The Holbrook news., 1912-06-07

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 esque and varied history. Once they
 king, Alfonso V., called "The African" !"
 to his aunt, the duchess of Burgundy.
 This happened in 1866, when the duke
 of Burgundy was Philip the Bold, fa-
 vorite son of John II. of France. In
 due time Philip became ruler of
 Flanders and many of his Flemish
 subjects went to help colonize his
 duchess new island possessions. For
 time the group even bore the name
 of the Flemish islands, and they stiu
 have traces of the Flemish occupation
 and colonization. Later Portugal re- covered the Azores and they fell
 with her under Spanish rule from 1880 to 1640. As possessions of Spain they were fair game for the English navy.
 and many a battle occurred in those waters between English and Spanish ships, while the islands suffered from the ravages of the British victors.
 When Cabral reached the Azores in 1432 he was astonished at the num- Der of hawks on the islands. Their presence was explained by the thous- ands of small birds which made the group their permanent home or their resting place in migration. When the islands became settled 1t was found necessary to offer a bounty for the destruction of birds, they were SO ravenous in their attack upon crops. For years thousands of birds of many varieties were killed annually by far mers and gardeners. In some years as many as 5O0.000 are said to have been destroyed. It is hard for the newly arrived Azorean to understand our protective policy toward birds. To the native Azorean a bird Is a noxious animal.
 Climate and People of the Azores.
 There was a time when a good many Americans made long visits to the Azores for the sake of their mild and even climate, and J. Pierpont Morgan, as a youth of seventeen, passed many months there. An Eng lishman, in urging his countrymen to make use of the group as a health resort, insta1ced our example, but Florida now serves our purpose even better when we seek a mild winter climate, and the Adirondacks and oth- CT high, dry, cold climates have been found excellent for some who would once have been advised to winter in the Azores or the south. AS a matter of fact, the climatet of the Azores is extremely damp. It Is hard to keep paper on the walls, and veneered and vanished furniture suffers great dam age. Pico is the ooldest of the isl- ands, for the mountain that gives it name and forms most of the island rises 1000 feet above the sea.
 Azoreans with their deeply em- Drowned outdoor complexion and ra- ther low stature, seem all of one race to the casual American observer, but many of them must be of complex ra- cial origin. Portuguese constitute a large majority of the quarter of a million inhabitants, but there are des- cendants Of the Flemish colonists, of Spanish colonists who went to the islands when Spain ruled the group, negroes, Moors and a few English, 6cotch and Irish. Emigration has been constant for many years past be- cause land is extremely scarce and wages are consequently low. Mean while there are few cheaper places to live than the Azores, and no more courteous people than the Azoreans In this country they are apt to be con- fused with the Cape Verde islanders, who do all kinds of hard work on the coast and whose condi- ton and mode of life have been so lit- tie understood by their neighbors of Cape Cod that a cruel local prejudice against them exists. The Azoreans are a more mixed race than the Bravans. as the Cape Verde islanders are usually called in this country, but l have less negro blood than the latter, whose home lies in the torrid zone only few miles of the torrid French Soudan-