The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1895-12-19

size and maturity, when they mature some
months ahead of the rest of the crop and
prove to be the very best Of the picking.
After six or seven hours Of steady
travelling the highest point Of the island
is reached where the only vegetation is
moss, lichens and the bright little noun
tain heather At the foot of the steepest
activities a pair of oxen will be found
waiting to be hitched in front of the
mules and help haul the carriage up; and
in some particularly steep places you may
prefer to get out and walk up rather
than to run the risk Of standing upon your
head in that crazy vehicle. Goats Chamber
up the narrow paths and look curious
ly at you, hawks fly screaming over
head, the wind blows strong and chilly,
and perhaps showers pelt you sharp
ly. At last you run out on a narrow
tongue of table land, round the corner of
a projecting cliff, and in an instant
sight Of the far famed valley flashes upon
you-one Of the most surprising and
ullul RduOIdullC VIEWS WulCH IHlo
great round world can show. The road
winds close to the edge of the precipice
and thousand feet below yawns the
valley of Furnas. smoking like the bot
tomless pit. In the midst Of the inferno
Of steam and sulphur fumes the white
walled village CLEANS fair as any Swiss
hamlet, surrounded by gardens and corn
fields; and through all wanders the Ribei-
IA Qnente, (hot river, its heavily charged
iron and sulphur waters glinting gold in
the sunlight-now flooding the fields, now
lost to sight under old bridges and mills,
and again trailing its thin,veil of vapor
among the trees and plantations. When
the first intoxication of the senses has
subsidized, and you are able to separate in
dividual objects from the glorious whole,
you see that the principal caldeiras, or
boiling springs, are grouped together at
the left, where they send up volumes Of
water many feet into the air and clouds
Of steam and vapor much higher. To
the right stretches a ridge Of gloomy hills,
a ravine in which is disclosed darker
and gloomer lake beyond. In front and
beyond the village lie other ranges of
hills. Blacks lava cliffs and madden
tinted boulders piled in wild profusion on
every side give evidence of Natures last
grand cataclysm-tha of 1880, when this
terrible crater sent forth volumes Of
ashes which enveloped the whole island
in Egyptian darkness. And encircling
all is the mighty amphitheatre of noun
tains, with silvery streams trickling down
their rugged sides-C afahorte, Vara and
other towering peaks on the other side of
the chasm, directly opposite your point of
vantage, only miles away.
The driver bitches an IRON continuance
shaped like a shoe to the hind wheel of
the carriage, to serve as brake; and
then, flashing his weary mules to the top
of their speed, whirls you down the fear
full declivities at pace that fairly makes
your hair stand on ends. Like the young
Lochivar who stopped not for stick and
who stayed not for stone, he dashed
around the sharpest curves and over the
biggest boulders, as if the furies were
after him, the wheels often sliding SO
near to the verge of the mountains over
hanging brow that you get sickening
glimpses of the depths below. But moth
ing happens, and in an incredibly short
time you are down in the green valley,
among the white houses that cluster
around the big hotel. There is certainly
novelty in the idea Of dwelling in the
depths of a ENTHUSIASTICALLY in one
which is by no means SO extinct but
that it perpetually mutters sullen threats
Of future outbursts! Yet people are liv-
ing all over the crater; cornfielcs wave
all over the hill slopes, yams, sweet pota-
toes, bananas, loyuots and pine apples
flourish, watered by the spray of boiling
brooks and coaxed into tropical luxuri-
ance by the warmth of subterranean fires.
+, Hot springs abound in most of the Azo-
rean islands, and particularly in San Mi
j guel, where nearly every crack in the
ground emits heated vapor; but nowhere
in the world, | believe are there any to
compare with these of Das Fulnas. The
| ground in the vicinity of these vast vol
umes of boiling water is hot beneath the
feet and covered with sulphur like boar
frost, streaked red, green, blue and yellow,
with occasional patches white as snow: in
other places the soil, Of the consistency
of clay, is broken into thousand grotes-
que shapes resembling heather idols paint
ed in glazing colors. The fumes of sui
phur are sitting, and for several yards
around each caldeira vapors issue from
the earth, and if you thrust your staff in
anywhere, a miniature caldeira steams up
like the spout Of a teakettle. The princi-
pal spring, called the Great Caldeira. ex-
cites as much terror as admiration at the
hrst view Of it. Boiling water, cast sky
! ward from several hundred valves at once.
rises and falls as regularly as if elected by
aforce pump, and looking at the wonderful
column opposite the sun you see it adorn-
! ed with prismatic tints like the rainbow