 together, like a shoal or school of fish. 
 
 Appledore, the largest of the group, is perhaps two-thirds of a mile 
 long. It is divided into two portions by a valley and two inlets. There
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 211 
 
 is one tree on the isle, a venerable elm, attached to the piazza of the hotel. 
 But although destitute of trees, like all the neighboring islets, Appledore 
 is overgrown with the tangled meshes of blackberry, raspberry, and blue- 
 berry vines; and many richly tinted lichens clothe the rocks, while the 
 sweet-scented bay breathes its fragrance on the summer air. The shores, 
 as in all of these isles, are bare, composed of red granitic and trap rocks, 
 beautifully harmonizing with the vivid hues of sea and sky on a clear day. 
 Nature, however brilliant her colors, never allows her effects to be out 
 of tone. Her magical atmosphere scumbles and glazes every object into 
 unison with the landscape in which it appears. Although never very 
 high, the cliffs of Appledore are often bold and uncompromising in the 
 aspect which they present to the 
 surges of easterly gales. South 
 Gorge is a very striking bit of rock 
 scenery, whose trap cliffs, eaten away 
 by the battering surf of untold ages, 
 actually overhang the sea. 
 
 North of Appledore is Duck Isl- 
 and, perhaps a mile distant. It is a 
 low, uninhabited isle, surrounded by 
 the Shag and Mingo rocks, and a 
 net -work of reefs which seem laid 
 to entrap unlucky vessels sailing by. 
 Duck Island, Appledore, and the 
 three adjoining islets belong to 
 Maine, while the four southern isles 
 form part of New Hampshire. This 
 seems to be an absurd and unneces- 
 sary geographical division. 
 
 Appledore was the first to be set- 
 tled, and until the close of the sev- 
 enteenth century was occupied by 
 a flourishing hamlet, including a 
 church, and an academy of wide re- 
 pute. But of all this nothing now 
 remains but the site of a few houses 
 and a cemetery. The old settlement 
 had long passed away when the Hon. Henry B. Laighton, once a member 
 of the Legislature of New Hampshire, became weary of the haunts of men, 
 and disgusted with his race. He sought and obtained the office of keeper
 
 212 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 of the light-house on White Island. After remaining there six years, he 
 removed to Appledore, and there built himself a house, where he remained 
 until his death. For twenty-iive years this modern Timon gazed on the 
 
 SOUTH-EAST END OF APPLEDORE, LOOKING SOUTH. 
 
 main-land, but a few miles off, but never stepped foot on it again. He is 
 buried on a knoll a few yards from the hotel which gradually grew np 
 under his charge. From offering a shelter to the occasional visitors who 
 sometimes sought the islands, he gradually became the proprietor of a 
 large and fashionable hotel, thi-onged by hundreds of guests. This hotel 
 is now under the charge of his two sons. His daughter, Mrs. Celia Thax- 
 ter, the well-known poetess and historian of the Isles of Shoals, resides in 
 a house adjoining the hotel. 
 
 Small as are these isles, they have already given rise to a literature of
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 213 
 
 their own. Captain Smith and Cotton Mather liave considerable to say 
 about them in quaint and vigorous Englisli. The town records of Gos- 
 port, on Star Island, are entertaining, both as local history and specimens 
 of English undeliled by the learning of the schools. Mr. Jenners and 
 Mr. Chadwick, the poet, have both written capital historical and descriptive 
 sketches of the islands. The ballads founded on the romantic scenes 
 that have occurred on the Isles of Shoals have given Mrs. Thaxter a 
 well-known position as a writer of picturesque verse, and have done much 
 to invest the Isles of Shoals with that delicate veil of romance and legend, 
 that air of sentiment and human interest, which add an indescribable 
 charm to the attractions of natural scenery. It is not so much the actual 
 man as the memory of his existence in a rural or sea solitude which en- 
 hances the interest of a landscape. 
 
 Smutty Nose, now called Haley's Islaiid, is next in size to Appledore, 
 which it adjoins. Its first name was derived from a dark-hued ledge 
 that still bears the name. The rocks called Malaga and Cedar Isles are 
 close to it, and, together with the breakwater between Haley's and Cedar, 
 form the harbor of the Shoals, a commodious and tolerably safe port, ex- 
 cept in gales from south-west to north-west. Haley's was named after 
 Mr. Samuel Haley, one of the former inhabitants, who found, even on 
 this minute theatre of action, room for the development of the noble 
 
 HALEY'S DOCK AND HOMESTEAD. 
 
 (In the third house from the left the Wagner murder was committed.) 
 
 qualities which mark the npright and public-spirited citizen. He built 
 windmills to grind the grain, which grew more liberally on Haley's Island 
 than on the other isles, and laid out a rope-walk. He was also a sheep
 
 214 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 and cattle grazer on a somewhat limited territory. But bis memory is 
 chiefly to be cherished because of his solicitude for the storm-tossed sailor. 
 For many years a light shone in his window at night to warn the passing 
 
 LEDGE OF HUtKb, HALEY s ISLAND. 
 
 ship away from those cruel rocks. He also built the breakwater with 
 the proceeds of three bars of silver which he found under a cliff, doubt- 
 less washed ashore from some hapless wreck, and he afterward added 
 a wharf, which, although now in a dilapidated condition, affoi-ds a safe 
 shelter for boats. Near his grave are the graves of the Spanish sailors 
 of the ship Sagunto, which was wrecked in a winter snow-storm. Those 
 who live on that bleak coast, and have often seen the terrible gloom and 
 severity of a north-easterly storm in December, know well what must have 
 been the sufferings of that ill-fated crew. Their nameless gravestones 
 were erected by the sympathetic kindness of Mr. Haley, who now lies 
 in turn at their side ; for to all mankind there is a common lot. Whether 
 at sea or in port, all are wrecked at last. 
 
 Haley's Island has acquired a melancholy celebrity within a few 
 years by the awful tragedy of March, 1S73. Louis Wagner had an idea 
 that he should find money in the house of a Swedish family then liv- 
 ing there. He rowed in the moonlight from Portsmouth, and stole un- 
 noticed on the sleeping inmates, who suspected no danger in the quiet 
 little isle, where only the seas seemed savage. Marie Christianson he mur- 
 dered in the house. Annetta, her sister-in-law, who had escaped, half 
 awake, through the window, was standing there, stupefied with horror, when 
 he stealthily crept up behind her, and, with one blow of an axe, completed 
 the bloody tragedy. Marie Hontvet, flying to the water, a!id waving her 
 arms with frantic appeals, was seen by Ingebertsen, who flew to the rescue.
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 215 
 
 But Wagner escaped, and returned to Portsmouth. He rowed eighteen 
 miles in a small boat between midniglit and mid-day, murdered two wom- 
 en, and tried to slaughter a third, and earned for all his trouble only 
 sixteen dollars and the rope by which he was hanged. 
 
 Ab(5ut the year 1700, Star Island became the seat of the capital of 
 the Isles of Shoals, if we may so designate the village which arose there 
 after the decay of the hamlet on Appledore. The new townlet was called 
 Gosport, and lishing was carried on by the quarter of a thousand inhab- 
 itants with such brisk enterprise, that by 1750 ships came to its little 
 harbor from the Mediterranean ports, to load salt lish for Lenten days 
 in foreign lands. Like the first Greeks and Romans, the founders of Gos- 
 port were patterns of virtuous integrity, and the local code was severe, and 
 was administered without regard to rank or sex. Joanne Ford received 
 nine stripes, delivered with impartial vigor, in the presence of the municipal 
 authorities in council assembled, because, as it is recorded, she had called 
 the constable " horn-headed rogue, and cow-headed rogue." It is quite 
 possible he had justly earned a right to these titles, and had not unlikely 
 given her severe provocation ; but the law and its officers must, of course, 
 be above insult. The success and wealth which attended the fisheries of 
 Gosport seem, however, to have had the same effect on the jeunesse doree 
 of this populous seaport that prosperity usually produces in all large cities. 
 
 SMUTTY NOSE. 
 
 lliotous living became too common ; the Decalogue, as a guide for practice, 
 fell into disuse ; and, what seemed quite as bad at that time, the inhabitants 
 were proved guilty of giving aid and comfort to the British and the Tories
 
 216 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 at the outbreak of the Revolution. Thej were ordered to leave the isl- 
 ands, and the census of Gosport fell suddenly from 284 to 44 individuals. 
 Tlie proprietors of the large hotel which now occupies the former site 
 of Gosport bought out the few remaining inhabitants, and their cottages 
 
 wii^t- =^ 
 
 OLD CHURCH, STAR ISLAND. 
 
 have been turtied into tenement houses, which are leased to visitors when 
 their number is too large to find accommodation in the hotel. On the 
 barren, broken, rock -strewn hill, the culminating point of Star Island, 
 stands the old cluircli of Gospoi't, a stone structure thirtj^-six feet by 
 twenty-four on the outside ; the walls are two feet thick. A vane crowns 
 tlte steeple, which was considered elaborately ornamental and costly by 
 those wlio put it there. It was also used as a storehouse for salt fish on 
 week-days ; sometimes it was left there during the hours of service. 
 
 Gosport was like other towns, large and small, in one respect. They 
 all have their graveyards. Gosport is now one of the towns that have 
 ceased to be, and tlie place where it stood knoweth it no moi-e. But there, 
 on the western side of Star Island, facing tlie setting sun, and washed by 
 the moaning sea, its lonely graves remain to tell of those who, ages ago, 
 lived and toiled, and loved, and suffered, and sinned, or triumphed over 
 sin, on Star Island. And there they may yet repose for centuries to come, 
 if the sacrilegious visitor, or the grasping money-seeker, does not invade 
 that little cemetery, which seems to have been left in trust to the genera- 
 tions yet to be. 
 
 Near the eastern end of Star Island stands a monument erected to
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 217 
 
 Captain '"'John Smitli, tlie Discoverer of these Isles." as the inscription 
 runs. It was placed there by the islanders, and cannot be justly con- 
 sidered either classical or graceful in design. Three steps are surmounted 
 by a pedestal that snpports a triangular marble column, which is in turn 
 crowned by three Turks' heads, or, rather, three heads were once there ; 
 but wind, weather, and vandalism have made sad work of two of them. 
 Captain Smith was justly proud of his exploit in shearing off the heads 
 of three Turks in his Hungary catnpaign, and this monument is a tribute 
 to the lively satisfaction with which he regarded that pleasant incidei^it 
 in his varied career. 
 
 The annals of the Isles of Shoals include two other names of local 
 note, the Kev. Mr. Tucke and the Rev. Mr. Brock, both good Puritans. 
 Mather has somewhat to say of the latter, who seems to have been a 
 strong, quaint, sincere, decided character, well adapted to deal with the 
 weather-worn fishermen and broad-shouldered fish -wives of his insular 
 parish. In the "Magnalia" we read that one of the fishermen, who had 
 often ferried the people across the cove to church, lost his boat in a 
 
 \ ^J^6!^^,i| ^ ^ 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MONnMENT, STAR ISLAND. 
 
 storm. "When he informed Mr. Brock of his misfortune, he suggested 
 tliat an overruling Providence did not seem to have taken his pious ser- 
 vices into suflScient consideration, or he would not have been repaid by the
 
 218 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 loss of his boat. " Go home contented, good sir," said Mr. Brock ; " I'll 
 mention it to the Lord. You may expect to find your boat to-moi-row." 
 
 GORGE, STAR ISLAND. 
 
 The next day the boat floated to the surface, brought up by the fluke of a 
 ship's anchor. The angel delegated to recover "the boat may have gone 
 down and fixed the point of the anchor-fluke inside of the gunwale, just 
 
 WHITE ISLAND LIGHT.
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 219 
 
 as they catch the mutton-fish in the West Indies, which is said to be so 
 sUiggish that divers descend and pnt the hook into its mouth. 
 
 The frequent wrecks on the Isles of Shoals have naturally caused more 
 or less treasure to be washed up on the rocks. Even as early as the time 
 of Captain Smith coins had begun to be found occasionally, sometimes in 
 the mouths of fish ; and the Indians told as exaggerated stories about it as 
 the Indians farther south related to Columbus about the gold in the West 
 
 
 CLIFFS, WHITE ISLAND. 
 
 Indies. The following exquisite passage from the worthy captain's jour- 
 nal will match what he said about the spiders of Bermuda : 
 
 "And is it not a pretty sport to pull up twopence, sixpence, and twelve- 
 pence as fast as one can bate or veare a line ? The salvages compare the 
 store in the sea to the hairs upon their heads; and surely there is an in- 
 credible abundance of them upon the coast."
 
 220 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 The sceneiT of Star Island — if one may apply that term to an islet 
 scarce half a mile long — is broken and nigged, and rising at each end. 
 
 COVERED WALK AND LIGHT-HOUSE, WHITE ISLAND. 
 
 The most remarkable spot in its warm gray cliffs is the Gorge, formed by 
 untold ages of breakers thnndering against it before ever man appeared 
 on the M'ild New England shore. The magnificent picture, entitled "The 
 Breaking np of a Storm on Star Island," painted b}^ Mr. M. F. H. de Haas, 
 is a grand representation of the rocks of this island in a roaring north- 
 easter. 
 
 Dne east from Star Island, half a mile distant, is Londoner, a low, 
 bare, uninhabited rock ; the ruins of one small dwelling still remain upon 
 it. At the north-western end lies a most cruel reef, over which the surf 
 rolls with terrific grandeur. 
 
 A quarter of a mile south of Londoner is White Island. The north-
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 221 
 
 ern part of it is called Seavey's Island, because a high tide sometimes 
 overflows the neck which joins them. White Island proper is a grim, 
 stubborn rock, sturdily breasting the Atlantic surges, and is by no means 
 the least interesting of the group. Its rugged, abrupt, deeply furrowed 
 form, and the perpendicular face it shows to the south, give to it a sav- 
 age wildness and grandeur oui of proportion with its actual dimensions. 
 On the summit of its highest point, eighty feet above the water, stands 
 the light -house which has been rendered famous by the graphic muse 
 of Mrs. Thaxter, whose girlhood was spent on White Island. It is a solid 
 stone structure, picturesquely harmonizing with the scene of which it is 
 the central object. The lamp is a Fi-esnel light of tlie first class, and 
 cost thirty thousand dollars. The violence of the sea when it bursts on 
 White Island may be judged from the fact that the heavy covered walk, 
 over a hundred feet long, was once washed completely away, and, rushing 
 down the gorge, was crushed and swept out to sea. 
 
 The Isles of Shoals entirely merit the reputation they have acquired. 
 In a space under six hundred acres they offer manifold attractions to the 
 invalid, the artist, or the pleasure-seeker. A residence there possesses the 
 tonic qualities of a sea-voyage ; and as for hay fever, the unhappy victim 
 who has vainly sought freedom from an affliction which has destroyed so 
 many a fair summer's sport may calmly sit on the piazza at Appledore or 
 Star Island, and, while he smokes his cigar with serene exultation, can 
 laugh to scorn the relentless demon who watches on the opposite coast, 
 unable to cross the sea, but waiting to seize him again when he once more 
 leaves the Isles of Shoals. 
 
 ^ ^-i??;-- 
 
 LONDONEn, FROM STAB ISLAND.
 
