Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-04-18

n - elsewhere on the Massachu-
~ sets coast are sometimes sur
~ prised to learn that many OF
their Portuguese nelghbors
never saw the mainland of Portugal,
but are AZoreans of island ancestry
sometimes centuries old, F. N. Vallan'
iigham writes in the Boston Evening
Transcript When the Portuguese re-
public was set up its enemies were
not slow to annoy the new govern
ment by stirring dissatisfaction in the
Azores, and some AZoreans here fall
ing In with the movement, suggested
that the time had arrived for the
United States to annex the Islands.
Nobody treated the suggestion very
seriously; perhaps 1t was hardly ex-
pected that anybody would, and after
few mild demonstrations of discon-
tent, the Azoreans seem to have ac-
cepted the Portuguese republic with
resignation II not with satisfaction.
AS a matter of fact the Azores will
celebrate this spging the seventeenth
anniversary of their attainment OF To-
al self-government. In the winter OF
1S94-5, Portugal, while still maintain
Ing the islands as a province of the
kingdom, yielded to an oft repeated
demand for larger local autonomy, and
granted permission for the official dis
play OF an AZorean flag In honor Of
the concession.
In designing that flag the islanders
took lesson from US. but the Azor-
can banner, even more than the stars
and stripes. symbolizes the history
and political relations of the land. II
is blue flag bearing a white hawk
and nine stars, an emblem that pro-
claims the group to b. of nine chief
islands lying in the main blue ocean,
and bearing a name derived from the
Portuguese word for hawk. "acor,"
with the soft &C." which in English be-
comes T." AS a matter of fact the
Azores are our nearest neighbors on
the east between this coast and Eu-
rope. Corvo, the nearest OF the ISL
ands, is about two-thirds the distance
| from Boston TO Lisbon. The summer
isotherm OF 70. which cuts Boston,
runs only few miles north OF the
Azores, though the islands are about
In the latitude of Baltimore. The win.
ter isotherm Of 60 almost touches the
most southerly of the group. Gagged
between these two isotherms, the
Azores have an equable climate Ly-
ing In the track of vessels bound for
the Mediterranean, these islands are
visited by many liners bound for the
Italian ports, and thousands of Ameri-
can tourists have touched at Fayal,
| but hardly one in a thousand OF such
tourists knows any others Of the
group.
Islands Acquired by Portugal.
During some centuries all knowl.
edge of the Azore1 was lost oven to
Europe. An Arabian geographer OF
the twelfth century described them as
densely peopled. and hazarded the
guess that they had been known to
the Carthaginians. Upon map
madt in 1851 the three groups con-
shutting the archipelago appear as the
Goat islands. the Dove islands and
| Brazil island One OF the puzzles of
geography is found In the legends of
| bIdZll lSiahu' WHICH was NaTlCuSIy 10
Gated, and which finally gave name TO
the vast American empire of Portugal.
1t Is said that a Dutch merchant ad.
venturAr. driven out of his caa-se.
CHANGED upon the islands In 1882, and
reported them upon touching at Lis
bon, with the result that Portu-
| guese expedition was sent out 10 take
| possession OF them In the name of the
crown. Another story is that Dom
Henry OF Portugal, surnamed the
| Navigator. housing over the mans
that he loved so well. found the isl.
ands laid down, and dispatched an ex-
p.0Sog expedition to find them.
At any rate, one Cabral. a Portu.
guese navigator, did reach the Azores
n 1882, and some time later San
| Miguel, the island that he visited was
officially proclaimed Portuguese terri.
tory. Soon after the middle of the
\ century all nine of the islands had
been rediscovered. but nobody guess.
ed that they were one-third the wsv
to q vast unknown continent By the
, time Columbus made his first VOYAGE
to America the Portuguese had made
fair start at colonizing the Azores
In the nearly 900 years since the
Portuguese began rediscoyering thu