The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1895-10-03

for the purpose; and 1t is said that the
number of waits thus provided for is out
of all proportion to the population of
Flores. However, this national provision
for unwelcome mites of humanity has one
good result, viz. that infanticide is I'M
known in the Azores. The people of Flores
are famous for their good looks many of
the younger women have piquant style
Of beauty that is really very attractive.
While the upper classes dress about in
the English Or American style, the middle
and lower classes have a distinct fashion
of their own. Both sexes, of all ages, 20
barefooted, and when attending mass
they carry their shoes in their hands,
(those who can afford such luxuries,) and
put them on at the church door. The
women generally wear a handkerchief,
white or colored, silk or cotton, over their
heads and tied tightly under their chins,
a shawl or cloak over their shoulders, sub
sttuted in many instances by a double
skirt of English calico or home made
wooden stuff, dark blue in color, with
checkered or striped band arc und the bot
tom and binding of the same on the
placket hole, the skirt being so disposed
that the placket hole comes outside, be-
tween the shoulders. The men of Flores
may be divided into two classes, those
who wear boots and those who do not
The barefooted gentry show the best taste
in the matter Of colors, according to our
ideas. They wear jackets of dark wooden,
hued linsey woolsey, parti- colored conical
hats of knitted cotton or wool, or cara
pucas of the same color as their Jackets.
The material for these garments are all of
island manufacture. Those little higher
up in the social scale do not encourage
home industries to SO great an extent,
but procure their hats, (straw, from the
United States and their dress material
from England. Having taste for finery,
many of them sport jackets of the bright
est cotton prints that Manchester can
make. That is, they are bright and iaunty
in their first estate, but hot suns and fire.
quent washings soon fade them. and
starch seems to be an unknown commo-
dity in Flores, Or else the sea- damp takes
it out Of everything; at any rate the calico
coats speedily take on detected airs and
hang about the shoulders of the Azorean
dandies as limp as half wrung dish rags.
Most of the middle-aged men have been
whalers and can speak little English;
and everybody you meet lifts his hat (if
he wears one, or bows politely, and ex-
poets you to return the compliment. An
other very noticeable thing in Flores is
the OK carts that creak noisely through
the streets of the capital and awaken the
echoes in the hills as they roll Off country
ward; they are OF the same construction
as those used in the interior of Portugal.
probably the very same as those Of Ger
vantes time, when that author likened
some 'sterrible noise he was describing
in the story of Don Quixote' S adventures.
to that caused by the ponderous wheels
of a cart l thought | had seen queer
vehicles in other parts Of the world but
certainly these bear off the palm. They
consist Of an oblong slab of wood, which
ends in pole supported upon two huge
wheels revolving with the axle in
wooden socket, like child's toy. The
whole concern surmounted by wicker
basket shaped not unlike the body of a
Roman chariot The wheels are solid
chunks, chopped out in more or less cir
cular form, and the axle is of chestnut
wood, especially selected for it's squeak
ing properties The din they keep up is
modulated between a shrek of dire dis
tress and dying groan, but it is music
In the peasants ears ON the lonely roads,
and each cart man boasts of the particu-
lar tune creaked by his own vehicle. 1t
is warranted to keep off spooks and bog
les. land no wonderD and like the rail
way engineers whistle, it serves to notify
wife and sweetheart Of his coming. The
cattle also become accustomed to this
doleful accompaniment, and will no more
work without it than tow-path mule
missing the lurid language to which he is
accustomed. FANNIE B. WARD.