The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-28
WRITTEN At SEA
N. B. Broughton's Letter
to Home Folks.
First sight of Land on h Other Side
The Azores and Madcirn-
Another sunday on
ship.

ship.
take i, that there are many peo-
pie like myself. often ~ondcre now
a large company OF passengers on
board an ocean steamer for two weeks
would keep employed and sufficiently
entertained. But / see now that me
difficulty is TO keep up with all that i
going on and not really resting
enough. This is certainly Tue OF this
voyage. one hour we are having =
great promenade and some souvenir
is given out: at another time we aVs
watching the running and plunging
OF a great school Of ~porpoi-es that our
ship has come into; now Its ali sorts
OF sport such as are engaged IN on
shipboard; again. It's a praise service
in the great dining-room. on Thurs
day evening last we had what was
termed Entertainment Night" con
sisting of readings. recitations. music.
etc. In this tie North Carolina re-
representatives. were given a fUli sh2re
and Judging by the kin things said
to them acquitted themselves quite
creditably.
Going Ashore.
Before retiring on Thursday night
we got our first glimpse OF some or
the mountains OF Aore stands. and
OH L IlAGN iiIOi lIAS HiSi W. @'2
bell rang at : O'Clock found Il good
hip anchored in the harbor Of Ponta
Delgada. At 9 O'Clock we were taken
off IN row boats and carried ashore.
and in a little while We're in h midst
Of a typica! Eastern City. Ports
Delgada has a population OF aoout
5000 and is the third in size In
Portugal. The people are almost ex-
clusively Portuguese and Catholics.
The Cathedral with its costly furnish
ing and full array of priests were IN
every part of the city. The dwelling
houses and stores, one and two story,
with rare exception are built OF stone.
always standing on the narrow side
walk line. The whole place had Just
been cleaned up and almost every
house freshly painted or frescoed and
in the variegated colors
gave a most inviting appearance. All
this had been done in preparation
for one of their annual festival days
But we were informed that the city
Is noted for it's Clearly streets. They
are not more than twenty feet wide,
including the SIDEWALKS. which are
not more than three feet.
The first surprise that came to US
was the sight of men, Wonlen boys
and girls OF the poorer classes
mechanics. laborers, farmers. bare
footed. The men shabbily dressed,
often in patched clothing and the wo-
men. almost without exception, with
shaWls about them or large curious
shaped hoods and cloaks. Of dark blue
cloth.
The stores are very small and as 4
rule general mixtures. All about the
streets were the little donkeys with
their great burdens of vegetables.
fruits, wood, ETC., which were being
offered, the owner calling out in a
strange tongue that which he had for
sale
We spent our time for most part in
visiting the public and private gar
dens, some of them large enough to
be called parks. This is a country of
such even mild climate as to be ever
green, and pre-erninently the land of
fruits and flowers. Never in all my
life have l before seen such luxuri-
ance and beauty. One magnolia tree
measured two hundred feet in cir
conference and seventy feet in the
diameter Of its shade; it was propped
up by fourteen iror posts and rails.
Beautiful flowers Of every hue and
shade not on bushes only but trees.
Fruits in abundance, the orange.
which is not of the best. bananas and
p~ine-apples, the latter being the finest
| ave ever seen.
The whole city is walled on It's level
side with heavy. large stone slabs thai;
must have been laid hundreds of
years ago, ana almost every farm,
which are only small patches of a
few acres, has its high rock wall.
Four crops a year however, of many
vegetables, are raised on these farms.
But the rent of the land owner and
the taxes Of the church makes it al
most impossible for the man to do
more than make the barest living.
The men and women are generally
small in stature and of dark complex
ION IN every street we found beg
gars,-boys girls, and women-many,
very many old women beggars.
There are not a great many we'll
TODD people in Ponta Deigada. We
met a few of them-weIl-dressed.
cultured people, some walking. some
In carriages and one party in an auto
mobile
One Protestant Mission.
In all that Island Of 49, 900 people
there IS only one place Of worship Of
the protestant faith and that is an In
Mission at Ponta Delgada
Of not more than fifty Our
PARTY held services in their neat chap
el and took a cash collection Of eight
ooHars and the representatives Of
flve American Sunday Schools pledged
nifty dollars q year each for this Mis-.
sion for the next three years.
II Incurred to US that this beautiful
city offered most inviting opportunity
Tor intensive missionary work.
Our ship sailed from this port at
4 p. m. and we were soon out upou
the world OF water" Sunday morn
ing by six o'clock We had steamed
INTO re harbOr of Madeira. We had
expected to land there ard spend the
SABBATH but We're no.: permitted on
account Of II prevalence of small
pox in the city. We had TO contain
ourselves IN looking at this most bean
.Iai OF All places, as we are told. az
BEST we cafIf1 frA,, ~
ship. oUi
Madeira lies on a basin and a,or-
sac the mountain slope Just beht,d
1t is famous for beautiful gardens