Evening star., 1926-09-01
FAYAL IS CENTER
OF CABLE LINES
City With Mosaic Sidewalks
and Tiled Houses One of
L0veIiest on Earth.

"For most matters of importance to
the world, Fayal Island. scene of the
recent earthquake. is the Azores"
says a bulletin from the headquar-
ters of the National Geographic So
ciety.
THAT Sac Miguel is larger there is
no disputing. That Angra. the capi-
tai. is a better port may also be true.
But Fayal," continues the bulle-
tin. lis the communication hub of the
Atlantic, with spokes reaching out to
Europe, the two Americas and Africa.
On Fayal Island there are four cable
companies-two American, one Eng
1ish and one German. There are
more than $50 young news pushers,'
as the telegraph operators are called,
and each group has it's own mess.
ARRIVING at Fayal in the daytime
one saw a ribbon Of road around the
island. and the whitewashed villages
with a church for a pendant among
the ivory bits that are strung along
this 35-mile circular tour. Out near
some detached rocks near the west
end there Is a lighthouse which ap-
pears at first to be a minaret. From
there to Horta. the town, is a steep
declivity several hundred feet high so
that the road has to sweep up to
avoid washing itself to death in the
glistening surf.
Cloud Blankets Peak
Amid smiling seas the Azores,
from November to March, usually
wear a cloud blanket so that the fine
cone of Pico, which sounds like
Orange Pekoe but simply means
peak is hidden as an approaching
ship swings to the north. Pico has a
separate island to itself and since Pico
is an active volcano this is as it
should be.
Twilight had fallen when the
writer's vessel finally came alongside
the fairy town of Horta, now made
up Of white blotches against dark
hillside with electric lights hiding the
details like the nuns candles during
the change of scene in The Miracle
HOrta is not really a port, since II
lacks a green light to complement the
red one on the end Of the single
breakwater. So passengers land in
launch which tosses up and down in
the swell and gives the folks a thrill
for their money.
"A Portuguese, with wide-brimmed
fuzzy hat, V-neck white sweater and
side burns, ran the launch. He took
shine to us and showed us around
the town, which, like a certain flower
had folded itself up with the setting
Of the sun.
"Hortas chief claim to fame seems
to be that Mark Twain and the cable
companies have honored it with their
attention. Mark Twain said some
thing about tiny fort here which
would have to be taken up the vol
canic slopes in case of war. That
was in the days before the Azores
were the alighting spot for trans
oceanic flights. The fort has not
grown any.
'Horta greets one with a mosaic
sidewalk in the Portuguese style and
many Of its buildings are faced with
glistening tile so that as one walks
down the street at night he seems to
be threading his way along some PEI
cul1ar bathroom in an old Mogul pal
ace or q Chicago boarding house. The
sOlid-wheeled OXcartS were parked at
odd points here and there and, in the
night time. the only vehicles to be
had are automobiles.
Volcano Effects Visible.
"The street as we walked down it,
and passed so many churches that
Horta seemed to be the Bokhara of
the Catholic world. was being used
for sentimental purposes. for Horta
has it's nightly rehearsals of the bal
cony scene from Romeo and Juliet
Our side-burned guide took us to a
motion picture theater fronted with
salmon tiles. We secured a box in
the lower of three horseshoes around
which the town was arranged. If
the social strata maintain their same
relative positions at home that they
do in the thaater then the Horfa nal