Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-07
AS ISLES OF BEATTY
The Azores Are Described by Wake
man in a Charming Manner.
VALLEY AND MOUNTAIN sTROLLS
That Reveal the Quantity Picturesque in
Natures Handiwork.
LORE AND LEGENDS OF THE GIPSIES

tation OF delight BY the carboneiros, the hos
pitality OF whose ancestors had proven so
soothing to the Azorean Rip Van Winkle,
Dobrado Madraco, that he has not yet
awakened from his twO-centuries' sleep. Our
donkeYs were tethered and cared for; water
for washing was brought in ponderous ewers
from cool represado or spring; cheap wine,
agoaardente or brandy, and tobacco in ex-
traordinary quantities were provided; queer,
big-eyed and half-naked rapazos and menin-
as, boys and girls, to whose simple conscious
ness the strangers were as marvel and dream,
gathered about US, looked, wondered, and,
with Silvery bursts Of laughter, fed to their
mothers or the forests for recovery;
a supper of such proportions, variety
and grotesqueness was provided as never be-
fore greeted the eyes Of civilized man, and
during the long evening these halfwild men
and women charcoal burners of the mount
aius-the brisk, shapely and muscular
women digging out OF odd corners Of
shadowy old cabins many bauble and bit
Of fnery for the oecasion-danced for US,
and with us, upon the grinly smooth.worn
ground such hilarious zapsteos, such out
landish bales, and such grotesque fan
dangos as no fervid pen could describe or
lax moralist be willing to approve. 1t was
Gipsy scene indeed, lacking only the
hooded tents and the circling, huddled
wagons; for here and there the charcoal
fires fared aa fare the campfres Of the
Gipsies, knots of fir famed and fickered at
the tops of huge pixies or from cressets
bound to overhanging trees; scores of
swarthy forms whirled in the half lights
and shadows; and the glowing stars, pulsing
in their semi-tIopie fires quivered through
the weird, dark plumes OF luxurious YER
dure above.
We set out from the carboneiros' camp at
very early hour the next morning. AS we
descended the mountains toward the coast we
missed our way for little, which gave Us
pleasing deep-wOods experience.
LIKE ANCIENT REVELATIONS.
Ofa sudden we found ourselves in a dense
forest of frs, broken here and there by
abrupt outings of lava rock, along whose
sides and over whose heights Undesirable
wealth of ferns ran in banks of gently
waving plumes. At the bases. and from the
sides OF each mass of rock, numberless
natures fountains wimpled and spouted,
and from these, little streams bounded and
sang toward the valleys below with surpris-
ing melodiousness. As far as We penetrated,
the eafth's covering beneath the frs was like
a carpet of velYety puce. The footballs of
our donkeys conld scarcely be heard.
Up, up, up, 80, 30, sometimes 80.
feet straight as an arrow shot the
russell fir trunks. Then the arches
interlaeed and the veuduTe grew so densely
that the sky was shut from sight. Now and
then in that upper lacework of bough and
shadow little fecks OF safffony light seemed
floating tremulously. And in these what
bird orchestras were welcoming the radiant
day for our delight Countless numbers of
the famous green canaries and the almost as
wonderful singers, the merlos, or the Azorean
blackbirds, were singing their rival madri-
gals; and the most remarkable part Of it all
was the seeming regularity OF alienation in
their marvellous melodies. For a time the
merlos would have it all to themselves.
Again only the notes of the canaries would
be heard. Then both, as if to out-sing each
other or the really orchestral effects of the
brooks beneath them, would blend their
shrill trebles and soft contraltos into sus-
tanned and ravishing diapason Of bird-voice
song. Old Manuel, the guide, regarded my
enhancement for a time in dignifed silence,
and finally with grave shake of his head.
remarked,
"Ah, yes, like women, beautiful to the |
eye or ear, but sad pests at times When |
they sing so sweetly, we islanders know it is |
because their crops are full, and our field |
stores have been devastated. So our Gov |
ernment gives 20 reis per dozen beaks for |
the canario or the merlo. If Mateito and I |
could carry the beaks of all that are now |
singing above US back to Ponta Delgado we |
could each be master of quinta like the
rich of the cityP'
EXTENDED TO THE DONKEY.
Mateito was so excited over this sudden |
vision Of afluence that he set about larrup- |
ing our donkeys in such ferocious manner |
that the beasts of their own accord returned |
to the path from which we mad diverged. |
Indeed in the entire descent toward the |
northern coastwise villages such rapid
pace was made that when we had reached |
the fine city of Riberia Grande we welcomed
a short rest in q quaint old inn. The host
was an acquaintance of Manuel, which fact
caused to be set before us such stores OF food
and such fiagons of native wine as gave one
wonderful notions concerning the resources
of Azorean nature and Azorean cooks. The
fat old landlord would let no ones hand but
his own prepare the food; and so we sat and
chatted, waiting and hungering in the
smoky cozinha, and at last securing really
delicious grilled fowl meal-bread,
roasted sweet potatoes, the sweetest
of butter and milk, pungent
native cheese like the Brie of the
French, and the blacklist and vilest coffee
one ever tasted outside an American sailing
NJ fIa orrrtt |
we ate, now helping us with ludicrous alert
ness to different articles of iood, now wiping
tie smoke and perspiration from his fiery
red face with his great linen apron, again
drinking our health and "a heaven-deiended
journey" in a very lusciousness of hospital
ity with our own purchased wine. Then the
ponderous, poddy fellow, ran beside our don
keys for a good mile through the streets of
Riberia Grande, breathing prayers and petit
tions for our safety; never desisting until
the suburbs were reached and he could call
the attention of no more OF his good
townsfolk to the importance of the guests he
bad that day entertained: As we turned
up the mountain way our last glimpse of
the odd Boniface was as he sat putting
upon the edge of pleasant fountain, prey
10 the attentions of jocose muleteers, while
tanning his red and rubicund face with
the majestic linen apron in which he had
served us.
THE BEASTS AND THE INN.
Our fortune as to hospitalities Of the road
we're less unetuous that night. Failing to
reach Furnas and its lovely valley, our
anxiety for housing was at last relieved by
,ur wise donkeys suddenly prieking up their
ears, and, in spite Of rs, striking into great
lpeed, which was not slackened until we
were alongside lonely roadside in. We were
yaily welcomed by hulking, rough-looking
ellov armed and equipped as il for war.
The structure was long, low, one-story