 222 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 IT was late in October that I arrived on the coast of Cape Breton, in the 
 good bark Ethan Allen, from Madeira. The exceptionally favorable 
 winds we had enjo^'ed now left ns, and it was only after battling with 
 heavy squalls, and gales, and adverse cnri-ents for several days, at the en- 
 trance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, that we succeeded in making the port 
 for which we were bound, and we were quite able after that to realize 
 why insurance premiums are doubled after October sets in on all vessels 
 sailing for that inhospitable coast. It took all day to beat up the long, 
 narrrow entrance to Sydney harbor, and we passed a steamer which had 
 gone on the bar in a storm which had forced us to stand out to sea two 
 days before. The prospect was rendered somewhat dismal by a crowd 
 of damaged vessels which had been wholly or partially wrecked in the 
 appalling hurricane of the previous August. Of Sydney little can be said 
 that is inviting. The lay of the land is very much that of our own New 
 England, but vegetation is more sparse, and the general appearance of the 
 landscape more sad and sere. The bay is spacious and well protected, af- 
 fording several excellent harbors for ordinary weather ; but the town pre- 
 sents a singular blending of squalor and thrift, the former being the first 
 feature to impress the stranger on landing. Shanties and groggeries, dis- 
 reputable to a degree, abound, and lead one to think he has fallen on some 
 maritime Laramie or Cheyenne ; while to the westward new houses, glory- 
 ing in the tawdriness of white paint, green shutters, and flimsy verandas, 
 indicate that the place is not altogether going to the dogs. Coal is the 
 chief stock in trade, and the supply is apparently inexhaustible ; the whole 
 island is, in fact, intersected by seams of the black mineral. The veins 
 run under the harbor at Sydney, and are worked to a considerable depth. 
 The population is, consequently, mining, combined with a large floating 
 class of fishermen and seamen, ever ready to "splice the main-brace" and 
 chuck the rosy girls of Cape Breton under the chin. It must be added 
 that they do not always stop there, and street brawls, as may be easily im-
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 223 
 
 agiiied, are not uncommon. It is difficult to fancy any one lying awake 
 o' nights sighing for Sydney. 
 
 This port has of late years become a great resort for our mackerel fish- 
 ermen. It is not far from Cape North, one of the fishing-grounds, and 
 the fisli ai-e also found toward the close of the season off the harbor. Sev- 
 enty of our schooners made Sydney a rendezvous during the previous 
 
 FISHERKEN CRniSING. 
 
 summer, and it is indeed a stirring and beautiful spectacle to see the 
 graceful little craft dodging up and down the long entrance to the harbor, 
 or darting hither and thither in white groups, like sea-fowl, in search of 
 schools of mackerel. So fascinated was I by the sight of these schooners, 
 that, on finding my bark was not going to return to Boston, I at once de- 
 cided to get passage in one of the schooners, if possible, in preference to
 
 224 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 the steamer. Fortune seemed to favor me. The skij3per of the A72na 
 Jfaria came aboard to brin^ us some fresh mackerel, and told us he was 
 to start the following morning for home, going, for the first time, by way 
 of the Bras d'Or, which I had long wished to see. lie kindly offered me 
 a bunk, and a share of grub for myself and dog. I jumped at the pro- 
 posal, and early the next day took my traps aboard ; we peaked the main- 
 sail, tripped the anchor, and stood out to sea. The Aima Maria was 
 twenty-four years old, forty-one tons burden, and had a small forecastle 
 and a diminutive trunk-cabin aft ; live men slept forward, and there were 
 six of us, or seven, including a dog, in the cuddy. The deck was lumbered 
 up with a quantity of iish-barrels and tubs, and the whole vessel was in an 
 unmentionable state of dirtiness, resulting from twelve weeks of fishing. 
 
 There are two entrances to the remarkable sea-lake called the Bras 
 d'Or, which separates Cape Breton Island into two nearly equal portions. 
 Within a short time a canal, scarcely half a mile long, has been cut 
 through the isthmus, permitting the passage of vessels of small burden. 
 It is about sixty miles from the canal to the two eastern straits or en- 
 trances. The southern entrance is impassable except for steamers and 
 boats. We struck for the northern passage, called tlie Great Bras d'Or, 
 having a leading wind, without which it is impossible for a sailing vessel 
 to pass in. The navigable channel is very narrow, the tide runs through 
 it like a mill-race, and, for the first few miles, any vessel getting ashore 
 there is exposed to the full sw^eep of easterly gales. 
 
 There were seven schooners in company with us, all keeping so closely 
 together that the bowsprit of one would almost overhang the taffrail of 
 the next one; sometimes one would becalm another, and thus shoot by. 
 Finall}^, one of the schooners got slued aside on a bank, and had to be 
 left behind, to get off as she could. Happily for the rest, a, pilot appeared 
 at this juncture in a dory, and agreed to pilot the little fleet. He carried 
 us as far as Kelly's Cove, when, fog and twilight both coming on, we all 
 dropped anchor, and the pilot proceeded to levy toll before leaving us for 
 the night. He was a curious specimen of the genus Bretoniensis. Keep- 
 ing his eyes always down, while he hung on to the side of the vessel, he 
 rattled away with great volubility, which w\as evidently increased by the 
 bad whiskey he had taken before coming off to us. " I don't care for any 
 bluidy silver. A little bluidy pork or beef, a little bluid}'' salt or bluidy 
 jigs, you don't want any more, my hearties, or any other bluidy thiiig will 
 do me jist exactly as well. I should be only too glad to take such a pretty 
 schooner through them narrows for nothink, but don't ye sees, we can't do 
 nothink for nothink in Cape Breton no more than nowheres else? And
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 225 
 
 that's the truth. That'll do, that'll do. I don't want ye to rob yourselves. 
 Fish-bait? no, got enough of the bluidy thing. There's no need of my 
 coming off to ye the mornin' : all ye've got to do is jist to keep that p'int 
 close aboard, and ye'll be all right ; and remimber them two spar-buoys on 
 the starboard beam, and one on the port, and there ain't no other bluidy 
 thing in the channel that the likes o' ye need to be afeard of; and I'm 
 
 TALL FISHING. 
 
 very much obleeged to ye, gintlemen, and I wish ye a pleasant v'yage ;" 
 and off he went to repeat the farce at the next schooner. 
 
 "We found ourselves anchored for the night in Kelly's Cove, under 
 Kelly's Mountain, the highest land on the Bras d'Or. It is an isolated 
 ridge, wliich I estimated to be about twelve hundred feet high, but so bold 
 as to resemble a wall, and give an impression of greater height. Evidences 
 of the tremendous hurricane of the previous September were e\erywhere 
 
 15
 
 226 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 visible. The wind had felled the largest forest trees in ranks mile after 
 mile, or, where the squalls had been most violent, had cnt swaths through 
 the woods as the scythe of the mower lays the grass. This was the case 
 all through the Bras d'Or. Many houses and barns were felled or injured ; 
 at Arichat sixty houses were blown down. Vessels w^ere everywhere de- 
 stroyed ; all through the trip we came across wrecks on shore. 
 
 The boat was lowered, and skipper and I went ashore on a foraging 
 expedition among the farm-houses. We found the people generally were 
 " Heelanders," as they called themselves, among whom Gaelic is still the 
 vernacular, some actually being unable to converse in English. They 
 were mostly Roman Catholics. We finally brought up at a small house, 
 where we spent a couple of houi-s chatting before an old-fashioned ingle- 
 side, over whose bright blaze the kettle was singing. A dance at a fai-m- 
 house farther on was proposed, and skipper offered to bring oif the 
 schooner's fiddler to stimulate the heels and quicken the hearts of the lads 
 and lassies ; but, owing to the lateness of the hour, the plan mifortunately 
 fell through. A brace of geese and a pail of milk were the results of our 
 expedition. It was so dark that the buxom hostess snatched a brand from 
 the hearth, and gave it to us by way of lantern, and we thus I'cached the 
 boat without spilling the milk. 
 
 We were again nnder way the next morning, but the wind was so 
 light we made but little progress. The good weather was improved to 
 clear the deck and clean the vessel. We passed some plaster-cliffs, which 
 furnish material for many of the best ceilings in our cities, and add a 
 striking feature to the scenery. We also had a fine view up the Little 
 Bras d'Or, and left the shire town of Badde(!k on our right, at the bottom 
 of a deep bay. At night we again anchored, at Gi-and Narrows, and skip- 
 per and I repeated our foraging expedition. We were lucky enough to 
 come across some very nice people, bearing the famous names of M'Niel 
 and M'Donald. The next morning, just after we hove up anchor, a boat 
 overtook us, bringing a supply of milk and eggs from our friends of 
 the previous evening, which very materially added to the slender stock of 
 pork, beans, and molasses, that constituted the commissariat of the Anna 
 Maria. But genei-ally the people ai-e a pretty rough set, with a decided 
 talent for brawling and drinking. When we were going aboard at night, 
 we came across three sturdy fellows, well braced with gin, and altogether 
 too willing to fire off the guns they carried to make them pleasant com- 
 panions, especially as they seemed inclined to pick a quarrel. But evad- 
 ing them in the dark, we were the first to reach the boat, beached under 
 cover of some rushes, and shoved off for the schooner.
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 227 
 
 After leaving Grand Narro^vs, the passage widened into a broad lake 
 some twenty miles across at the widest, deeply indented with bays, and 
 stndded with large islands. Fish and game abound there. While we 
 were becalmed, signs of mackerel appeared, and all hands got out their 
 lines, and each man took his allotted place by the side of the vessel ; but, 
 after a few minutes of spirited sport, the fish left us, and a breeze sprung 
 
 ^\ 
 
 BIDING OUT A NORTH-EASTER. 
 
 up and fanned ns along through the afternoon. To the sportsman, few 
 places offer greater attractions than the Bras d'Or, in summer and early 
 autumn. At sundown the fleet was becalmed in the middle of the lake, 
 which was glowing and magnificent beyond description, under the splen- 
 dor of a sunset of extraordinary beauty and variety of tint and hue. As I 
 gazed, entranced, on that spectacle, I did not wonder that they called that 
 sea strait, so rarely combining lake and river, the Bras d'Or. Golden was
 
 228 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 the autmniial glory of its shores, golden were its waters, and golden the 
 tranquil sky which overhung and imparted to it half its wealth of beauty. 
 The shootino;-stars and the nio-ht-breeze came toirether, and we M-atch- 
 
 ed the one and glided gently along before the other, until at midnight we 
 again neared dangerous navigation, and came to an anchor. On the fol- 
 lowing day we passed a noted Indian settlement, where there is a large 
 church with some wigwams. The Indians of this region assemble in 
 spring and summer on their island, and attempt to keep up the dances 
 and other ceremonies peculiar to their ancestors. 
 
 The scenery now became exceedingly romantic and beautiful, often 
 resembling the Thousand Islands, and the region is so little inhabited as 
 scarcely to seem a country that has been settled for two hundred years. 
 Islands of all sizes, sometimes mere knolls tufted with birches and pines, 
 divide the lake into numerous winding channels for a long distance. The 
 ship-channel is often so narrow and tortuous that it was with great diffi- 
 cult}^ that even our short schooners, capable of turning within their own 
 lengths, could be worked without going ashore. One of them here ran 
 her nose into a mud-bank, on which we also touched, and so firmly that 
 she lay there several days. 
 
 Just before evening the Anna Maria, heading the fleet, reached the 
 canal at St. Peter's. In an hour she was again on the Atlantic; but so 
 difficult is the way out into the harbor, that we grounded on a rock in a 
 dangerous situation. 
 
 While we were getting her off, a party of Indians landed close under 
 our lee, and in a very few minutes the}'- had put up several bark wigwams, 
 and the dusky shades of evening were rendered picturesque by the smoky 
 gleams of their fires. The little cove where we were lying, the forests on
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 229 
 
 one side and the wigwams and strange forms moving before the light and 
 reflected in the water ; the last lingeiing rays of sunset on the other side, 
 vividly outlining the rakish spars of the pinks rocking in the port; the 
 splash and swing of warps in the water; the quick movement of boats 
 here and there, with phosphorescent drops twinkling on the oars; the 
 shadow of the spars, and the tread of feet on the deck, as schooner after 
 schooner warped past lis in the starry gloom — presented a singidar and 
 effective scene. 
 
 Early the next morning we worked out of St. Peter's by Madame Isl- 
 
 ONE OF THE FISHERMAN S PERILS. 
 
 and. The threatening character of the weather inclined us to go into 
 Arichat, but a land-breeze sprung up after sunset. All night we flew be- 
 fore it under press of sail, and by next morning had run one hundred and
 
 230 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 forty miles, and were abreast of Halifax. On the following day our good 
 weather came to an end. A gale was coming on, and, after pounding 
 against a heavy sea several hours and starting a leak, we were just able to 
 work into Shelburne, where we lay three days. Shelburne possesses the 
 finest harbor in Nova Scotia. What is also in its favor is, that it is easy of 
 access, and is often made a harbor of refuge. The settlement is, however, 
 but a wretched makeshift for a town, like many places in the Eastern prov- 
 inces, but has considerable ship-building, which gives it some appearance 
 of thrift. It also abounds with herring, which are eaten in such quantities 
 by the Bluenoses, that it is said of them they cannot pull off their shirts in 
 spring because of the fish-bones sticking through their skin ! The w^eather 
 was still dubious when we put to sea in company with fifteen sail, all 
 bound to the westward, but we hoped the easterly wind would hold to 
 take us across the Bay of Fundy, the worst bit of navigation, owing to its 
 fogs, rips, reefs, tides, and currents, to be found anywhei-e on the coast of 
 North America. But, in fact, nowhere does a close inspection of the 
 ledges along the Nova Scotia shore inspire one with agreeable sensations, 
 nor are such names as Ironbound or Ragged Harbor pleasingly suggestive. 
 I never can pass that forbidding coast without thinking of some grim 
 monster showing his teeth, ready to crunch the bones of hapless victims. 
 The vigor with which the new Dominion has assumed the reins of govern- 
 ment is nowhere more evident than in the increased attention bestowed 
 on light-houses, which have hitherto been infamously scarce, considering 
 the character of the coast, and have been badly kept and lighted. 
 
 During the day we passed a large ship, high and dry on a reef, going 
 to pieces. The wind freshened at night, and we stood across the Bay of 
 Fundy in fine style. The next morning it was thick and nasty, blowing a 
 gale of wind, with a heavy following sea. Wing and wing we " kihooted " 
 before it under a press of sail such as only our fishermen indulge in. The 
 least carelessness of the steersman might have sent us to the bottom. "A 
 man must have his life insured who sails on the An7ia Maria to-day," 
 said one to me. At noon a violent squall obliged us to take in sail. With 
 some difficulty, we took in the mainsail, and, jibing the foresail, brought 
 the lively little craft around just in time to get control of her, laying her 
 half under water as she came up to the wind. We ran till night under 
 close-reefed foresail, and then hove to near Cashe's Ledge till morning. 
 Then the wind shifted into south-west, and finally came howling out of 
 the north-west, and, as the skipper forcibly expressed it, " it everlastingly 
 screeched." We had but one suit of sails ; they were old and worn, and 
 the foresail split and gave us some trouble ; our stock of provisions was
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 231 
 
 rniinino; low, and there was some reason to fear we should be blown to the 
 eastward again. Generally, onr fishermen fare very well, frequently lay- 
 ing in fresh provisions at the ports they visit. One of the crew is usually 
 chosen as cook, and receives, like the captain, a double share of the catch. 
 But the staple article of diet is pork and beans — a very savory dish if 
 properly cooked. This gave rise to the story of a fishing-schooner, which 
 was sighted flying a flag of distress by a ship standing out to sea. They 
 ran down, and hailed her. The skipper replied that the scliooner was 
 still one day's sail from port, and had only one barrel of beans on board. 
 
 During all these days tlie spinning of yarns went on without intermis- 
 sion fore and aft, and I gained new ideas of the constant and almost in- 
 credible perils to which our fishermen are exposed, especially on the 
 Georges and off the Magdalen Islands. Many a hair-breadth escape from 
 being run down in the fog, or from foundering, was narrated. One of our 
 crew had been on board a schooner which turned completely bottom up, 
 and righted on the other side, when riding out a gale on the Georges 
 Shoals. He was on the lookout, and, seeing an innnense wave coming, 
 pulled the slide over the companion-way and rushed below. Almost im- 
 possible as it seems, it is recorded as a true story in the fishing annals of 
 Cape Ann. Euchre and checkers, which were played on a board carved 
 on the top of a locker, and the whittling of knick-knacks, went on alontj 
 with the spinning of yarns. It was interesting to see how, through it all, 
 these hardy fellows managed to retain characteristics pui-ely human ; for 
 example, the habit of croaking, and of finding fault with those on \vhom 
 the responsibility devolved. Did tlie skipper carry sail hard, they said he 
 did not know when to take it in ; did he prudently seek to spare the only 
 suit of canvas we had, or avoid running on the land in the fog, they said, 
 " The worst fault a master of a ship can have is to take sail in too soon." 
 Like unwhipped school-boys, they thought they knew everything, and, like 
 sailors in general, exercised little foresight or provision for contingencies. 
 Of course, on a vessel where all sailed on sliares, any regular discipline 
 was out of the question, the authority of the skipper being nearly nominal, 
 the man making it rather than receiving it from tlie oflice. 
 
