APPROACHING FAYAL. 297 ments for landing; and, after struggling to get out of his tub, and finding how useless it was, he at length subsided into a semi-quiescent state and merely looked defiance at his persecutors. Shaving and washing now began for the first time among the passengers; the Jew polished his dull boots; and dingy, lack-linen men, with worn elbows and greasy hats, were suddenly transmuted into smug citizens, decked out in the variegated frippery of Portuguese dress. CHAPTER XVI. The rocks and shores, the everlasting hills WORDSWORTH. Island of Fayal. — Horta. — Custom House.- Swine.-Pico Peasants.-Boarding-house.-College of Jesuits.-Church. -Lolling out of window.-Gardens.-Flemingos.-Orange Trees.-Grotesque Garden.-Market-place. APRIL 19, Horta.-We dropped our heavy iron cable in the Bay of Horta about three in the afternoon; and as soon as it had jerked and clanked its way to the bottom, and the sails were furled, a boat put off from the shore to see that we had no disease or tobacco on board, and to give us leave to land. While this was doing we had an opportunity of examining the town of Horta, the appearance of which is more com THE PRINCIPAL TOWN OF FAYAL. 299 manding than that of the other island towns we have visited. Its situation is the best that could have been chosen, both for commerce and natural beauty. The bay, besides being screened by high shores, has the Island of Pico in front; which, acting as a breakwater, secures the roadstead from southerly winds; while the more distant Island of St. George's gives protection against gales from the north-west, and makes the harbour of Fayal a place of greater security than can probably be found in the other islands. In this respect its advantages, as far as commerce is concerned, are considerable, and in point of natural beauty it is equally fortunate. The town of Horta (or rather the city, for Don Pedro made a city of it,) is built close to the shore. A long broad line of white chimneyless houses, among which churches, convents, and public buildings are conspicuous, extends the breadth of the bay. Behind this line, the houses which form the outskirts of the city are built among orange gardens and evergreens; beyond is the flat conical mountain into which the island rises, which, when we landed, was slightly shadowed by a canopy of clouds, and coloured bright by the warm afternoon sun, while in front of the city the water 300 THE BAY OF HORTA. of the bay, which in the afternoon sun was so tender a blue that it almost seemed to have a bloom upon it, rolls up on a sweeping beach of dark grey sand, divided towards the centre by a fort and landing steps, which project from the shore on a ridge of lava. On each side of the town, and of this sweeping beach, are the two bluff points of the bay. They rise high above the level of the town, and are richly covered with red and brown scoriæ and rough dark lava, upon which the sea and weather are constantly acting; -the sea, by washing down the loose cinders and showing a fresh red surface;-and the weather, by staining the lava and watering the lichens. One of these points, at the back of which is Port Pim, bears a considerable resemblance to the Island of Villa Franca at St. Michael's, both in shape and materials. It is composed of a dark brown tuff, very similar to that found in that island; the strata dip in like manner, and the rounded form of the hills, which are smoother and more regular than others near them, make the resemblance more striking. The tuff, which is a soft kind of coarse stone, is used for pavement and for building. It is easily worked, but not durable. CUSTOM-HOUSE HINDRANCES. 301 By the time we had made our observations, the visit-boats had boarded us and we were at liberty to land. Bewhiskered and mustachioed men in blue coats and brass buttons bowed and scraped upon the deck, disappeared below, rose again, bowed and scraped once more, smirked, went over the side and rowed ashore. These were some of the officials of Fayal who came to see that we were in proper health and that we had no contraband goods on board. Having landed, we found that more formalities were to be gone through; that after this preliminary examination it was necessary first to get a license to land the luggage, and in the next place to carry it to some other fountain of justice, there to undergo a separate examination. Although the vessel had merely come from one island to another, both being under the same government, these perplexing impertinences were indispensable. In coasting from London to Edinburgh, or crossing from Dublin to Liverpool, no such hindrances are met with, and the intercourse between England and the United States of America is almost free from difficulty; but this little spot upon the ocean's surface asserts its insignificancy by a pains-taking effort at im |