Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1912-05-21

SSQue anu varied history. Once tHey
were given away by a Portuguese
king, Alfonso Y, called THE African"
to his aunt, the duchess of Burgundy.
This happened In. 1866, when the duke
of Burgundy was Philip the Bold, ia
vorite son OF John II. of France. In
due time Philip became ruler of
Flanders and many of his Flemish
subjects went to help COLOMBO his
duchess new island possessions For
a timeHthe group even bore the name
of the Flemish islands, and they still
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.a AS possessions of Spain they
were fair game fol, the English navy,
and many battle occurred in those
waters between English and Spanish
ships, while the islands. suffered from
the ravages of the British vict0rs.
When Cabral reached the Azores in
1892 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 bounty for the
destruction of birds, they were 80
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 100000 are said to have
been destroyed. 1t 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 ]. 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, instanced our example, but
better when we seek a mild winter
climate. and the Adirondacks and 9TH
er 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.climate of the Azores Is
extremely damp. It Is hard to keep
PAPER on the walls, and veneered and
varnished furniture suffers great dam
age. Pico is the coolest of the ISL
ands, for the mountain that gives it
name and forms most of the island
rises 1000 feet above the sea. s.
Azoreans. with their deeply EN-
Drowned outdoor complexion and ra-
Their 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
million inhabitants, but there are des-
pendants of the Flemish colonists, of
Spanish colonists who went to the
islands when Spain ruled the group,
negroes. Moors and a few English,
Scotch 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 toy
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
Massachusetts coast and whose condi-
ton and mode of life have been so lit
tie understood by their. neighbors of
Cape Cod that 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
have less negro blood than the latter.
whose home Lies in the torrid zone
only few miles of the torrid French
Soudan. -,