 Onr skipper was a man of the most imperturbable good-humor, but a 
 good seaman, shrewdly adapting himself to the unruly spirits he had to 
 deal with, and generally exercising control without appeai-ing to do so. 
 '" Come on, bullies, let's take a turn on the main sheet," was the usual form 
 of an order; or, " Keep her off a little mite. Uncle Mike !" 
 
 The watch usualW consisted of two men, one at the wheel, and the 
 other acting as lookout, and oscillating between the stove in the cabin and
 
 232 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 the bows, with a sti'ong gravitation toward the former. The clock for- 
 ward was half an hour ahead of the one aft ; I don't know whether the 
 fact was generally known, but I think it was known to some : I observed 
 that some of the watches were shorter than others. 
 
 One night, two of the leading faultfinders were directed to tack ship 
 
 in their watch, there being a heavy 
 sea running at the time. Three times 
 these self-sufficient fellows tried to 
 bring the schooner about; three times 
 they failed, mouthing enormous impre- 
 cations, and with such frequent men- 
 tion of hell that I fancied I could 
 smell brimstone. The skipper, mean- 
 time, quietly lay in his bunk, and en- 
 joyed the discomfiture of his defamers. 
 At last he put his head up the com- 
 panion - wa}" and said, "Your jib is 
 eased off too much ; haul down the 
 jib, and she'll come around all right!"' 
 They obeyed, and the schooner was off 
 on the other tack at once. He said 
 nothing more, but an hour after went 
 on deck himself, and tacked ship with 
 the ease of a man who knows what he is about. The men could say not a 
 word. 
 
 Another curious trait among sailors, especially noticeable among those 
 so little under discipline as our fishermen, is the way they act in emer- 
 gencies. The vessel, perhaps, is threatened by a heavy squall, and sail 
 must be taken off at once, or the gravest consequences may ensue in a 
 moment. One would suppose, therefore, that Mdien the lives of all on 
 board, including the crew themselves, are imperilled, and the quick orders 
 of the captain summon all hands on deck without delay, they would need 
 no further urging. Not a bit of it. The first thing they do is to grum- 
 ble, "D — the weather! what the devil does he want to hurry a fel- 
 low out of his bunk for?" Then they will not stir till they have arranged 
 their oil-suit, as if it were a dress suit for a ball ; after that, some of them 
 must fill and light their pipes ! If the captain puts his head down and 
 repeats the order, " Come out of there, and don't be all day about it !" 
 they mutter, " D — d if I will before I'm ready !" This does not result 
 from superior courage or recklessness so much as from a species of pig- 
 
 TAKING A SIGHT.
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 233 
 
 headedness or habit; for the same men will he as much appalled as other 
 men by danger when they fairly realize it, or if it be in a form to which 
 they are unaccustomed. 
 
 We managed, in the teeth of a violent wind, to beat up as far as Cape 
 Elizabeth, where we found the water a little smoother. But we should 
 have kept on and made a harbor in the Sheepscot River, if the wind had 
 not moderated after sunset, so as to enable us to work down to the Isles 
 of Shoals, which we passed at daybreak. As we nearcd the destined poit, 
 razors and blacking -brushes were brought out of hidden corners, and a 
 general burnishing followed. Those who had "boiled shirts" actually 
 went through a transformation, when they put them on in exchange for 
 their heavy blue or red woollen shirts. It took us the rest of the day to 
 beat into Gloucester under a press of canvas, with a foot of water in our 
 lee scuppers, and carrying away the maintopmast-sta^'sail as we came 
 abreast of Norman's Woe. 
 
 The good old A7i'na Ilaria laid her bones on Newburyport bar two 
 years after, in 1877, and poor Captain Jewett has met the fisherman's fate 
 on the Grand Banks.
 
 234 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 AN evening in an enchanted region, gliding Over an enchanted sea 
 toward an enchanted isle, was the fair night when first I approached 
 the far-famed isle of beauty which lies on the South of England's shore. 
 The stately line of battle-ships of other days, their long tiers of port-holes 
 lit up and reflected in the still waters of Portsmouth, lent magic to the 
 scene. Out of the starry gloom beyond, ghost -like yachts, one by one, 
 
 silently stole by, fanned by the low 
 sea-wind. The strains of martial 
 music floated out to sea, now rising, 
 now falling, in harmonious cadences, 
 and, as we glided across Spithead 
 strait, a calcium-light suddenly burst 
 at intervals across the night, like a 
 noiseless explosion of a powder-mag- 
 azine, revealing the secrets of the 
 darkness, and as suddenly conceal- 
 ing them again. The lights of the 
 island we were approaching con- 
 stantly grew more and more dis- 
 tinct, wavering on the glassy floor 
 of the still water, and the dark out- 
 lines of woods and hills became less 
 spectral and mysterious, until, almost before we were aware, we were 
 making fast to a pier, and stepping ashore on tlie Isle of Wight. 
 
 By the Romans the island was called " Vectis," by the Saxons 
 " Wihtea," by the Celts " Gwyth," which means channel ; and thus re- 
 duced to its original sense, tlie name literally means the Channel Island. 
 By seamen it is called "the AVight." Well, after much wandering among 
 other isles of the sea, I had at last arrived at " the Wight," and fortunate- 
 ly, as I found when daylight came, had been first introduced to it at Ryde,
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 235 
 
 whicli is a fittins: vestibule throiiii'h wliicli to enter the island. In former 
 years, before the building of the pier, Ryde was accessible from the sea 
 scarce twelve hours out of tlie twenty-four, owing to the long stretch of 
 
 muddy flats which lie more or less exposed at low water. Passengers 
 often had to be landed, like poor Fielding, the inimitable author of "Tom 
 Jones," on the backs of sailors. Later, a cart was substituted ; and, finally, 
 a pier was built. This, proving too short, was, eventually carried out into 
 deep water to a distance of half a mile. There it terminates in a covered 
 platform, from which an extensive and satisfying prospect is obtained of 
 the northern coast of tlie island, from Seaview Point to Cowes, of whicli 
 the central object is Ryde itself, reposing on a gentle slope embowered 
 in civilized masses of patrician verdure. To the nortliward and eastward 
 lie the shores of the main-land, and the ships and roofs of Portsmoutli. 
 Around this pier-end tlie prettiest, sauciest, most bewitching of yachts 
 collect during the season, so in love with their own beauty that of a calm, 
 pleasant morning they, swan-like, gaze at themselves reflected in the bur- 
 nished mirror of the bay. There, too, full-cheeked musicians blow magi- 
 cal strains beneath the silent moon, and the fairest dames and damosels, 
 and the most high-mettled aristocrats of Rotten Row, in the jauntiest of
 
 236 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 summer or yacliting- rigs, collect in enraptured pairs to repeat the old story 
 which Jessica and Lorenzo rehearsed in Venice ages ago. Amidst this 
 romantic throng may be detected sometimes the thorouglily prosaic form 
 of your genuine cockney, and the stocky, broad-collared, and wide -trou- 
 sered figure of an old tarpaulin gazing knowingly to seaward, or elbow- 
 ing the crowd with the rolling movement of a heavy-laden ship running 
 before a gale of wind. 
 
 Ryde Pier is one of the rarest spots in Old England. Ryde town is 
 also a charming place of residence, presenting lanes hidden in shrubbery 
 and flowers, and cosy, often elegant, cottages at every turn. It also pos- 
 sesses a yacht-club building and an art academy. A certain rustic, prim- 
 itive simplicity seemed to me, however, to cling to it still when I heard 
 the town-crier going about the streets in a dog-cart, ringing a bell, and 
 shouting, "A large and valuable collection of water-color paintings will be 
 
 sold to-day, at No. Street." But Ryde is fast losing its insular 
 
 rusticity, and is, I fear, degenerating more and more into a vast congeries 
 of boaixling-houses and hotels, with placards in every window, and fees 
 from a ha'penny upward, payable to every one of whom you ma}' happen 
 to ask a simple question. Thei'e is a museum at Ryde worth visiting. It 
 contains local antiquities and relics, including the ossuary remains of the 
 monks and founders of Quarr Abbey, which once stood a couple of miles 
 west of Ryde. It was a wealthy corporation, owning lands in most parts 
 of the island. The inmates waxed fat on the revenues, were noted for 
 their sharp practices, and for disturbing the domestic peace of the neigh- 
 borhood by a lax interpretation of the seventh commandment. At any 
 rate, the reputation of the abbey was not savory. Founded by Redvers de 
 Baldwin, lord of the isle in 1132, it was abolished by Henry VIII. Little 
 now remains to mark the site of Quarr Abbey ; but stone coffins have from 
 time to time been revealed, and the spot is still haunted by certain char- 
 acteristic legends. It is claimed that a wood near the abbey, called El- 
 eanor's Grove, after the queen of Henry II., was often visited by her dur- 
 ing her imprisonment at Quarr. After her death she was buried there in 
 a coffin of gold, which is guarded from the cupidity of an unregenerate 
 generation by the potent spell of a magician. 
 
 The Isle of Wight is divided into two grand geological divisions — the 
 tertiary eocene, and the cretaceous, or chalk, formation. The former in- 
 cludes the northern half of the island, the latter the southern half. On 
 the southei'n coast are also two narrow, isolated strips of wealden strata. 
 In point of scenery, the southern portion is by far the grandest and most 
 various in its aspects, and toward that, therefore, I first directed my steps
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 237 
 
 oil leaving Rj^de. In former years, the stage-coach was the only and the 
 all-sufficient public conveyance for the traveller who did not care to see 
 this fair isle on foot. But the vast and constantly increasing number of 
 tourists who overrun the island has caused the construction of two minia- 
 ture railways, soon to be succeeded by others, until ultimately an iron net- 
 work shall weave its ineslies over the idyllic vales of AVight. But the 
 pedestrian will always find the old charming lanes and stiles, and prefer 
 thus to see some of the choicest nooks of the island. It is a pleasant 
 morning stroll to Brading, passing by the spot where were laid the bod- 
 ies raised from the Royal George. 
 Midway between. Portsmouth and 
 the Isle of Wight, not a century ago, 
 the brave old line-of-battle ship heel- 
 ed over in a breeze, and went down 
 at her anchorage with twice five 
 hundred souls on board. Kempen- 
 felt, the admiral, Avas lost, with his 
 flag-ship ; and Cowper gave immor- 
 tality to this tragedy of the sea in 
 a few famous lines. A buoy now 
 marks the spot where the Royal 
 George lies — the sands of the sea 
 choking up her port -holes, and the 
 monsters of the deep toying with her 
 nn'ghty skeleton. 
 
 Brading, a quaint little town, lies 
 at the head of Brading Haven, a 
 lake-like cove, embayed among love- 
 ly hills and groves — a most charming 
 scene, except at low water. A stone- 
 cased well in the centre of the port shows that it was once dry land. To 
 the outside world Brading is known chiefly as the home of little Jane, the 
 Young Cottager, whose simple and pious life was described by the Rev. 
 Legh Richmond. Her rustic cottage still stands iii a green lane at the 
 bottom of Brading Down, and her grave, in the south-east corner of the 
 village church-yard, has been visited by scores of thousands. Legh Rich- 
 mond, who was pastor here in the early part of this century, not onl}^ 
 achieved a wide fame by his pathetic rural narratives, entitled " Tlie An- 
 nals of the Poor," but also wrought an influence for good hardly equalled 
 by any other religious writer since the time of John Bunyan. 
 
 ORANE OF THE \OLNG COTTAGER
 
 238 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 But Brading has other points of interest. The church, whicli lias re- 
 cently been most carefully restored, is undoubtedly of very ancient date. 
 It is known that a church existed here as early as 704, in which Bishop 
 
 Wilfrid baptized the first Christian 
 convert of the island ; and there 
 seems nothing to disprove the fact 
 that the present building either con- 
 tains certain portions of that primi- 
 tive chapel, or was erected on its site 
 at a remote period. Half- way down 
 the long street of Brading is an open 
 space where bull-baiting was former- 
 ly enjoyed by the island swains; the 
 ring to wdiich the bull was made fast 
 is still fixed in the centre of the spot. 
 A well-worn pair of stocks are yet 
 shown in front of the venerable town- 
 hall, and some of the diamond-case- 
 mented cottages exhibit the rings to 
 which tapestries were suspended on 
 festal days of yore. 
 
 South of Brading, on the Ventnor 
 Railway, is Sandown, which gives its name to the most beautiful bay in 
 the whole island. As a residence, it is chiefly attractive for its sands, ad- 
 mirably adapted for bathing. But to the lover of nature they ai-e sadly 
 marred by the inevitable rows of bathing-machines, which largely neutral- 
 ize the eifect of the coast scenery at most of the English and Fi-ench wa- 
 tering-places. The Culver Cliffs, perpendicular walls of chalk washed by 
 the blue sea, add majesty to the lovely sweep of Sandown Bay. Tliat 
 notoriously eccentric demagogue of the last century, John Wilkes, owned 
 a"villakin," as he sportively called it, at Sandown, where he spent the 
 last years of his life. The grounds were curiously decorated with gro- 
 tesque pavilions and imitations of classic tombs, inscribed to those he most 
 admired — not excluding himself. A pillar, embowered in shrubbery, bore 
 the epitaph, " Carolo GhurcJdU,, dlvino poeta, amico juGUiAo^ oivi oj^tlme 
 de 2)atria merito — To Charles Churchill, the divine poet, the genial 
 friend, the citizen who has deserved well of his country." 
 
 But Shanklin, reputed the loveliest of the lovely villages of the isle, 
 drew me by its fame from Sandown — Shanklin, sung b}' poets and haunt- 
 ed by artists, Keats says, "Shanklin is a most beautiful place; sloping 
 
 r.EGII RICHMOND.
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 239 
 
 wood ar.d meadow groniid reach i-ound the Chine, wliich is a cleft be- 
 tween the chffs, of the depth of nearly three hundred feet." The site of 
 the town is deeply undulating, presenting many quiet nooks and dells, 
 wherein nestle the most charming of leafy cottages, surrounded by dense 
 hedges and espaliers tapestried with masses of flowers — fuchsias, gerani- 
 ums, sweet-peas, heliotropes, and roses, deftly interwoven by nature and 
 art combined. On the sea-side the village everywhere terminates in bold 
 precipices, whose brow is parapeted with turf, and furnished here and 
 there with rustic seats. On the sands, at the base, fishermen's rude huts, 
 fishing-boats, lobster-baskets, and fishing-nets are picturesquely grouped, 
 and, I regret to add, rows of the inevitable bathing-machines. It is but 
 small compensating consolation to the artistic eye to be assured that the 
 sandy floor is here the finest on the island. From the lofty slopes of 
 Dunnose the prospect over Sandown Bay offers one of the loveliest sea- 
 views to be found on any coast, when the skies are blue, flecked and 
 barred by the faint tracery of fleecy, moveless summer clouds, the shining 
 cliffs assuming a tender roseate hue 
 in the mellow afternoon glow, and 
 the amethystine sea enclosing the 
 isle with a line of silver foam, and 
 itself enclosed in the distance by the 
 dreamy coast of Old England, and 
 lit up by the sails of trim yachts or 
 clippers fading away toward unseen 
 lands. 
 
