Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-17
ISLES OF THE BLEST.
Edgar. Wakeman Visits the Beautiful
AzOre Islands,
THE SACRED ISLES OF THE WEST.
A Curious Voyage With Old Breton Men Of
the Sea.
QUAINT AND SLEEPY OLD CITIES

of the American continent. That remote
and mystic phantom of historic and ethical
authority, the Puranus, placed the Chandra
dwip, or 'Sacred Isles of the West, J" within
the waves and vastness of the Atlantic.
Pindar described the place of rest of the
Greek heroes as the
Isles of the blest
Where ocean breezes blow
Round flowers of gold that glow
On stream or strand,
Or glorious trees, whence they
Wreath chapters for the neck and hand.
The ancient Irish bards were forever sing
ing of Hy Brazil Cor Breassil) as an ocean
hidden land of perpetual sunshine, with no.
bic streams, mountains and wales, filled with
perennial verdure, where there was neither
care nor decay. The fabled Keltic heroes,
like Ossine MacFion, were transported by
supernatural power to this Tir-na-n 'oge, the
country of perpetual youth and island of the
immortals. Compensation in the sad fate
of King Arthur at Camelford came in the
bearing away bv tender hands of his hurt
| soul and wounded body to the "island valley
of Avillon," from whence he shall come
| again" and give a reign of justice and
peace to his beloved England. Tasso, of
pathetic memory, in his glorious "Gerusa-
lemme Liberata," locates the wiles OF the
enchantress, Armida, over Rinaldo, when
the latter ought to have been back there with
| Godfrey shying rocks at the heads of
Pagans over the walls of old Jerusalem,
as being wrought in "the Happy Isles,
the Fortunate" placing the islands even so
late as 1870 to the west and south of Gibral-
tar. The Egyptians also believed in, and
sang of, similar island paradise of which
Plato makes Cretias tell the story, as having
been received through his grandfather from
Solon, who gathered its particulars from the
priests of Egypt. The fabled and vast At
lantis of all these nations fancy may have
had existence and Disappeared; or it may
have existed in magnificent proportions,
and its location be still marked by those
islet minarets which, like the fine, low
towers of crumbling castles, mutely tell of a
wondrous olden splendor and power. Ibis
conjecture is at least an interesting one, and
gains no little fascination when glance of
your eye, sweeping in northwesterlY di-
rection over your map from Cape Bayador,
on the northwest coast of Africa, encounters
as possible broken links in former mighty
continental chain, first the Canary Isles,
then the islands of Madeira, and beyond, for
hundreds of miles raising their cloud-kissed
peaks from sapphire waves, those lustrous
gems of sunny verdure and bloom, the
Western Isles, or the islands of the Azores.
HOW TO REACH THE AZORES
There are many pleasant wavs, for those
not dreading a wholesome sea voyage, of
reaching the Azores. There is a line of
steamers and one of packets from Boston.
Certainly one line from New York, whose
vessels trade with Mediterranean ports, land
passengers on their way. You may get every
month or so stanch sailing packets from
quaint old New Bedford, that single Ameri-
can seaport town which still believes in
American ships and American seamen.
From Southampton, England, you can, dur
ing the orange, or winter, season secure
passage by sailer or steamer almost any day
of the week. While from Lisbon, the Gov
ernment mail steamers of Portugal depart for
the Azores, with regularity on the first and
18th of every month. Being at the old city
of Nantes, on the Loire, and but few
miles from the Bay of Biseay, had
choice only, so all wise authorities urged, of
Lisbon or Southampton for a port OF de-
parture; but coming upon some delicious
oranges wrapped in tell-tale corn husks at
one of the fruit stalls of Rue du Calvaire, I
played the commercial and maritime de-
teetive along the quays from Nantes to St.
Nazaire, and found-for know those
oranges came not from the Madeiras, but
the Azores, as surely as Bourbon" could
be traced to Kentucky, and not to Maine
jaunty Breton brigantine just ready to
set sail for Ponta Delgada, the cap
ital of St. Michael and the chief city of
the Azores. Its captain, a good-natured
soul, broad, bushy and benign, nothing
10th of kindly company, gave me his own
berth and freedom of his tiny cabin, with
passage, for Just 100 francs, agreeing to set
me down safely at Ponta Delgada, whittier
he was bound for a second cargo of oranges,
providing fair winds prevailed, within ten
days; and within as many hours we had
lost sight of the noble lighthouse of St.
Nazaire, and, on a southwesterly course,
had sighted the grim crags of Spain at
Finisterre, when night shut out the land,
which came not again to sight until the
gray peak of Pico. one of the Azores, which
rises over 1000 feet above the sea, on the
morning of the fifth day of our voyage, was
seen as but tiny speck on the far western
horizon.
A CURIOUS VOYAGE.
It was curious voyage with these old
Breton men of the sea. Some singular ways
were found among them. Their vile sour
wine, which they consumed by the gallon,
their garlic, caviare and salted fish, their
white bread of wheaton rock, their stews and
soups, and coffee black as ink, and their
cooking above decks in the old utensils of
two centuries ago, at all hours of day and
night, after the manner-of the picturesque
Cuban coasters once knew, are all of un-
savory memory. But the good fellowship
between master and man, the utter lack Of
the bowling brutality under the guise of
"diScipline' upon American vessels, the
constant urbanity between fellows, and polite
humility of captain to seamen, with their
\ ,s,o4r,
and grouping OF the crew, their curling hair,
fine, glossy boards, tremendous chests and
frank, free, sunny faces ever turning to one
in respectful Difference or pleasant smile,
were all like melodious verse to an enchant-
ing idyl of the sea.
The Azores, named from the acor, or
hawk, are nine islands lying in an extended
group whose general direction ranges north
west from st. Mary, the southernmost
island living in the latitude of Gibraltar.
about $50 miles northwest, to Corvo, the
northernmost island, in the latitude of
Philadelphia. The nine islands comprise
three groups. The southwestern contains
ST. Mary with sc square, miles and 5000
people; st. Michael, the largest Azorean
island, with 224 square miles and about
112, 900 inhabitants; and the Formigas, or
Ants, a group of exposed rocks, hidden from
view by fogs and exceptionally dangerous
during the winter. The central group con-
sists of Fayal, with 40 square miles and
about 28. 600 souls; Terceria, with $50 square
miles and perhaps 10000 souls; Graciosa,
with 80 square miles and 13, 900 people; st.
George, with about 90 square miles aud 49,
900 souls; and Pieo with possibly an area of
so square miles and $4,000 Inhabitants.
There are but two islands in the northwest
ern group, Flores and Corvo, the former
with about 130 square miles and Il, 900 souls,
and the latter with not upward of 40 square
miles and 1,50O people. The Azores there
fore have a total area of $50 square miles, or
three-fourths that of the smallest of the
United States, and combined population