The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-01-09
special correspondence of The journal

f.
DADEs, THE VALLEY OF ''sEvEN CIT
les.
SPECIAL correspondence of The Journal
PoNTA DELGADA, SAN MIGUEL, Nov.
this small speck of volcanic land, tossed
up in mid Atlantic at comparatively
recent period. contains no fewer than "a
towns and villages, besides its tlourishing
capital. Barely half dozen of them are
of Const quence, however, though all have
their historic legends of deepest local in
terest. and the traveller finds uniailing
charms in their peculiar types of antiquity
in their Mooresque architecture, the cary
ings Of old churches and converts, and in
the quaint customs of the bourgeois. Ri
beira Glande ranks next to Ponta Delgada
in population. ana Villa Franco in COM
mereia Importance. The latter town is
of special interest to antiquarians, being
situated on IA small island of the same
name. which was born by vo canic action
less than hundred years ago. Time was
when Villa Franco was larger than all the
cities Of the Azores put together, the capt
tai Of the island and 'tree city" enjoy
inc many immunites. But founded upon
tions, she was many times partially de
Sr9uyed ~ Successive earthquakes and
finally swept OF, tie main land altogether
hv the dreadful catastrophe of the Pic0
de Fuga, tMotntain OF Fire the great
yolrano close 10y, which spralg up with
ont warning one day in the lev plain,
swallowing 5000 Of her citizens and IL
uihilatlng her houses and shipping under
tolrenJS of metallic fire. At low water
the ruins Of the ancient ha1bor and some
Of its Notifications are still visible, and
from the immense chdsms rent ON every
side If is believed that the sea did not
gain upon the original town, but that the
town itself with ., large tract of adjacent
land, " as broken off and forced forward
llto the sea by the tremendous convulsion
OF nature. This new-b born island has a
crater or its summit 30 feet in diameter,
now filed with A fresh water lake perhaps
20 feet deep
Another astonishing thing is the present
hal bOr less than mile from the old one.
1t is called Porto dc Jliies, and occupies
The very spot where once stood an island
which disappeared in the depths of the
Sea as suddenly and mysteriously as its
neighbor WAS thrown up. It's basin is
probably the vortex of the volcano, and
on its edge towers a huge pyramid of
rock, whose foundations are unfatlomed
in the great abyss, although barely 40
yards from the island from which it was
originally torn.
In another part Of st. Michaels is a high
the ancient crater of which is a
lake at great elevation, and the lake is
full OF gold fish. In the year 1911, when
the awful explosion occurred under the
sea in the midst OF these islands and
smoke and flames burst forth in tremen-
deus columns, countless fish We're thrown
up in all stages of boiling and broiling,
and huge stones followed, with incredible
quantities of black sand. Soon there was
another island formed, which before the
eruption ceased was nearly 100 feet high
But after few months it disappeared
and only dangerous reef remains to
mark the spot. Speaking of volcanic
islands, let me tell you of the queerest
one on record, whose freaks are amply
attested in Azorean history. About two
mile, off the coast of san Miguel there is
a very dangerous shoal upon which many
vessels have been wrecked. where three
times within the memory Of man a con
siderable island has been formed. or
thrown up, and twice completely disap-
peaIed. OF its first appearance in the
year 1912 little is known beyond the fact
that it was found standing in the track of
vessels where smooth water had been be-
fore, and that few months later no trace
of it could be discovered Its second ap-
pearance, in 1920, was attended by huge
columns of smoke and an enormous dis
charge OF ashes and pumice- stone
The historians of the day describe it as
having precipitous sides and that no bot
tom could be found within 20 fathoms of
its shores. For many years it remained
unchanged, as if come to stay forever:
and then, one fine morning, the early ris-
els OF San Miguel, looking seward for
the accustomed land mark, rubbed their
eyes in establishment, for not the smallest
trace OF it could be seem About a cen
fury later, Gn 1922, it is recorded that an
immense body of smoke was observed re-
volving about the fateful spot, almost
horizontally over the water in varied in
voIutions, shooting upwards at intervals
in spire-like columns of blacklist cindels,
rising to windward at an angle of 20 de-
2rees from the perpendicular Each fresh
outlurst was succeeded by another of
greater height and velocity, until the col
Unin of ashes and cinders looked like the
branches of colossal pine trees towering
to the sky; and as they fell, mixing with
the festoons OF white, feathery smoke,
they assumed at one time the appearance