 But to most people the great at- 
 traction of Shanklin is the Chine. 
 The word chine is a local name ap- 
 plied to deep grooves or clefts worn 
 into the sides of the sea-cliffs, in the 
 course of long ages, by streams seek- 
 ing to merge their brief current of 
 life with the eternity of ocean. 
 Many have been the enthusiastic 
 lovers of nature who have visited 
 Shanklin Chine, and have lived po- 
 etic hours or composed living vei'se 
 in this romantic ravine. The steep, closely opposing sides are densely 
 hung with verdure, and it is certainly a very attractive spot. But I con- 
 fess to disappointment when I saw Shanklin Chine. The stream is gener- 
 
 JOHN WILKES.
 
 240 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 ally exceedingly meagre — a mere insignificant thread dribbling down the 
 side of a low precipice, and slipping with j)roper humility over a suc- 
 cession of narrow steps 
 or ledges toward the sea, 
 close at hand. It did not 
 add to my interest to find 
 that in some places artifi- 
 cial, squarely cut slabs had 
 replaced the natural bed 
 where it had been worn 
 away. Tlic dampness of 
 the place, even in mid- 
 summer, is quite repelling; 
 and if poor Keats spent 
 much time there when he 
 was trying to recruit his 
 health at Shanklin, it 
 must have added to the 
 intensity of the fatal dis- 
 ease which brought him 
 to an early grave. I have 
 seen scores of places of 
 the soi't, but much less 
 known, which quite sur- 
 pass Shanklin Chine in 
 beauty and impressive- 
 ness. 
 
 It was with a certain 
 sneakincr feelino; of rec- 
 reancy to my principles 
 that I stole into Yentnor from Shanklin by the railwa}^ It w^as an evening 
 of surpassing loveliness, the western sky lit by the hyaline amber and gold 
 of warmer climes, and the crescent forming a silvery cleft in the twilight 
 — fortunately over my right shoulder — when suddenly, with a diabolical 
 shriek fi-om the engine, we were whisked out of the glimpses of the moon 
 into the Plutonian darkness of a long and most unromantic tunnel. AVhcn 
 we at length emerged, and found ourselves in Yentnor, and I entered the 
 hotel coach, the extraordinary steepness of the streets suggested the hope 
 that the steeds were not of a frolicsome nature, or we might bring up on 
 the edge of a precipice, and take a plunge of several hundred feet into 
 
 SHANKLIN CHINE.
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 241 
 
 the sea. But we stopped safe and sound at the Crab and Lobster, of 
 which I can speak in the most hearty terms of commendation. Years 
 ago, ere Ventnor had arrived at its present importance, the Crab and 
 Lobster was a wee bit of a hostel nesthng under tlie cliffs, rioted for its 
 good cheer and a thorongli respectability which rendered it inaccessible 
 to all but respectable guests. But times changed ; visitors increased in 
 such degree that at last a larger building was added on to the old inn, 
 which, covered with ivy, clings to the newer and more pretentious dwell- 
 ing. To make room for the latter, the steep rock-sides were hewn away. 
 Even now the Crab and Lobster is of moderate proportions, thus offering 
 accommodation to a limited few, an immense advantage to the visitor, and, 
 in the way it is kept, it is truly a model English inn. From the heights 
 immediately in the rear, reached by steep winding paths, where seats, 
 shaded by flowering shrubbery, are provided, a most delightful prospect 
 is obtained over isle and sea. 
 
 Yentnor is situated on the undercliff, a narrow, broken strip of land. 
 
 VENTNOR, FROM PULPIT ROCK. 
 
 half a mile wide and seven miles long, from Luccombe Chine, in the east, 
 to Blackgang Chine, in the west. On the nortli it is bounded by the 
 steep, lofty wall of Boniface Down and St. Catherine's Hill, springing 
 
 16
 
 242 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 to a height of over eight hundred feet. On the south it terminates in 
 precipitous cliffs, washed by the ocean surges. Such is a general plan 
 of the undercliff, which was formed ages ago by the breaking away of 
 the slopes, undermined, perhaps, by streams and rains. In dire confusion, 
 the sliding mass rushed toward the sea, and the undercliff was the result. 
 But neither pen nor pencil can adequately portray the limitless variety 
 of forms, the exquisite and suggestive beauty, which render the undercliff 
 the most enchanting spot in the island. It is as if some vast capital of 
 the giants of old had been overthrown, and its palaces and towers mingled 
 and heaped in indiscriminate ruin, and then overgrown and beautified 
 with the rank vegetation which time throws like a green shi'oud over 
 the remains of dead cities. The illusion is heightened by the cliffs from 
 which this landslip was detached. In many places the jagged and ver- 
 tical rocks, sometimes actually overhanging the road, bear the closest re- 
 semblance in form and color to ancient fortifications of stupendous di- 
 mensions. 
 
 So far, Nature has done her part in beautifying this part of the Isle 
 of Wight ; while man, with the best intentions in the world, is doing his 
 best to subtract from these attractions. A few cottages and country-seats, 
 such as the English know how to create to perfection, did no harm to the 
 undercliff; they, perhaps, added to its beauty by the introduction of here 
 and there a lovely garden, a Tudor casement peeping out of viny trellises, 
 a few rosy-cheeked children playing by the road-side, or some peerless- 
 English irirl reclinino; on a s-reen bank, or blendino; her evenino- son<y with 
 the warbling of the nightingale. But alas for the truism, " One may have 
 too much of a good thing !" for that is exactly the trouble with Ventnor 
 just now. From a humble hamlet, reposing in the sweetest spot of Old 
 England's loveliest isle, it has reached a population of six thousand, which 
 is rapidly increasing, with newspapers, shops, hotels, and all tlie other ap- 
 purtenances of a highly popular watering-place. The rapidly rising houses 
 are fast hiding some of the characteristic features of the undercliff, and 
 every pretty drive is disfigured by such advertisements as the following: 
 " This fine lot of two acres to let for 999 years ;" or, " This noble estate 
 to let for 2000 3'ears ; inquire of Find and Fleecem, Cheatem St., London." 
 Why a piece of land that is to let for twenty centuries should not be sold 
 outright, it is difficult to understand. Imagine the bother of now collecting 
 rent from an estate on a lease made before Julius Caesar was born. The 
 two thousand years since that event are not yet up. Besides, if titles and 
 contracts can be made available for such a period, it is rather sharp prac- 
 tice to try tlie process at the undercliff, for some of the estates so leased
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 243 
 
 there have, in all probability, but a short tenure of life. The overhang- 
 ing cliffs are sure to tumble on the estate before the two thousand years 
 are out. A landslip in ISIO destroyed thirty acres; one, in 1799, hurled 
 one hundred acres seaward, and several similar convulsions have occurred 
 more recently. Those who would see the cliarms of the undercliff be- 
 fore it has been further defaced by man should, therefore, not delay their 
 visit to the Isle of Wight. 
 
 But, after all, one cannot blame the good people who flock to Ventnor 
 during the summer and winter for pleasure or health. He has only him- 
 self to blame if, when he goes to 
 commune with Nature in her happi- 
 est moods and aspects, he allows his 
 reflections to be constantly disturbed 
 by the hundreds and thousands of 
 chattering tourists, swarming over 
 cliff and vale like flies over a bowl 
 of sugar, or geologists and mineral- 
 ogists chipping the rocks with their 
 hammers, indifferent artists sketch- 
 ing in every clioice nook, and pho- 
 tographers introducing their instru- 
 ments in the most impressive spots. 
 As to invalids, if they must go to the 
 Isle of Wight for their health, Vent- 
 nor is, of course, the only place for 
 them there, after the autumn sets in, 
 with its southern exposure and pro- 
 tection from northerly winds. An 
 asylum for consumptives, entitled the 
 National Cottage Hospital for Con- 
 sumptives, has been established at Ventnor, consisting of a central church, 
 and eight pairs of cottages on each side; it also includes a hall for con- 
 certs and social entertainments. The object of this institution is to fur- 
 nish comfortable lodgings, with the best medical attendance, to invalids 
 unable to go to better health resorts, or who cannot afford the expenses 
 of good boarding-houses or hotels. It seems to have been attended with 
 a fair degree of success since its foundation in 1868. The manager's re- 
 port for 1876 curiously sums up the net gain of the year as represented 
 by a ton of flesh. A ton of flesh is not bad. If not strictly elegant, it is 
 expressive, and saves the bewildered mind from floundering among the 
 
 TUB NAIUUAI. iNtilV.
 
 244 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 minute details of most sanitary reports. Is not the hint worth following 
 in other social statistics? In jnnnicipal reports, or a national census, in- 
 
 BONCllLliCU 
 
 stead of summing np the number of dead and born, or the gains in popula- 
 tion, wh}' not simply and effectively set down the net result in tons of flesh ? 
 
 To the eastward, and immediately adjoining Ventnor, which has grown 
 up to it, is the lovely hamlet of Bonchurch. In Monk's Bay, by which 
 it lies, St. Boniface landed, in a.d. 755, and Bonchurch is said to be a cor- 
 ruption of Bonecerce — the Church of St. Boniface. There is a well called 
 after and dedicated to the saint by a certain bishop, who, on a dark night 
 in the nights long ago, lost his way on the steep side of Boniface Down. 
 ITis horse, and,. in fact, the whole of creation, seemed slipping from mider 
 him as he sped down the declivity, when the horse's hoofs were canght 
 in the cavity of the spring, which gave the bishop breathing-time to vow 
 an acre of ground to the saint if he would carry him safely to the bottom. 
 The saint was so pleased to become a land-owner that he closed M'ith the 
 terms, and the bishop lived to keep his promise. The well, on the day 
 of St. Boniface, was formerly resorted to by the village maidens, who hung 
 garlands there. Divers superstitions and much love-making and junket- 
 ing — all common features of holy wells^ — were also associated with this spot. 
 
 There are various other attractions connected with the idyllic charms
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 245 
 
 of Bonchurch, but tlie choicest, sweetest spot within its bounds is its little 
 church and chnrch-yard. This quaint little chapel, built four or five cen- 
 turies ago, is scarce thirty feet long, but contains two minute galleries, 
 and is not a bad specimen of the Norman style. A curious painting 
 of the Last Judgment adorns the wall. The little graveyard, overlook- 
 ing the sea, and overhung by ivied elms, seems, in its quiet beauty, to rol) 
 death of some of its bitterness. Here lie the remains of the Kev. Wil- 
 liam Adams, author of " The Shadow of the Cross." John Sterling sleeps 
 close by, poet, prose-writer, novelist, and conversationalist, who died aged 
 tliirty-eiglit, according to the tombstone, and in his day was highly appre- 
 ciated by certain cultivated minds — not so much, it would seem, for any- 
 thing lie actually acln'evcd as for the general sum of his powers and the 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 
 ^t3r 
 
 t.f^ 
 
 \ m ^ ^^^M:' 
 
 THE WELL OF ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 impression of possible greatness. A grave of more recent and melancholy 
 interest is that of Emily CowperColes, who died in 1876. She was the
 
 246 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 A CliAB-NITONEK. 
 
 widow of Captain Cowper-Coles, who, on a wild night off the coast of 
 Portno-al, went down with five hundred souls in the famous, ill-fated 
 iron-clad Cajytcdn, of which he was the builder. 
 
 To describe all the delightfullj^ rui-al w^alks and coignes of vantage 
 
 -_^^^-_ ^— - ,______^__- -r=^ r^^ =-^- 1 which offer pleasing views in the 
 
 "^^^^^ ~ ~ " "^^~ ~ ' neighborhood of Bonchurch and 
 
 Ventnor would be a tedious task — 
 they are so numerous. But by keep- 
 ins: on to the westward along the 
 undercliff, one comes to the minia- 
 ture chapel of St. Lawrence, said to 
 be the smallest in Great Britain, and 
 a well dedicated to the same lazy 
 saint. Thence it is a pleasant stroll 
 to St. Catherine's Point — how the 
 saints do abound in the Isle of 
 Wight ! On this headland is a hand- 
 some light -house, whose lantern is 
 174 feet above the ocean. Niton, or Crab Niton, just beyond, noted for 
 its Crustacea, is attractive for its charming country-seats, and is also the 
 scene of an interesting historical incident. Admiral Hopson, who was 
 born at Bonchurch, was apprenticed to a tailor at Niton, when an Eng- 
 lish squadron was seen manoeuvring off the coast. The Anglo-Saxon 
 love of the sea suddenly smote his heart. He rushed to the beach, sprung 
 into a boat, rowed off to the fleet, and was taken on board. An engage- 
 ment with tlie French soon after occurring, the lad is said to have achieved 
 distinction, and hastened the defeat of their fleet by springing from the 
 main-yard into the enemy's rigging, and, under cover of the smoke, tear- 
 ing down their colors. Whatever be the truth of this not impossible feat, 
 it is quite true that he was promoted early, and eventually reached the 
 highest rank in the British navy by his courage and skill. 
 
 Beyond Niton, we come to the Black Gang Chine, a grim abyss, over 
 whose frowning edge a stream spills its wavering torrent into the surging 
 vortex below, where the restless ocean forever foams and thunders. From 
 here, by coach or on foot, sometimes by the margin of lofty sea-cliffs, some- 
 times by the most home-like and tidy farm-houses and hamlets imagina- 
 ble, we come to Brixton. Frequently, in the green lanes, one meets groups 
 of flaxen-haired, plump-cheeked, and rosy urchins and girlikins, such as 
 Birket Foster delights to paint — the future hope and strength of the land 
 of Shakspeare and Cromwell.
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 247 
 
 Brixton, or Brightstone, has within its bounds a typical English village 
 church in good preservation. The low, square, turreted tower, with its 
 peaked roof, is singularly picturesque. The original Norman arcade has 
 recently been restored. In this little church once ministered those two 
 good men, Thomas Iven, the religious poet, and Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 in the seventeenth century, and Samuel Wilberforce, late Bishop of Win- 
 chester. 
 
 Passing by Brooke, the parish of Freshwater is reached, which, within 
 its brief limits, contains some of the grandest coast scenery in Great Brit- 
 ain. Freshwater is a small peninsula formed by the Yar River, which 
 takes its rise within a few rods of the southern shore, and runs north into 
 the Solent, where lies Yarmoutli town. This little peninsula trends off 
 to a point which terminates with the famous Needles. On the south is 
 Freshwater Bay, a little biglit, with a gray beach enclosed at either end by 
 rugged cliffs and some bold rocks. One of these, rising hugely out of the 
 surf, is pierced by a Gothic-like arch. Here, also, is the delightfully rural 
 village of Freshwater, which is, however, fast losing its primitive quiet and 
 
 BLACK GANG CHINE. 
 
 beauty before the invasion of a horde of tourists, and the jejune rawness 
 of the frequent new houses of a rapidly growing population. Faringford, 
 Tennyson's famous residence, is here ; but it is no cause for wonder that 
 the poet has at last fled from a spot which has lost the sea-side seclusion
 
 248 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 which gave it such attractiveness. Ere long there will be a railroad be- 
 tween this place and Newport. 
 
 Beyond Freshwater Bay is Scratchell's Bay, a cove at the extreme west- 
 
 FAETNGFORD, THE KESIDKXf'E OK ALFKED TENNYSON. 
 
 ern end of the Isle of Wight. The chalk cliffs here soar to over six hun- 
 dred feet above the sea, bidding defiance to the ocean with aspect austere 
 and sublime. A cave or arch, three hundred feet high, at the base of this 
 stupendous wall, adds to the grandeur of this magnificent scene, which is 
 fitly terminated by the immense savage rocks called the Needles. They 
 are five in number, but only three of them are conspicuous. On the out- 
 ermost stands a lofty light-house, built to supersede an older structure 
 which stands on the higher cliffs, but was found to be too often enveloped 
 in mists to be of service to the mariner. These cliffs are haunted by in- 
 numerable sea-birds, and some of the adventurous islanders swing them- 
 selves over the edge by ropes, and, dangling in mid-air, search the crannies 
 for eggs, which are accounted a delicacy. A cool head and a strong grip 
 are the requisites in a business which must continue a monopoly for some 
 ages to come. The pursuit is not likely to suffer from competition, that 
 blessing of the consumer, and bane of the producer. 
 
 Passing around the Needles, we enter Alum Bay, which is encircled by 
 tremendous precipices ranged with a sort of artificial regularity, like the 
 segment of an amphitheatre. But the severe sublimity of the scene is re- 
 lieved by the surprising variety of colors in the cliffs. By a singular geo- 
 logical freak, the pearly -gray monotony of chalk is relieved by vertical 
 strata of sand, clays, or marls, inlaid, mosaic-like, on the stupendous mass 
 in narrow but distinct stripes of red, black, white, blue, green, or yellow.
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 249 
 
 Tliese tints are liarmonioiisly blended by the soft light of evening into a 
 picture of extraordinary beauty. 
 
 Going from Freshwater to Newport, by rolling downs, overgrown with 
 swaying harvests, one passes, by an easy transition, from the grander as- 
 pects of nature to the alluring charms of a shire town reposing in a happy 
 valley, by a tranquil river, and hallowed by the historic associations of 
 other times. The Avooded coast of Hampshire is visible on the left, under 
 the setting sun, as one crosses the Yar River, and Hurst Castle on the end 
 of a spit, which, like a breakwater, lies across the mouth of the Solent, and 
 reduces the channel to scarce half a mile in width. Newport lies near 
 the centre of the island, where the Medina P^iver, a brief little stream, be- 
 comes an estuary, subject to the tides, and navigable to small craft. A 
 Roman origin is claimed for Newport, with some plansibility. That the 
 Romans once held and dwelt in the place is beyond question — the tessel- 
 lated floor of a Roman villa still exists in the vicinity — but that they were 
 
 ■UATCIIELL ; 
 
 the original founders admits of doubt. In such misty problems as this, 
 win' not follow the bold example of the Dutch chronicler who began a his- 
 tory of Holland by saying, "Noah was the flrst Dutchman ?''
 
 250 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 Newport is a tliriving place, more intent on the present than the past, 
 presenting a bustling appearance on Saturdays, when a market or fair is 
 held, to which the neighboring farmers flock. The chief objects which 
 the fair left on my memory were buxom girls selling chapbooks, rustics 
 swollen with overmuch small-beer, and proportionately pugnacious, strap- 
 ping redcoats elbowing the crowd, restive cobs put through their paces 
 before customers incredulous of their good points, and lastly, but not 
 leastly, a pig determined to make a noise in the world, whose erratic 
 obstinacy aroused the mirth of even the most stolid countryman. New- 
 port is the birthplace of Sir Thomas Fleming, who was Lord Chief-Justice 
 of England under James I. Until 1853 there was a very interesting par- 
 ish church there, dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket. But in that year the 
 decay of the venerable building made it necessary to demolish it, and an- 
 other edifice was erected on the old site, after the early English decorated 
 style. In the new building several interesting monuments were retained 
 that had been in the church it replaced, including a very curious pulpit, 
 carved by Thomas Caper, in 1630, who has hieroglyphically placed his 
 name upon it in the form of an antic goat supposed to sj'inbolize the word 
 caper. The pulpit is divided into a double row of emblematical figures 
 in bas-relief, and on the soundiug-board is wrought the gilded inscrip- 
 tion, " Cry aloud and spare not ; lift up the voice like a trumpet." 
 
 Another deeply interesting object in this church is Marochetti's beau- 
 tiful monument to the Princess Elizabeth. It was erected at the expense 
 of the Queen. The princess is represented in the position in which she 
 died, reclining on her side, resting her cheek on the Bible given to her 
 by her royal father at the last interview before his execution. The like- 
 ness is from a portrait still existing. The inscription runs as follows : 
 " To the memory of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I., who 
 died at Carisbrooke Castle, on Sunday, September Sth, 1650, and is in- 
 terred beneath the chancel of this church, this monument is erected — a 
 token of respect for her virtues and of sympathy for her misfortunes — 
 by Victoria R., 1856." 
 
 The princess died at Carisbrooke Castle, where the last weeks of her 
 young life were passed. A few days after her arrival there she was over- 
 taken by a sudden shower when playing at bowls ; a rapid illness followed, 
 of which she died in a fortnight, at the age of thirteen years. She seems 
 to have been a very amiable character. She left a simple but affecting 
 account of her royal father's last farewell. 
 
 Carisbrooke Castle is but a short mile from Newport, on the edge 
 of the villaire of Carisbrooke. The fortifications crown the crest of a
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 251 
 
 steo}) hill, which seems as if it had hecn formed expressly for such a pict- 
 uresque pile. By a winding, leafy foot-path, one apj)roaeh6S the impos- 
 ing entrance, a lofty archway bearing the initials of Queen Elizabeth, 
 and the date 1598. The turf -carpeted moat is crossed by a massive 
 stone bridge, leading to the noble barbacan erected by Antony Woodville. 
 It is composed of two ponderous but elegant round towers, pierced witli 
 machicolations. The curtain which joins them is grooved for two port- 
 cullises, and bears the rose of the house of York and the Woodville 
 escutcheon. Passing through this stately and venerable gate -way, one 
 enters the spacious court-yard of the castle, and finds himself surrounded 
 by an unbroken circuit of brown, mouldering walls, profusely draped with 
 ivy. On the left are the apartments occupied by Charles I. The roof 
 has fallen in, but the fireplaces are still distinctly visible, and the divis- 
 ions which marked his dining- hall and bedchamber. The window out 
 of which he tried to escape is filled up with masonry, but the original 
 
 TOMH OF TUB PIUNCKSS ELIZABETH. 
 
 outline remains. Climbing up to the summit of the barbican, the long, 
 narrow walk along the ramparts leads one to the keep, on the north-east 
 angle of the castle, said to stand on an artificial mound. It is an exceed- 
 ingly venerable pile, erected by the Normans. They have seemingly 
 wrought into it their sturd}" and determined character. Like a sentinel 
 who steadfastly remains at his post when all his comrades are gone, it 
 towers above the land, grim and immovable, to guard the trophies of a 
 race that long since passed away to the halls of oblivion. A light-house 
 on a stormy coast, it braves alone the surges of ages, while from winter 
 to winter wreck after wreck sweeps by. Its own turn must come at last.
 
 252 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 A fliglit of seventy -four marble steps, excessively steep, narrow, and 
 worn, leads to the platform, which is guarded by a gate grooved for a 
 portcullis. From thence is obtained one of the most extensive and beau- 
 tiful prospects in the Isle of Wight. In former years the landscape was 
 
 CARISBROOKE CASTLE. 
 
 so covered with forests, that it was said a squirrel could go from Caris- 
 brooke to Gurnard Bay without touching ground ; but now mucli of the 
 larger portion of the island is bare, here and there embossed with clum})s 
 of massive elms and limes, but generally devoted to agriculture and past- 
 urage. Immediately below the keep, and entirely surrounding the an- 
 cient mural fortifications of Carisbrooke, are the works thrown up at the 
 time of the S])anish Armada, modelled on the plan of those erected at 
 Antwerp by Italian engineers. They have undergone little modification 
 since, but are well turfed and neatly kept. It is not to the credit of the 
 English Government that the original castle is in such a dilapidated con- 
 dition. To be sure, it is thus more picturesque; but unless more care of 
 this majestic and interesting relic of past ages is better guarded in future 
 from the gnawing tooth of time, coming generations will have just riglit 
 to murmur at a parsimony which allows one of the most impressive and 
 instructive monuments in Europe to slip into annihilation. 
 
 The remains of the cliapel -are worth noticing, although tliey do not 
 date back of the last century, having been erected on the site of a much 
 older structure. It is not uncommon to see picnic parties taking tea un- 
 der tlie trees which overtop the roofless fane. The building formerly 
 occupied by the governor of the castle is very old, including within its 
 walls the chapel of Isabella de Fortibus. But it has been so repaired,
 
 THE ISLE OF WItillT. 253 
 
 altered, and restored from time to time as liardly to be in keeping Avitli 
 the antique ruins by which it is surrounded. There are two wells of great 
 depth in the castle ; the one in the donjon is fabulously deep, but being 
 choked up with stones, one must be content to accept the current state- 
 ments without question. The other well is 144 feet deep — quite suffi- 
 cient, one would think; but tlie vii^itor is liable to be informed that it is 
 300 feet. It is covered by a room, in one side of which is a very large 
 tread-wheel. A venerable donkey is introduced on the scene; he walks 
 into the wJieel with deliberation, and, the while inquisitively eying the 
 by-standers, draws up the bucket. Ko sooner does it reach the curb than 
 he makes an abortive attempt to bray ; but old age has impaired his once 
 tuneful throat. He has been employed at this not severely intellectual 
 occupation for thirty-three years. Several donkeys have served before 
 him — one for thirty years, and two others for over forty years each. Ro- 
 tation in office does not seem to be common at Carisbrooke. Office-seek- 
 ers will therefore find it useless to ap[)ly. 
 
 Many interesting historical incidents are associated with Carisbrooke 
 Castle, but none more interesting than the imprisonment of Charles I. 
 within its walls. Contrary to the general opinion, that unfortunate mon- 
 arch was not sent to Carisbrooke by Parliament, but went there of his 
 own accord, as to a safe asylum from his enforced confinement at Hamp- 
 ton Court. Restive under restraint, and perhaps apprehending assassina- 
 tion from poison or the dagger. King Charles contrived to elude his guard, 
 and fled to Titchfield House, near the southern coast, where he was hos- 
 pitably received and concealed. Thence he despatched messengers to 
 Colonel Hammond, the governor of the Isle of Wight, in w^hose well- 
 known character for kindliness, and moderation, and honor he placed re- 
 liance. Hammond returned with them to Titchfield House, and the king 
 concluded then to place himself under his protection, trusting for his 
 favorable interposition between Parliament and its captive. Accordingly 
 he crossed the Solent, and entered the stern walls of Carisbrooke. But 
 the Parliamentary leaders, having the king once more within their grip, 
 were not minded to release him, and Colonel Hammond received strict 
 orders, which made him answerable for the possession of Charles. How- 
 ever, he treated the king with much kindness, allowing him large liberty, 
 even to hunting in the neighboring forests. But after the king's first at- 
 tempt to escape, he was brought under much closer surveillance. Henry 
 Firebrace, a faithful adherent of the king's household, devised a plan for 
 escape by entering into communication with Captain Titus, one of the 
 wardens, who was secretly a royalist. A system of correspondence was
 
 254 
 
 THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 
 contrived, and it was finally decided that on a concerted night Charles 
 should let himself down from the window of his chamber. Horses would 
 be in waiting to carry him to the coast. He was advised to cut the bars 
 of the window with aquafortis and a file, but maintained that where his 
 head could pass his body could follow. All was in readiness when the 
 appointed hour arrived, and Firebrace, by a concerted signal, flung a stone 
 ao-ainst the window. The king was to descend, seated on a crossbar at- 
 tached to the end of a rope, and he now proceeded to pass out of the 
 window ; but his shoulders stuck fast, and for some moments he was in 
 a very painful position. Had it not been for the precaution he had taken 
 of fastening a cord to a staple withhi, he would have been unable to with- 
 draw himself from this awkward situation. Firebrace lieard him groan, 
 and soon after Charles put a candle in the window, indicating the failure 
 of the scheme. One need not necessarily be a royalist or an Episcopalian in 
 
 order to sympathize deeply with this 
 ill-fated but heroic monarch in his 
 misfortunes. By a mysterious law 
 of Providence, it was his destiny to 
 expiate the crimes of his predeces- 
 sors by being placed in a false posi- 
 tion, with which he was incapable of 
 coping successfully. He was made 
 the scape- goat for the sins of Ed- 
 ward IV., Henry VIH., Mary, Eliza- 
 beth, and James I. His public er- 
 rors were the results of education 
 or incapacity to deal with a great 
 "*''""'"^- crisis. In private life and character, 
 
 he surpassed his predecessors and most of his successors. 
 
 A pleasant stroll of three or four miles from Newport takes one to 
 the peaceful vale and -village of Arreton, the scene of a simpler, yet not 
 less instructive, drama than that of Carisbrooke. There still stands the 
 picturesque cottage of Elizabeth Walbridge, the "Dairyman's Daughter," 
 whose story is so beautifully told by Legh Eichmond. Her grave is in 
 the village church-yard, from which her cottage is somewhat over a mile 
 distant ; the headstone bears a beautiful tribute to her memory. 
 
 After seeing Newport and Carisbrooke, one naturally and rightfully 
 concludes that to linger long at Cowes, at the mouth of the Medina, is 
 of little advantage, unless he is of a yachting turn. West Cowes Castle, 
 built by Henry VIH. out of the ruins of Beaulieu Priory, was, in 1651,
 
 THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 255 
 
 the prison of Davenaiit, the father of English opera. In 1856 it was 
 sold to the Royal Yacht Club, who employ its battery for firing yachting 
 salutes. Tlie Royal Yacht Club has its rendezvous at Cowes, and includes 
 over one hundred and fifty crack yachts on its rolls. The annual regatta 
 occurs in the third week in August, and the plate is given by Her Majesty. 
 East Cowes, on the highlands, on the right bank of the Medina River, is 
 the seat of some handsome villas. Here, too, is Osborne, one of the fa- 
 vorite residences of tlie Queen, an elegant and imposing edifice after the 
 Palladian style. Connected with the extensive grounds is the model farm 
 which was one of the hobbies of the late Prince Consort. But the public 
 is never admitted to- the palace or gardens, and one can only speak of 
 Osborne from hearsay. 
 
 At the north of the Isle of Wight the waters of the Solent and Spit- 
 head unite in what is called Soutliampton Water, the beautiful channel 
 which leads np to Southampton. It was on a charming daj-, after gaz- 
 ing for many liours at the graceful yachts lying at Cowes, drying their 
 canvas or gliding from point to point, that I reluctantly took the steamer, 
 and landed at Southampton, thirteen miles away.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF SMALL ISLANDS, ESPECIALLY ATLANTIC 
 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 The advantages of islands, especially small ones, for purposes of health or pleas- 
 ure, were not as yet clearly perceived in the time of Sancho Panza. But with 
 the good sense and shrewdness whicli were so often apparent through his rustic sim- 
 plicity and clownish ignorance, he early displayed an admirable perception of the 
 value of islands as playing an important part in the economy of human affairs. To 
 be sure, the island of which he eventually became the governor was not exactly the 
 sort of island included as such under the ordinary acceptation of the term ; but 
 Sancho was correct in his apprehension of the principle involved. It was for an 
 island, and not for a continent, that he sighed. And he was abetted in his insular 
 aspirations by no less a traveller, adventurer, and ornament of chivalry than Don 
 Quixote himself, through whose influence Sancho became the governor of an island 
 so called for euphony. 
 
 I am convinced that the love for islands, and especially for small islands, is 
 rational and improving. It enables one to gratify the roving propensity, and at 
 the same time to combine with it the attainment of information, breadth and catho- 
 licity in judging men, and thoroughness in the pursuit of a given end. That thor- 
 oughness may be one of the results of visiting small islands is almost self-evident, 
 but, strange to say, some may be found who doubt it ; and yet is it not indubitable, 
 for the following reasons? Every island, however small, is a distinct microcosm or 
 community, with people, customs, climate, laws, and geographical features peculiar 
 to itself, and separated from the rest of the world with entire distinctness by the 
 water which isolates it. Now, we will suppose that a traveller or scientist undertakes 
 to master the various physical, historical, and social features of France or Germany, 
 or any other Continental country. But does he not soon find that, to acquire a 
 broad, intelligent, and thorough knowledge of that country, he must devote to it 
 many years, and possibly a lifetime, and will even at the last feel how much yet 
 remains for others to discover and map out in the same inexhaustible field? 
 
 But given an island of the size of Madeira or New Providence, and while the 
 traveller may modestly grant that, after carefully investigating it, there is still much 
 
 17
 
 258 APPENDIX. 
 
 to be learned about it, yet lie can honestly claim, on the other hand, that in a few 
 weeks or months he has been able to obtain a better general idea of it, has been 
 able better to comprehend it as a distinct entity, than he could understand the char- 
 acter and institutions of Germany, or France, or Russia in a lifetime. Hence fol- 
 lows an incentive to thoroughness, besides a greater satisfaction in the pursuit of a 
 subject which may be acquired with a certain rounded completeness within a reason- 
 able period, thus enabling the traveller to turn with fresh zest to another object 
 before he has become wearied with effort too long sustained in one direction. 
 
 ^hus far as regards the advantages of small islands in general, and the attrac- 
 tions they offer to the tourist or the scientist. But many small islands possess still 
 another advantage over a continent, in that they offer superior opportunities for 
 improvement to invalids, who are obliged, on account of chronic disease, to leave 
 their homes in search of a health resort. No one will dispute the fact that sea air 
 is, on the whole, the most fraught with tonic qualities of any, although sometimes it 
 needs to be warmed by a southern sun to graduate it to the wasted strength of the 
 consumptive. Of course the best way to obtain it is on a ship at sea. But this to 
 many is impossible, owing to sea-sickness. A small island is, therefore, the next 
 best thing, other things being equal. And the smaller the island, the greater the 
 advantage; for then the wind everywhere comes in a more direct manner off the 
 sea, laden with its tonic qualities. By the same reasoning, the climate on a small 
 island is much less liable to variations and extremes, for sea air is always more 
 equable than land air, and the extremes of temperature are much less violent in the 
 same latitude on the sea than on the land. If to this greater evenness of tempera- 
 ture is added the unchangeable, scarcely varying character imparted to a climate by 
 the trade-winds in a latitude free from extreme heat the whole or half of the year, 
 on a small island, we have, at last, a climate that is as nearly perfect as can be 
 anywhere found for meeting the conditions requisite to restoration of health. 
 
 Thus we arrive at the conclusion that a small island offeis, in the first place, 
 peculiar and superior advantages to the tourist and the seeker after rational 
 entertainment and instruction. In addition to this, and of still greater importance, 
 we find that small islands within certain latitudes, and according to the season of 
 the year, afford to the invalid the advantages of a tonic air and an equability of 
 temperature superior to anything which can be obtained on a continent, even along 
 its sea-coast. Thus, during the winter solstice the Bahamas are infinitely to be 
 preferred to the neighboring health resorts of Florida, where a weeping sun and a 
 capricious temperature often lead the invalid to curse the day that ever he turned 
 toward the flowery peninsula. 
 
 We find, further, that of those islands in the North Atlantic which are free from 
 yellow fever or endemic pests, those take the precedence which are Avithin the 
 beneficent influence of the trade-winds, those delicious breezes which seem by their 
 regularity to give such an idea of permanence to life, wafting away regrets for the 
 past and unconcern for the future, and magically luring the soul to dwell content 
 with the dreamy days as they come and go, and simply enjoy the enormous luxury
 
 APPENDIX. 259 
 
 of being. It follows that those among the trade-wind islands, on which the invalid 
 can live the year round with beneficial and permanent results, are the most desirable 
 spots on the globe as health resorts. 
 
 We are thus able to form a distinct classification of the sanitary islands in the 
 Xorth Atlantic, and can state with confidence the advantages of each. First amonf 
 the trade-wind islands are Teneriffe and Madeira, where the invalid can stay with 
 the best results during the whole year. The valley of Orotava, in Teneriife, combines 
 more climatic advantages than any other island spot in the Atlantic, the variations 
 of temperature being excessively slight, the influence of the main-land impercepti- 
 ble, and the air dry without the parched aridity of the desert. Madeira is a little 
 more moist, and its dampness has somewhat increased since the cultivation of the 
 sugar-cane; but it is confined to certain localities, and can be avoided by judicious 
 choice of lodgings. The rainfall is also greater, but is, notwithstanding, very mod- 
 erate, and the variations in temperature are only a little more noticeable than at 
 Orotava; while the social advantages, the means of locomotion, good medical 
 attendance, and the comforts so essential to an invalid, are more abundant at 
 Madeira than at Teneriffe. The Bahamas, while classed among the trade -wind 
 islands, must be assigned a lower rank than Madeira and Teneriffe, because they can 
 be advantageously used as a health resort only for part of the year — from the 1st of 
 November to the 1st of May — while the cost of living is much more than at the 
 islands just mentioned, without any compensating advantages. But as a sanita- 
 rium for winter alone they are, beyond all question, superior to any other health 
 resort on the eastern coast of North America. 
 
 Leaving the trade-winds, we now come to island resorts offering less advantao^es 
 than those just mtentioned, but still desirable for part of the year to one who cannot 
 go as far as the trade-wind islands. The Bermudas are the first of these in celebrity ; 
 but, charming as they are for the tourist, they cannot be safely commended to the 
 consumptive, except in the contingency that he cannot go to any better resort. 
 They are excessively damp, far exceeding in this respect all other sanitary islands, 
 and the climate resembles, in boisterousness and variability, that of the adjoining 
 continent, although, as the extremes are much less violent, it is so far a decided im- 
 provement upon that. 
 
 The Azores may be classed with Bermuda. But while the latter is wholly a win- 
 ter and spring resort, the former can be advantageously visited by the invalid only 
 from April to October. The excessive force and dampness of the wind make them 
 very undesirable during the winter. Prince Edward Island and the Isles of Shoals 
 are excellent resorts in summer, especially the former, which, in point of scenery, 
 and equability, and moderation of temperature is surpassed by no other island on 
 the American coast as a summer resort. Belleisle-en-mer is to be commended to 
 the invalid during the winter months, at least, as a variety, in case he desires change 
 for a few weeks, although, of course, of less value than more Southern isles. 
 
 In another class are included the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, which 
 are advantageous during the whole year, although their greater dampness, more
 
 260 APPENDIX. 
 
 copious rains, and raw winds make them far inferior to Teneriffe and Madeira. 
 But to the invalid who does not care to go so far, Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, 
 and Guernsey and Jersey can be safely recommended as superior to most resorts on 
 the main-land, and offering excellent social advantages. 
 
 Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, and the Magdalen Islands present superior 
 attractions to the artist and the sportsman, but are too bleak to be of advantage to 
 the invalid, except for two or three months in the sunimer to those who still have a 
 robust constitution that is only temporarily enfeebled. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly emphasized that those who would obtain the full bene- 
 fit of these resorts should go to them early. Too many make them the last resource, 
 and go when it is too late to derive health or life from any quarter. If they then 
 die on the islands, it is too often attributed to the climate, and not to the tardiness 
 of the remedy. Abundant time should also be allowed for a thorough cure. Many 
 think that they are cured as soon as they feel somewhat better, and consequently 
 return too soon to the bleak climate from which they had fled. Chronic maladies 
 require patience, systematic care, and time, so that the constitution may be able to 
 readjust its disordered functions. 
 
 The patient who resorts to these islands should also distinctly understand, and 
 constantly remember, that a few days of acclimation are generally required, during 
 which greater caution is requisite ; while prudence, and regularity of habits, and 
 avoidance of exposure or overfatigue can at no time be dispensed with. Too many 
 who are of convivial habits think that in such a climate they can defy ill health, 
 and, after deriving some benefit from the change, finally neutralize it by yielding to 
 the seductive temptations which more easily assail them while living a life of en- 
 forced idleness. The climate is then slandered, and unjustly receives the blame for 
 the lack of cure which naturally results from vice or imprudence. This accounts 
 for some of the pamphlets which sometimes come out against these sanitary re- 
 sorts. It is well for the invalid to see a good physician soon after landing, and 
 learn of him the regimen and regulations required, according to the climate and 
 the nature of his disease. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE BAHAMAS.* 
 
 Nassau, the best winter resort on the American coast, is reached by the steam 
 line of Murray, Ferris «fe Co., No. 62 South Street, New York, who have entered 
 into a contract for five years, to carry mails and passengers. One boat sails month- 
 ly throughout the year from New York to Nassau direct : fare $50 — round trip, $90. 
 
 * The chapter on the Bahamas in this volume first appeared in Harper^s New Monthly Maga- 
 zine^ together with several of the other chapters ; others came out in Scribner's Montlihj, the Atlan- 
 tic Monthly, Appletotis' Journal , and Sunday Affernoon, from which they are now republished, with 
 considerable additional matter. The description of the Isles of Shoals has not appeared elsewhere.
 
 APPENDIX. 261 
 
 From November to May, a steamer of the same company sails also from Savannah 
 for Nassau, touching at St. Augustine : fare $21 ; or, from New York via the above 
 ])laccs, $50, and the round trip $95. 
 
 The best hotel at Nassau is the Royal Victoria Hotel, a spacious, well-constructed 
 building, erected by the Government at a cost of $150,000. It stands on an ele- 
 vation, and is built of limestone, three stories high, and is surrounded by spacious 
 verandas, commanding a noble prospect and fanned by the trade-winds. The apart- 
 ments are large and airy, and well kept. The drawing-room is a most delightful 
 apartment, and the diniiig-hall is very inviting. This is one of the most attractive 
 hotels I have seen at any island resort on the western side of the Atlantic. Adjoin- 
 ing the hotel is a pleasant billiard-roora, and the public library is close at hand. 
 This hotel is now leased and conducted by Messrs. Mellen, Conover, *fe Kino-, and 
 opens November 1st, and closes May 15th. The terms are $3 per diem, and the 
 average expenses are little less than those of a first-class hotel in the United States. 
 Sail -boats and carriages are always on hand, and the numerous charming coves 
 and lagoons, and the admirable roads, suggest various means of enjoyment to the 
 sportsman or the invalid. 
 
 Such extra\'agant eulogiums have been bestowed on Nassau, that, to the appetite 
 fed on such highly seasoned food, a more temperate estimate of its sanitary and social 
 advantages may seem tame. But speaking as I do, without any bias, and from a 
 wide personal experience of many island resorts, I must assign Nassau a lower place 
 than either Madeira or Teneriffe, because it is beneficial for only part of the year, 
 while the humidity of the evenings makes it imprudent for the confirmed invalid to 
 expose himself to the night air; and the social advantages and the attractions of the 
 scenery suffer decidedly by comparison with those offered by the transatlantic isles. 
 But having made these reservations, I can heartily recommend Nassau to those who 
 cannot cross the Atlantic as by far the best winter sanitarium within easy access of 
 the United States. 
 
 Frost is unknown in the Bahamas. Many years ago a slight film of snow cov- 
 ered part of the Great Bahama Island. It was a sight never seen there before 
 or since, and filled the simple natives with astonishment. The most careful and 
 thorough observations, taken for successive years by the scientific men of Nassau, 
 indicate that the temperature from November 1st to May 1st does not fall below 
 63°, nor rise above 82°, and rarely varies over 8° in the twenty-four hours. Once 
 or twice in the season it may vary 12°, while oftener the change may not be over 
 6°. The humidity is not excessive, averaging 73.3°, but it is very marked after 
 sunset. Yellow fever has occurred but two or three times during this century, 
 and then was brought from Havana. There is nothing in the nature of the soil to 
 induce that or any other epidemic, so long as the first principles of drainage are 
 observed by the inhabitants. During the summer, however, the long -continued 
 heat and the rains relax the system, and are weakening to invalids.
 
 262 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 These islands are reached in the most direct manner from the United States by 
 sailing-packets from Boston — the bark Asorean, John E. May & Co., the bark Kate 
 Williams, J. J, Alves, and the bark Modesta — the latter Portuguese, and chiefly em- 
 ployed for the transit of the islanders emigrating to the United States. The first 
 two can be recommended as thoroughly sea-worthy and reliable vessels, commanded 
 by men experienced in the trade. The fare is $60, or, for the round trip, $100. 
 The passage out averages sixteen days, and the return voyage twenty-four days. 
 The vessel remains at the islands three to four weeks, sometimes visiting Flores and 
 St. Michael. Ten weeks may be allowed as the time for an average trip, if one 
 goes and returns in the same trip, making a charming summer excursion. 
 
 From England the Azores may be reached during the winter season by weekly 
 steamers, sent by Tatham & Co., No. 35 Pudding Lane, London, from that port to 
 St. Michael. The fare is £10, wine included. Time, about five days. 
 
 Two Portuguese steam-packets ply bimonthly between Lisbon and the islands — 
 the Luzo and the Atlantico. The L^lzo, leaving Lisbon on the 1st, touches at St. 
 Michael, Terceira, and Fayal, and the Atlantico visits all the islands of the group 
 except Corvo. The distance is a little over 700 miles ; time to St. Michael, about 
 three days. 
 
 The Portuguese hotel at Flores is a small affair, and cannot be highly recom- 
 mended. At Fayal there is an excellent house, called the Fayal Hotel, under the 
 courteous superintendence of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. It overlooks the port and 
 Pico Peak, and a large and attractive garden is attached to the hotel. The table is 
 loaded with the game, fish, and fruits of the islands. The terms are $2 a day, 
 and the extras are quite insignificant. The Hotel Central is also well kept, al- 
 though small. Numerous meek and docile little donkeys afford the chief mode of 
 visiting Castello Branco, the Flamengoz, and other attractive spots about the island. 
 
 At Ponta Delgada, St. Michael, is a spacious hotel near the water, managed 
 tolerably well by Mr. Bird, an Englishman. At the Sulphur Springs, called the 
 Furnas, there are two hotels, situated in the midst of scenery highly interesting and 
 romantic. The best of these is very efficiently kept by Mr. Brown, an Englishman. 
 The other is maintained indifferently well by Senhor Lerogno. 
 
 It cannot be too distinctly stated that the Azores are no place for invalids to 
 visit during the winter season. It is true the Thermal Springs, or Furnas of St. 
 Michael, may be visited nearly as well at that season as in summer; but the advan- 
 tages they offer may be gained at some of the numerous sulphur springs of Germany 
 or France. For those afflicted with throat or lung diseases, rheumatism or the pro- 
 tean forms of neuralgia, the Azores are quite too damp and boisterous in winter. 
 The rainfall is then considerable, the winds are very violent and searching, and the 
 houses are adapted only to those in rugged health. Not that the temperature is 
 ever low at the Azores, the yearly mean being 62° at Fayal, and it rarely falls below
 
 APPENDIX. 263 
 
 53°, although 44° lias been reached; but the mean temperature of winter, while 
 steady, rarely rises above 58°, and is raw and humid. But a marvellous change 
 occurs after the first of May, and continues through September. The rains are 
 reduced to a minimum, and the air becomes soft and dry. The mean temperature 
 in July at raid-day is '73°, sometimes rising to 80°, but rarely varying over 6° in the 
 twenty-four hours. Then is the time to visit Fayal, to breathe its delicious and 
 invigorating air, to bask in its beautiful gardens, and enjoy the grand and beautiful 
 scenery of those lovely isles. 
 
 THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
 
 These islands are reached most easily, by one who does not mind roughing it, in 
 a fishing-schooner. Many schooners from Gloucester make the Magdalen Islands a 
 rendezvous for mackerel fishing, and it is not difficult to secure a passage in one of 
 them. A less direct but more comfortable way is to go to Prince Edward Island 
 by rail or steamer, and take the steamboat which touches at Souris, on the eastern 
 end of that island. 
 
 At Havre Aubert, on Amherst Island, hotels or boarding-houses are kept by 
 Mrs. Shea and Mrs. Burns. The accommodations are scant, and the fare is simple. 
 But the rooms are clean and the food well served, and seventy-five cents a day 
 cannot be called high for board and lodging. At the other places where the vis- 
 itor may resort, he will have to depend on the hospitality of the leading families, 
 whose charges are very moderate. 
 
 The Magdalen Islands can hardly be recommended as a sanitarium for invalids. 
 But to the sportsman and the artist, or the searcher after an interesting spot for 
 an invigorating and novel summer vacation, they cannot be too highly commended. 
 As yet but little known, their wild and sublime sea scenery, the abundance of the 
 sea-fowl, and the raciness of rambling about those wreck-strewn isles, are attractions 
 which should not be easily set aside for resorts of a tamer character. 
 
 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 These islands are reached by steamers plying daily from Southampton and 
 Weymouth. The distance is the same by each route, but the passage by water is 
 longer from the former place — 123 miles — but only 82 miles from Weymouth. 
 The passage is often exceedingly boisterous, but the boats are strong and weatherly. 
 There are also daily steamers plying from Jersey to Granville and St. Malo. Jersey 
 lies 21 miles from St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, and 42 miles from St. Malo. 
 
 These islands are well supplied with hotels and lodging-houses, which generally 
 afford comfortable quarters and a good table for a moderate sum. At the hotels 
 7s. to 8s. per day is the average price, and the boarding-houses charge 35s. to 45s. 
 per week, and the extras are trifling. Gardner's Royal Hotel, on Glatney Espla- 
 nade, is one of the best at St. Peter's Port, although not very large. It overlooks
 
 264 APPENDIX. 
 
 the harbor. Of boarding-houses the best is Gardner's Old Government House. It 
 occupies an elevated position, fronting a charming garden, and commanding a grand 
 view of the town, the sea, and the adjacent isles. It is well kept, and the terms 
 are moderate. These two establishments must not be confounded by the visitor, 
 as the proprietor's name is the same in each. Taudevin's, Mrs. Richards's, and 
 several other excellent boarding-houses, aid to extend a hospitable reception to the 
 invalid or tourist resorting to Guernsey. It is not difficult to lease a pleasant cot- 
 tage, and such as prefer to live in that way will find the costs of living by no 
 means extravagant. Those proposing to winter in the Channel Islands would 
 do well to secure lodgings at an early date. In summer the islands swarm with 
 tourists, but they are generally only transient visitors. 
 
 At St. Heliers, the Royal Yacht Club Hotel, facing the pier, is one of the best. 
 The Imperial, on the St. Saviour's Road, is a large and conveniently arranged hotel. 
 Of many boarding-houses, Bree's, at Stopford Terrace, can be highly recommended 
 as commodious, clean, the table and service good, and the charges moderate, consid- 
 ering the high character of the establishment. It is unfortunately situated, however, 
 because it does not command a sea-view, which seems to be desirable in such a 
 place ; but, on the other hand, it is protected from the biting winter gales. Mrs. 
 Treleavan's, at Mon Sejour, can also be highly recommended as moderate and thor- 
 oughly well sustained. Good lodgings can also be found in the little town of St. 
 Aubin. 
 
 At Sark there are several hotels and boarding-houses, and lodgings are obtain- 
 able on reasonable terms in a number of private houses. Gavey's Hotel can be 
 strongly recommended. Terms, 5s. to 6s. per diem. 
 
 At Alderney there is a good hotel, kept by Captain Scott. This island is 
 reached by a mail-boat from Guernsey twice weekly. Sark is also in communica- 
 tion with St. Peter's Port by means of a small steamer during the summer. In 
 the winter season it is reached only by the Sarkese fishing-boats, which ply between 
 the islands in good weather. Sometimes no landing can be effected for weeks. 
 
 As regards climate, the Channel Islands have a much more equable temperature 
 than that of the adjoining continent. The thermometer often varies only 7° or 8° 
 in the month. They are, therefore, to be preferred to most Continental health 
 resorts, and also to the Isle of Wight. In summer the air is exceedingly soft and 
 balmy, and entirely free from extreme heat. An invalid who desires a change after 
 a winter or two or three years in Madeira, might, if strengthened by his sojourn 
 there, pass the summer in the Channel Islands with beneficial results. But they are 
 to be recommended as a winter sanitarium only to those who cannot go to the trade- 
 wind islands farther south ; for in that season there is much dampness, occasion- 
 ally a frost, and a liability to flurries of snow — at long intervals, however. But the 
 difference between such weather and the delicious winter mildness and evenness of a 
 winter in the trade-wind islands is great, and altogether in favor of the latter. At 
 no season should those troubled with rheumatism or rheumatic neuralgia resort to 
 the Channel Islands.
 
 APPENDIX. 265 
 
 It is a curious fact tliat, although clustered so near together, the Channel Islands 
 vary sensibly in their climatic characteristics. Guernsey is more dry and has a less 
 rainfall than Jersey, and a more even temperature, warmer in winter, cooler in sum- 
 mer, and is consequently more bracing. The dews are heavy over the whole group, 
 and dense fogs are not uncommon, especially in summer. Alderney and Sark seem 
 to be rather more dry than Guernsey. Consumptives, in the early stages of the dis- 
 ease, may derive benefit at these islands, with proper care of themselves; and the air 
 is highly tonic and invigorating for those who are simply overworked and require a 
 temporary change. 
 
 MADEIRA. 
 
 This island is reached by several lines of sailing vessels and steamers. The 
 firm of Fowle & Caroll, No. 31 India Wharf, Boston, forward three or four vessels 
 during the year; fare, $70 ; time, about twenty-one days. It has been done repeat- 
 edly in thirteen to fifteen days, with Avesterly gales ; the return is about twenty-six 
 to thirty days. Yates & Porterfield, of No. 115 Wall Street, New York, send out 
 ships touching at Teneriffe; fare, $70. From there it is but thirty-six hours to Ma- 
 deira by frequent steamers ; fare between the two islands, £3. Either of these routes 
 is cheaper, and sometimes more expeditious, than via Liverpool. The boats of the 
 African Steam Navigation Line and of the African Steamship Company leave 
 Liverpool trimonthly for Madeira — time, six days; fare, 18 guineas. There is also 
 a trimonthly line from Southampton. All these boats can be well recommended. 
 A comfortable Portuguese steamer leaves Lisbon bimonthly for Madeira, and by 
 taking ship direct from New York to Lisbon, time, and certainly money, might be 
 saved. Distance from Lisbon, 500 miles ; time, two days. Other steamers are con- 
 stantly touching at the island, to or from Lisbon, Bordeaux, Havre, Antwerp, and 
 Hamburg; but they are more or less irregular. Madeira has telegraphic communi- 
 cation with the rest of the world by cable to Lisbon and Brazil. 
 
 The accommodations for visitors to Madeira are exceptionally good. There are 
 several very excellent boarding-houses, partaking partly of the natni-e of a hotel. 
 Reid's and Miles's, in Funchal, can both be very highly recommended. The for- 
 mer maintains two houses, one directly on the water's edge overlooking the port, the 
 other higher up, opposite the Church of Santa Clara, commanding an extensive land 
 and ocean prospect. The terms average $2 per diem, which is moderate, considering 
 the excellence of the cuisine and the efficiency of the service. Special contracts can 
 sometimes be made by those intending to remain some time. It is well to write 
 early for rooms if one is going in the autumn or winter. Between May and October 
 many leave, returning again for the winter, and it is easier then to get good rooms. 
 The extra expenses at these hotels are trifling. At Santa Cruz there is a most ex- 
 cellent hotel, kept by Senhor Gonsalvez, who speaks English fluently. It is charm- 
 ingly situated. At Sant' Anna there is a very finely situated hotel ; the host, Senhor 
 Acciaoly, is a thorough gentleman. The terms are about $1 75, or 7s. per diem. 
 At Ponta Delgada there is a charming little house, situated in a position of aston-
 
 266 APPENDIX. 
 
 ishing loveliness; but this may be said of most of the hotels on this matchless 
 island. Rooms can be obtained there, and also at the inn at San Vincente, but 
 the table and lodgings are quite simple and proportionately cheaper than in Fun- 
 chal. This is fully compensated by the delicate air and the glory of the scenery. 
 At Calheta, on the road to the Rabacal, lodgings may be had for the night in the 
 picturesque house of Senhor Druminond, which was once a convent. 
 
 Good horses and hammocks can be hired on moderate terms. If one is to be 
 some time on the island, it is well to engage one or the other for the season. A 
 burrequiero, or muleteer, always accompanies the horse. For an invalid no more- 
 delightful mode of locomotion can be devised than the Madeira hammock. 
 
 There is a good news-room, provided with English and American papers, at 
 Funchal, adjoining the beach; subscription, $1 per month. There is also a good 
 library of several thousand volumes in the next street, to which subscribers have 
 access. 
 
 As regards the climate of Madeira, there is little to be said that is not in its 
 favor, provided the invalid goes there in the earlier stages of the disease. It is ben- 
 eficial to consumptives, and those troubled with rheumatism, neuralgia, and Bright's 
 disease, or general exhaustion of the system. The objections brought against it 
 have been largely due to an attempt to prop later and less-known resorts at the 
 expense of those of established reputation ; and also to the grumbling of two or 
 three invalids of ungovernable temper, .who, failing to receive the benefit which it 
 was too late for them to receive anywhere, have reviled a resort that has done so 
 much good to others. 
 
 The rainy season is in winter, but the rainfall is very moderate. Protracted rains 
 are unknown. Sometimes it rains hard in the mountains, and light momentary 
 showers are liable to occur at all times of the year. The north side of the island is 
 cooled by the trade-winds, and the south side is fanned by a mild sea-breeze, rising 
 in the morning and going down with the sun. Clouds temper the heat of the sun 
 during the day. 
 
 The temperature is equable and moderate. Frost is unknown except at the 
 summit of the mountains in winter. For eighteen years in succession the mean 
 temperature at Funchal was 68°. It never goes below 62°, nor rises above 83° or 
 84°, in that city, except once or twice in the year for two or three days, when the 
 Leste, or Harmattan (the wind off the African desert), visits the island. It is a very 
 hot, dry, weakening wind, but is rare and of short duration. At Sant' Anna, the 
 mercury for nearly forty years did not go below 60° nor rise above 80°. One 
 advantage of Madeira is the large variety of resorts within the limits of the island 
 itself. Thus, when the heat is too high and steady at Funchal, one can at once 
 reduce it by going to Santa Cruz or Sant' Anna, or going higher up. Three hundred 
 feet above the water it is very rarely that the glass rises above 77° at Madeira.
 
 APPENDIX. 267 
 
 TENERIFFE. 
 
 The Liverpool and London boats, touching at Madeira, stop at Santa Cruz de 
 Teneriffe also, both going and returning. The fare is 19 guineas; time, eight days. 
 There is a Spanish steamer from Cadiz bimonthly ; and French steamers from 
 Havre, St. Nazairc, and Marseilles touch there. The ships of Yates <fe Porterfield, 
 of No. 115 Wall Street, New York, stop at Teneriffe occasionally ; fare, $70. 
 
 Teneriffe is poorly provided with accommodations for invalids or tourists. The 
 Hotel Durvan, at Santa Cruz, is well kept, and those rooms which face the street are 
 pleasant. The table is good, but not remarkable, and the terms are moderate. But 
 the visitor should, and doubtless '.vould, prefer the north side of Teneriffe, especial- 
 ly the Valley of Orotava. It is much to be regretted that better lodgings are not 
 afforded there to strangers. Mrs. TurnbuU's excellent boarding-house was admirably 
 situated when it was at the Deheza di Ventoso. It is now nearer the water, at the 
 Puerto d'Orotava, and the terms moderate ; but the accommodations are quite lim- 
 ited. However, the increasing number of visitors will probably soon result in the 
 providing of more facilities for their reception. Good houses are not difficult to 
 tind at a moderate rent, and the cost of living is not high. As the Valley of Oro- 
 tava presents an ideal climate, and is easy of access, it is highly desirable that good 
 lodging-houses should be established there without delay. Donkeys, patient and 
 strong, are easily obtained at Orotava, and mules of doubtful character. At Santa 
 Cruz carriages may be had on hire. 
 
 The climate of Teneriffe is remarkable for two features beyond all other regions 
 in the Northern hemisphere — equability and freedom from humidity. Regarding 
 the former characteristic M. Belcastel says, "The thermometer tires one with its 
 monotony. It appears to sleep, and one can count upon breathing, when he rises, 
 the same air and temperature as the day before." At Orotava, about three hundred 
 feet above the sea, for five weeks in May and June, I saw the mercury rise daily 
 in the shade to 72° about 3 p.m. At night it fell to 68°. Inuring that period I 
 noticed no variation from those figures. The mean temperature of Santa Cruz in 
 January, in the shade, is 65° by day and 67° by night; ditto, for July, 79° and 78° 
 respectively. Belcastel records the mean temperature of Orotava in January as 
 16.8° Reamur; ditto, for July, 24.7°. The mean annual temperature of Orotava 
 is 20.2° Reamur, while that of Funchal is 18.8° ditto. The mean temperature is 
 61.6° Fahrenheit for January, and 76.6° for July. Along the coast of the island 
 the dews are very slight, although heavy on the mountains. Rain falls at Santa 
 Cruz and Orotava fifty to fifty -five days in the year, but somewhat oftener at 
 Laguna. 
 
 The mortality at Puerto d'Orotava is 1 in 60 ; at Rcalejo, in the same valley, 
 1 in 70. That of Rome is 1 in 32. Consumption, bronchitis, asthma, neuralgia, 
 rheumatism, and Bright's disease are all capable of amelioration, if not always abso- 
 lutely curable, by a residence at Orotava the year round, or at Santa Cruz during
 
 268 APPENDIX. 
 
 the winter, provided the patient goes to Teneriffe before the malady has gone too 
 far, and is resolved to use all due precautions and devote sufficient time to the 
 rebuilding of his constitution. Dr. Perez, who has given his life to an enthusiastic 
 study of the climatic character of Teneriffe, and has kept himself always au courante 
 with the medical discoveries of the age, may be depended upon as a thoroughly 
 capable physician. 
 
 At Teneriffe and all islands with so mild a cliuiate and such an abundance of 
 fruits, the visitor, whether well or sick, must not forget that unless his habits are 
 regular and his appetites under control, especially in the fruit season, he is liable to 
 dysentery, inflammation of the bowels, or typhoid fever. 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 Newfoundland occupies an anomalous position as regards communications. It 
 may be reached generally by steamers running monthly in winter and bimonthly in 
 summer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Allan Line between Liverpool, Halifax, 
 and Baltimore touch at St. Johns every alternate week. The boats of the Crom- 
 well Line leave New York for St. Johns every ten days from April to November, 
 touching at Halifax. Fare, $35 ; round ticket, $65. Two boats also ply between 
 Montreal and St. Johns during the summer. 
 
 The Atlantic Hotel is a respectable house at St. Johns. Knight's Home is an 
 excellently kept temperance boarding-house, with limited accommodations, but a 
 good table. Mrs. Simms's lodging-house can also be recommended. At other 
 places on the island accommodations are scarce and inferior. 
 
 Newfoundland is rather a resort for sportsmen than for invalids, although fhe 
 climate during the summer is dry, and free from the extremes of heat and cold ; but 
 the summer inclines to coolness. The thermometer does not fall as low in winter 
 as on the neighboring continent. The highest degree of heat in July is 79°; the 
 minimum is 40° ; the mean annual temperature is about 42.2°. 
 
 There is good trout-fishing in the island streams during the summer, although 
 the enthusiastic fisherman Avill have to travel some distance from St. Johns to find 
 it in perfection. The deer migrate to the south of the island in winter, but during 
 the summer months they are not infrequent in the northern woods of Newfound- 
 land, as well as Micmac Indians, who are familiar with the haunts of the deer. 
 Grouse are protected by the game-laws until the 20th of August. The seal-fisheries 
 offer many attractions to those who do not mind roughing it in every sense of the 
 term, and aiding in the slaughter of the 450,000 to 500,000 seals annually destroyed 
 on the ice. Much novel and wild adventure can be found in this way, and it is 
 easy to obtain a passage to the sealing grounds in one of the numerous sealers, 
 which go out in March or April from St. Johns and Harbor Grace.
 
 APPENDIX. 269 
 
 BERMUDA. 
 
 This charming little group of miniature isles is readied in seventy to seventy- 
 five hours from New York, by the steamers of the Quebec and Gulf Ports Steam- 
 ship Company, which run bimonthly, except in May to June, when they ply weekly. 
 The passage is more likely to be boisterous than otherwise, as it lies across the Gulf 
 Stream, but no serious accidents have thus far been reported on this line. Steamers 
 of this company also sail monthly from Halifax for the West Indies, and touch at 
 Bermuda on the way. 
 
 The accommodations for travellers at these islands are various, and generally of 
 fair quality. The Hamilton Hotel, under the charge of Mrs. I. W. Dodge, is, among 
 a number, the best hotel in Bermuda, pleasantly situated, overlooking the town of 
 Hamilton. The terms are $2 50 to $3 per diem. There are several respectable, 
 moderate-priced boarding-houses, of which Mrs. Turnbull's, called the Brunswick, 
 at Hamilton, and Mr. Peniston's, at the Flatts, can be especially recommended. 
 
 The climate of Bermuda has in times past been much noted, and for those who 
 are strong and well it is charming, and far more agreeable than that of the neigh- 
 boring continent. Bermuda is out of the range of the trade-winds, and is subject 
 to sudden and violent fluctuations of temperature, with strong gales, attended with 
 a heavy rainfall. It differs from the climate of the main-land not so much in kind 
 as in degree, the extremes being less marked, and inclining toward heat rather than 
 cold. Frost is recorded as having occurred there once — in 1840. In 1876, which 
 is a fair average example of the Bermuda climate, the maximum rise of the ther- 
 mometer in July was 94° in the shade. The lowest was 40.6°, in March. The 
 mean for the year was 70.5°, and the range was 54.2°. The mean for the year 1874, 
 at 9 A.M., was 72.33°. North and north-west winds prevail, and impart a rawness 
 to the air in winter. Strange to say, very few houses have either grates or stoves, 
 and the consumptive or rheumatic patient should always have one or the other 
 whenever the thermometer descends below 60°. The bad drainage of the houses 
 causes some typhoid fever; but the authorities are Avaking up on this important 
 subject. 
 
 The humidity of Bermuda, especially after nightfall, exceeds anything in my 
 experience, and is the most remarkable feature of the climate. It is so excessive 
 that gloves and cigars, and other objects liable to mildew, are kept in air-tight glass- 
 cases in the shops. Matches are so damp sometimes that they will not ignite, while 
 cigars are so saturated with moisture that they will not burn. Some bromide of 
 potassium, that I had tightly corked up in a bottle, was dissolved by the moisture 
 it absorbed. The mean dew-point for 1875 was 63.3°, and the number of days 
 in which rain fell was 157, the total rainfall being 44.66 inches. 
 
 Such excessive dampness is, however, less noxious in a small sea-island than on 
 the main-land, for it is charged with a certain degree of tonic saline qualities that 
 somewhat neutralize its ill effects. At the same time, such humidity is, under all
 
 270 APPENDIX. 
 
 circumstances, to be avoided if possible. For those in vigorous health, Bermuda 
 offers a delightful but enervating climate. But invalids troubled with neuralgia and 
 fever and ague may derive benefit from a residence there. But those who are suf- 
 fering from pectoral or throat diseases cannot be recommended to go there, unless, 
 perhaps, for the spring months. Bermuda is probably preferable to Massachusetts 
 or Canada for the consumptive; but when there are so many resorts superior to it 
 for such complaints, it seems strange the consumptive should continue to go there.* 
 But whoever does go to Bermuda for his health cannot be too strongly urged to 
 use great caution in exposing himself to the night air at all seasons, and by no 
 means to yield so far to the seductive mildness of the air, on landing, as to throw off 
 his flannels. I have known some, by such ill-judged imprudence, to sacrifice all the 
 good they might have gained, while others in comparative good health who have 
 accompanied them have contracted incipient consumption by sitting exposed to the 
 night air. In Bermuda no one can dispense with prudence in matters of health ; 
 but with prudence one may live there a long time, and finally, as the inhabitants 
 say, vanish in a good old age, by simply drying up and being blown away. 
 
 BELLEISLE-EN-MER. 
 
 This island is reached by daily steamers from Auray. There is also a regular 
 line of packets between Nantes and Lorient, which touch each way at Belleisle. 
 
 The Hotel de France, at Le Palais, can be well recommended. It is on the 
 chief street; the rooms are cheerful, and the table is good. Carriages and wagon- 
 ettes can always be procured on moderate terms. 
 
 The climate of Belleisle is more dry and sunny than that of Brittany, and trav- 
 ellers or invalids wintering in Brittany for their health would find it to their advan- 
 tage to spend a few weeks at Belleisle. The cheerfulness of the skies, the genial 
 warmth of the sun, the mildness of the temperature, are of a nature to aid the 
 neuralgic or consumptive patient in the recovery of health, although a whole season 
 there would probably be monotonous to many. In May and June the air is balmy 
 and delicious, and the sea-bathing excellent, while the number of visitors from 
 abroad, and the animation attending the sardine fisheries, add greatly to the interest 
 of the little island. 
 
 * " The climate of Bermuda is relaxing, and, so far as I had an opportunity of observing, espe- 
 cially ill adapted for persons afflicted with disease of the lungs, as nearly all the cases of phthisis I 
 have seen ran their course rapidly." Such is the testimony of Surgeon-major P. H. E. Cross, in the 
 sanitary report of his Excellency General Lefroy, the Governor of Bermuda. Such, also, seems to 
 be the opinion of nearly all the physicians whose opinion and experience I asked, or whose views 
 on the subject have appeared in the official reports.
 
 APPENDIX. 271 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 This island is reached from Quebec by the boats of the Quebec and Gulf Steam- 
 ship Company during the summer season. Navigation during the winter is closed 
 by the ice. The International Line of steamers runs weekly, during the open sea- 
 son, from Boston to Charlottetown, touching at Halifax and Pictou for a few hours. 
 The fare is $10, exclusive of meals, which are $6 to $8 more. This is a very 
 pleasant way of reaching the island. Those who dread the sea can go entirely 
 by rail to Shediac, New Brunswick, and cross the Straits of Northumberland, only 
 thirty miles, in a strong boat to Summerside ; or they can take the steamer running 
 from Boston to St, John, New Brunswick, touching at Portland on the way, and go 
 by rail from St. John to Shediac. Thus, there are many ways of reaching Prince 
 Edward Island, all of them affording much interest and variety. The traveller 
 would do well to go by one way and return by another. 
 
 Prince Edward Island is traversed from one end to the other by a railroad, which 
 is tapped by another short line from Charlottetown. The carriage roads are every- 
 where excellent, and good horses and carriages are easily obtained. 
 
 There are many hotels on the island ; Charlottetown swarms with them. They 
 are generally of an indifferent character ; but Miss Rankin's, at Charlottetown, can 
 be very cordially recommended. It is commodious, and finely situated near the 
 water's edge. Mr. M'Donald, who has leased the new hotel at Souris, is a most 
 obliging landlord, and his table is well furnished with meats and game. The terms 
 are moderate. The Seaside Hotel, at Rustico, is admirably situated on a bluff; and 
 although the rooms are small, they are neat, cheerful, and clean, and the table is 
 excellent. A bowling-alley and surf-bathing and fishing are close at hand. Terms, 
 $2 to $2 50 per diem. The Island Park Hotel, at Summerside, is romantically 
 situated on a small island in the harbor, about a mile from the town, which is 
 reached by a steam-tender belonging to the hotel, or by crossing a ford at low 
 water. It is the largest hotel in Prince Edward Island; the rooms are spacious, 
 and command lovely views over land and sea. They are well furnished, and the 
 table is served in the American style, which will please those who prefer that 
 method in a hotel. Bath-houses, billiard-rooms, a bowling-alley, and a croquet- 
 ground are provided ; and the woods of the islet are intersected with winding paths 
 containing rustic seats, and a carriage-road which encircles the shore. Good fishing 
 and excellent yachting facilities also await the tourist sportsman. The terms are 
 $2 50 per diem. At this place Prince Edward Island is so indented by bays that 
 it is only three miles across from the southern to the northern coast of the island. 
 Malpeque Bay, on the north side, is a large and interesting sheet of water. Board- 
 ing-houses abound, or rather farm-houses, where one can find good, wholesome, 
 but simple fare, including pure milk, fresh eggs, and fine beef. Board and lodging 
 of this sort can be found for $5 to $6 per week. 
 
 Prince Edward Island is wholly a summer resort, but as such it can be warmly
 
 272 APPENDIX. 
 
 recommended to the invalid who is suflfering from general nervous exhaustion, to all 
 those who are prostrated by overwork, to all who woixld fortify their constitutions 
 against the wear and tear of the age by sensible vacations, and to sportsmen who 
 love boat-sailing, iisliing, and plover, snipe, and duck shooting, with an occasional 
 shot at a brown bear.* Those who are already greatly reduced by lung, or bron- 
 chial, or asthmatic diseases would do better to seek a drier and warmer resort. 
 Victims of hay fever may spend the summer at Prince Edward, and forget a tor- 
 ment that never worried Job, or he might not have come down to later ages as a 
 pattern of patience. 
 
 The temperature during the summer is remarkable for its evenness and freedom 
 from extremes or sudden changes. From the 1st of June to the middle of Septem- 
 ber the weather is very delightful, the thermometer ranging from 60° to 15°. Light 
 showers and an occasional heavy rain occur sometimes, but equability is the general 
 character of the summer climate there. The south-west wind, which is generally a 
 damp wind, loses its moisture in crossing Nova Scotia, and I'eaches Prince Edward 
 Island dry and deliciously soft and balmy. 
 
 ISLES OF SHOALS. 
 
 These attractive little isles are within a few miles of Portsmouth, and are reached 
 during the season by two steamers, one running twice a day to Appledore, and the 
 other to Star Island. 
 
 There is a large and very well-conducted hotel at Appledore, under the charge 
 of the Messrs. Laighton, who have, by long experience, learned how to minister to 
 the wants of their guests. On Star Island is the Oceanic Hotel, a spacious estab- 
 lishment formerly kept by Mr. Poore, facing the cove formed by the cluster of isles 
 between Appledore and Star Island. Its cool verandas are very inviting. The 
 terms are those usual at American watering-places. 
 
 The great advantage of the Isles of Shoals is that, more nearly than almost any 
 other inhabited islands in the Western Atlantic, they realize the atmospheric condi- 
 tionsrfound in a ship at sea ; for while the general temperature greatly resembles 
 that of the neighboring coast, the extremes are tempered by the sea air, the minute 
 size of each of the islets givmg to them an atmosphere fragrant and healthy with 
 sea qualities ; and thus a residence on the islands has tonic effects very similar to 
 those of a sea-voyage. For one trait these isles cannot be too highly recommended 
 — the uncompromising and inflexible determination they show never to allow that 
 strange, mysterious, summer foe, the hay fever, to make an entrance within their 
 charmed limits, 
 
 * For an account of the fish of those waters and the season to catch, see p. 201.
 
 APPENDIX. 273 
 
 CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 This island may be reached by rail from Halifax or New Brunswick, or by any 
 of the routes mentioned for reaching Prince Edward Island, excepting the one via 
 Shediac. The Boston and the Montreal boats touch at Port Hawkesbury, in the 
 Straits of Canso, and passengers by rail are ferried across to the same town. From 
 there stages proceed to Baddeck, and a steamer plies through the Bras d'Or to Syd- 
 ney. The beauty of the latter route is exceptionally attractive. 
 
 Baddeck and Sydney are the chief towns. Not very much can be said in favor 
 of their hotels ; but the boarding establishmehts of Mrs. King and Miss Heams at 
 Sydney are excellent. At Baddeck, the Telegraph House and the boarding-house 
 of Mrs. Robert Jones can be recommended. The terms average $1 25 to $2 50 
 per diem. But the sportsman who visits Cape Breton Island will not care to spend 
 much time at the hotels. Camping out with a tent, or cruising in a boat, with rod, 
 rifle, and sketch-book, he will disdain a roof, and enjoy the equable air of summer 
 and early autumn in " roughing " style. One who takes a decked boat of four or 
 five tons to Port Hawkesbury in the steamer from Halifax or Boston, and floats it 
 through the St. Peter's Canal into the Bras d'Or, will find few sheets of water 
 which offer more attractions for a three or four weeks' idle cruise from cove to 
 cove, fishing, shooting, sketching, sailing, and cultivating the acquaintance of the 
 Highlanders and the Micmacs. Or he can hire a small schooner or sail-boat at 
 Sydney. The climate is very even during the sporting season ; and trout, salmon, 
 snipe, woodcock, partridge, and plover abound. 
 
 ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 This favorite resort of pleasure-seekers and valetudinarians is so easily reached 
 from the adjoining ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, by so many different 
 railway and steamboat lines, that it is superfluous to go into further details on the 
 subject. 
 
 In the matter of excellent hotels and boarding-houses, no island is better pro- 
 vided with the means for comfortably entertaining strangers or ministering to the 
 comforts of invalids. They abound on every hand, and it will therefore suflSce, 
 among many, to mention favorably the Pier, the Kent, Sivier's, and the Belgrave, 
 at Ryde. Charming cottages may also be obtained there and everywhere about the 
 island for the season or for the year; but the terms depend so much on size or 
 location, that the visitor intending to lease a cottage will have to look around for 
 himself. At Brading, the Bugle Inn offers shelter to the passing tourist. At Sand- 
 own, the diief hotels are the Sandown and the Star and Garter. At Shanklin, 
 Hollier's, Daish's, and the Madeira can be recommended among a number of ex- 
 cellent hotels and lodging-houses. The Clarendon is a tavern rather than a first- 
 class hotel. 
 
 18
 
 274 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ventnor, the choicest spot in the Isle of Wight, and the resort of invalids, 
 abounds in hotels and boarding-houses of excellent character. The Crab and Lob- 
 ster cannot be too highly recommended for the quiet order and home-like neatness 
 and convenience of the comforts it offers to its guests. The Marine Hotel, on the 
 cliff facing the ocean, is finely situated, and so, also, is the Esplanade Hotel. The 
 terms at the hotels and lodging-houses of Ventnor are more moderate than the 
 charges at Brighton or other sea-side resorts in England. The Albion and Plumb- 
 ly's hotel, at Freshwater Gate, are excellent establishments. The Needles at Alum 
 Bay, the Bugle at Newport, and the Gloucester at West Cowes, are capital hotels. 
 
 As a watering-place for summer tourists and pleasure-seekers, the attractions of 
 the Isle of Wight are too obvious to require either praise or comment. As a sani- 
 tarium for invalids, especially those afflicted with pulmonary complaints, the advan- 
 tages of this island are less certain, and have within a few years received quite as 
 much credit as they deserve. The island, as a whole, possesses too much of the 
 moist, raw, and variable temperature of England to make it a desirable resort for 
 invalids. But the narrow, seven-mile-long strip of land called the Undercliff, on 
 which Ventnor is situated, enjoys a climate that is more mild, dry, and steady than 
 that of the rest of the island, facing the south - east, and sheltered from northerly 
 winds by the high cliffs of Boniface Down and St. Catherine's Hill. Shanklin also 
 rejoices in the softer climate of Ventnor, but to a less degree. The mean annual 
 temperature of the TJndei-cliff is 51° 72'. In winter it sometimes falls much lower, 
 but, on the whole, it is not surpassed in mildness and equability by any other health 
 resort of the Atlantic north of the Azores. "I have counted," says the late Dr. 
 Martin, " nearly fifty species of garden flowers blooming in the borders in Decem- 
 ber, and sweet-peas blossom on Christmas-day ! The bee is on the wing when, in 
 less favored districts of the island, a bitter frost j)arches all the meadows." This is 
 the most favorable exhibit that can be allowed in praise of Ventnor. But, after 
 every reservation, it may be frankly admitted that, for those who do not care or 
 are unable to go .to the trade-wind islands for their health, the Undercliff on the 
 Isle of Wight offers most decided advantages and attractions which may enable 
 them to protract for years a life that would otherwise be forfeited by a longer stay 
 in the place where the disease was contracted. The Royal National Hospital for 
 Consumption, notwithstanding the unwieldiness of the name, is a most beneficent 
 institution, situated in the outskirts of Ventnor, and intended, for very moderate 
 terms, to give a home in that charming retreat to those invalids whose means are 
 too slender to allow them to meet the expenses generally demanded by a foreign 
 trip for health. To such this noble institution presents remarkable advantages. 
 
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